I was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk, Send lawyers, guns, and money, Dad, get me out of this - Warren Zevon ("Lawyers, Guns and Money", 1978)

There are hundreds of millions of business printers in the world.  Less than 2% of them are secure.  If you're not taking your printer security seriously, someone else might be!

Printing confidential information to an unsecured network printer is a risky endeavor.  However, the risks do not stop with the printed page.  Unmanaged printing and imaging devices leave your entire network open to data breaches, and while cybercriminals can use these printers to establish an initial foothold, the printer is not the target. The target is your business data.  Unsecured printers can be easily hacked and turned into a portal for stealing sensitive data, and a compromised printer can then be used to launch ongoing sophisticated attacks on a company’s network.  This exposure created by an unsecured network printer can be financially catastrophic.

The endpoint security risks presented by unsecured network devices leave businesses open to malware and viruses, as well as unauthorized access to confidential resources, and a host of other data and control risks.  While IT departments regularly spend significant time and money applying security measures to network infrastructure via firewalls and anti-virus solutions, printing and imaging devices are often left completely exposed.  Hackers have realized that unsecured printers are an easy way to circumvent firewall and anti-virus security, and the number of these attacks on unprotected endpoints are increasing at an exponential rate.

• 90% of enterprises say they have suffered at least one data loss though unsecured printing.¹

• 59% of organizations reported a print-related data loss incident in the past year (70% for retail)²

• In 2018, there was a 17% increase in the number of companies compromised by attacks originating from a network endpoint³

Furthermore, the economic losses generated by these attacks can be significant and even devastating.  Quite recently, enterprise organizations Capital One and Equifax experienced catastrophic data breaches costing them approximately $150 million and $650 million, respectively. Significant financial consequences can be exhibited in the immediate loss of IT and end-user productivity, damage to IT infrastructure, and losses incurred by the theft of information assets. However, there are hidden costs manifested by these attacks as well.  Compliance penalties and fines, as well as identity theft restitution, and tarnished reputation and brand image all contribute to the very real losses that occur when an organization's security is successfully breached.

          

Ultimately, today’s print devices are as technologically advanced, and therefore as vulnerable, as any other device on the network…including PCs. Of course, cybercriminals have become fully aware of these vulnerabilities, and industry experts are validating our concerns via news articles and whitepapers:

• “Modern printers are essentially advanced, specialized network hosts, and as such, they should be given the same level of security attention as traditional computers,” says Kevin Pickhardt in Entrepreneur. ⁴ “Office printers are not only potential sources of data loss and confidentiality issues, but attack vectors that hackers can exploit.”

• According to IDC, “Most printers have broad access to an internal network. An attacker who compromises a printer can have unfettered access to an organization’s network, applications, and data assets.”⁵

Fortunately, HP is innovating printer security standards by offering comprehensive Security Solutions which focus on addressing endpoint vulnerabilities.  These solutions help organizations establish and institute security policies based on National Institute of Standards and Technologies best practices.  They deploy automated assessments, followed by automated remediation of devices not compliant with established policies. Finally, risk-based reporting tools provide proof of compliance for regulatory audits in the form of audit trails and compliance documentation.  

As an HP Print Security specialist, I’m helping my clients identify and mitigate risk as it relates to their printer fleet.  I would welcome the opportunity to discuss printer vulnerabilities specific to your organization, and how we might reduce the exposure they create to your business data.

Please drop me a line and we'll schedule a time to discuss this with your IT security team. 

Brian

Brian Merson | Major Account Executive/HP Print Security Specialist | Centric Business Systems | 1800 Dual Highway, Suite 305 | Hagerstown, MD 21740 | Direct: 240-675-9725 | bmerson@centricbiz.com

1 HP: Protecting printers with enterprise-grade security”  Moor Insights and Strategies, 2014

2 Quocirca Global Print Security Study, Louella Fernandes, February 2019

3 Barkly, “The 2018 State of Endpoint Security Risk”, Ponemon Institute LLC, October 2018

4 Pickhardt, Kevin, “Why Your Innocent Office Printer May Be a Target For Hackers,” Entrepreneur, January 31, 2018. 

5 Brown, Duncan, et al., “IDC Government Procurement Device Security Index 2018,” IDC, May 2018.

I spend a lot of money, And I spent a lot of time - Steely Dan ("Reelin' In the Years", 1972)

Technology: Lease vs. Purchase - A Closer Look

Almost every time I meet with a new client, at some point our discussion leads to the question of leasing vs. purchasing the technology they require to give their organization a competitive advantage. It's a fairly complex question which seldom ever ends with a quick answer, but it's a great way for me to dig further into my client's business strategies and expectations for our partnership.

Not always do these conversations lead us to a decision to lease, but I do my best every time to explain that there is more to leasing than simply financing a technology acquisition. Once my clients fully understand the benefits of leasing, no less than 80% of those clients find leasing a preferable option to purchasing technology-based solutions for their businesses.

While I'm quick to admit that leasing is not the ultimate solution in every situation, I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't a fan of the flexibility leasing offers my clients. Having provided that caveat, here are my thoughts on leasing:

Office equipment, like most other technology-based investments, ages very quickly. Technology changes at such a rapid pace that office equipment and software can become obsolete within a matter of just a few years; whereas most organizations can't invest the capital required to completely refresh their technology that often.

Leasing, on the other hand, enables organizations to exchange obsolete technology for the “latest and greatest” far more frequently, based upon the term of the lease contract. Shorter term leases tend to generate a higher monthly payment, but allow for more frequent technology upgrades, while longer lease terms tend to reduce an organization’s monthly spending by committing to holding on to leased technology for a slightly longer time period (but still avoiding the cost of total obsolescence  which tends to follow technology purchases).

Furthermore, this technology “lease vs. buy” question cannot be answered exclusively by applying a financial formula or calculating interest rates.  Employee productivity, equipment lifespan, the competitive advantage to be gained by technology, and even customer and employee perception are just a few of the factors to be weighed in a decision process that is ultimately intended to help organizations achieve business objectives, as opposed to simply acquire hardware.

Finally, the flexibility of leasing is not only focused on the initial lease term. Quite often, the decreasing costs of today’s technology also encourage lease upgrades.  As newer technologies become more mainstream and acquisition prices of those technologies trend downward, it often becomes more fiscally advantageous for an organization to refresh technology before the current lease actually expires, or upgrade  their lease to include the newer technology (generally renewing the lease term to its original time frame…most often somewhere between 36 and 63 months).

Ultimately, leasing can allow businesses to upgrade technology more regularly without a major outlay of capital. This allows organizations to remain competitive and to streamline their office technology with industry standards, as needed, without being “trapped” by a purchasing decision made several years earlier, and based on technology which has since been rendered obsolete.

Brian Merson

Major Account Executive / HP Print Security Specialist
Centric Business Systems

Trying to make some sense of it all, But I can see it makes no sense at all - Stealers Wheel ("Stuck in the Middle with You", 1972)

I'm quickly approaching the middle of my second decade as a documemt management specialist, and if there’s one thing of which I’m certain, it’s that while most businesses think they have their document-related spending under control, in reality…most don’t.

Quite often, I hear phrases such as these:

“We just replaced our printers last year. We’re fine”

“We shop the internet to get the best toner pricing for our printers, so we’re good right now.”

“We outsource most of our color printing…it’s cheaper that way.”

…or my personal favorite:

“We’ve had these printers (or copiers) for years, and they’re working fine. There’s no reason to replace them.”

In reality, these statements are “red flags” that usually mean these clients are making financial decisions based on bad data.

 I explain to my clients that the age of a printing device (new or old) has little to do with how cost-effective the device is at producing the documents their business creates each day.  In fact, many printers today are marketed using the “Gillette Theory”, in which a razor manufacturer will offer a free razor (in this case, a printer), fully counting on the fact that the user will now have to buy blades (toner…get it?). Not usually a good long-term financial solution when applied to printer purchases, however, printer manufacturers have built empires based on this type of marketing.

Likewise, the discounted purchase price of a toner cartridge is irrelevant unless also considering the page yield of that cartridge. For instance, that $90 cartridge, purchased at a 10% discount online, has a page yield of 1,150 pages. This supply purchase, often unaudited and seen as a “necessary evil”, generates a cost per page of about 7¢. Outrageous!

Yet another culprit in creating lost profits for a business is the copier that was purchased 5 (or more) years ago. Each year, as the cost of the annual maintenance contract creeps up, the cost per page of this printing device rises, as well. While the acquisition price of this system has long since been depreciated and it appears to now have a $0 cost (speaking acquisition-wise), in actuality, the high cost per page of this system now makes it a financial liability when assessing document costs.

My point here is that managing document-related spending is all about identifying and defining current costs, and then cost-justifying the changes required to reclaim lost profits. Granted, embarking on an audit of this sort may not seem the least bit exciting or exhilarating to most, but to me…well, this is why I come to work each day…and more often than not, it can have a substantial impact on a business’s bottom line.

Let’s get together to discuss your document-related spending.

Brian
bmerson@centricbiz.com

Takin' care of business...every day, Takin' care of business...every way - Bachman-Turner Overdrive ("Takin' Care of Business", 1973)

If one facet of your business was consuming 10% of your organization’s gross revenue and was growing at a rate of 11% each year, wouldn’t you want to make certain that your organization was managing that expense?  Of course you would!  Well, that’s exactly what documents and document-related processes could be costing your business today. But don’t take my word for it. Some very impressive names in the document management industry (all of which happen to be much smarter than I am) support this statement:

·     "IDC end-user research has confirmed that companies spend approximately 10% of their revenue on document production, management and distribution." 
          – The Expanding Role of Document Accounting Systems, IDC 2001

·     "6 to 10% of annual corporate revenue is spent on document-related activities.”
          – Xplor International

·     Printer volumes are increasing by 9% in B&W, and 19% in color (11% overall) annually
         – Information Week

·     “Budgets for supplies are growing by 20 percent to 40 percent per year due to increased graphics printing (e.g., Microsoft® PowerPoint and web pages), the costs of consumables required by color printers, and because most printers are now color-capable.”
         – Gartner

Furthermore, the ongoing drain on IT staff to maintain an organization’s printer fleet is only compounding the profit loss that is common in most businesses today.  Eliminating the distractions of printer maintenance, repair, and printer help desk support allows a company’s costly IT resources to focus on more critical and strategic IT projects. Here are some facts of which even your IT staff may be unaware:

·     Printers, supplies, and support make up 10 to 20 percent of a typical IT budget
        – Gartner Group

·     50-60% of IT help desk calls are printer related
        – Information Week

Now that we've discussed the challenges that exist in most businesses today regarding the lack of a print management strategy, you may be thinking, “But where do I begin?”  It’s very likely that you’ve never heard the phrase “print management strategy”, much less considered adopting one to increase productivity and recover lost profits. It’s okay. You’re not alone. Most organizations admit a strategic approach would make more sense, but have no idea where to start.

As you may have guessed, I’m incredibly passionate about bringing this “profit leakage” to light for my clients.  I'm helping them manage their print environments and it just so happens that my team is very good at it. With a 30 minute meeting, we can outline your corporate goals and initiatives, I’ll explain the process I’m using to reduce printing costs for organizations just like yours, and we’ll take the first step toward controlling costs and recovering your organization’s lost profits. (SPOILER ALERT: It all starts by identifying your current costs, and I’ll work with you to do just that. We can’t manage what we can’t measure, so we’ll start there.)

Let’s schedule that meeting…

Brian
bmerson@centricbiz.com

Wendy...I'm home! - The Shining (1980)

So, if you’re reading this blog, it’s very likely that you either ended up here via a direct email invitation from me, you were directed here by one of my current or past clients, or you were simply bored and found yourself following a link in my email signature, my LinkedIn, or my Twitter account.  No matter how you got here, I’m glad you're here.  So, let me tell you how I got here.

In 1999, I began my career in the digital imaging industry.  I was hired by a small copier company and suddenly, I found myself being referred to as a "copier guy".  I quickly realized that not only did I enjoy technology sales, but I also found I was very successful at it.  I was working with businesses in Frederick, Montgomery, and Carroll counties in Maryland and was building some great relationships with clients that I now call friends.  Everything regarding my career was going exceptionally well.

Then, as situations often do, mine began to change. The company I was working for changed both management and management styles, at the same time I was beginning to question my next steps in the industry. My employer and I both realized we weren’t heading in the same direction, and after 11 years, we parted ways.  Unfortunately, due to a non-compete clause, I had to leave the industry I loved.

Now here’s the really great thing about non-compete clauses: They expire.  After spending 18 months in the telecommunications industry (which was actually pretty cool, and I learned a ton about communications technologies), my non-compete clause had expired.  I was now free to explore my passion: Document Management.  Now as luck (or fate) would have it, during my hiatus from the document imaging industry, a new player entered the arena in Western Maryland (which I consider my territory).  Centric Business Systems, a large Mid-Atlantic Ricoh/Sharp/HP dealer headquartered in Owings Mills, MD, had acquired a small Sharp dealer in the Hagerstown area and expanded its operations to include Frederick and Washington Counties in Western MD, South Central PA, and the Eastern Panhandle of WV.  One of our mutual clients saw the obvious connection (thanks, Warren!), and forwarded me contact information for Centric’s regional sales manager.  Now, 2012 finds me once again discussing document management technologies with my clients (and anyone else who will listen).

So now I’ve come full-circle and I’m thrilled to be back in the industry I love! I plan to use this blog to help my clients (and prospective clients) stay on top of the emerging document technologies, and to share the ways I’m helping businesses reduce spending while increasing productivity. In fact, if you’ve read this far, it’s likely that I've generated enough interest for you to be considered a prime candidate for a document management conversation. Why not give me a call on my direct line at 240-675-9725, and we can schedule a time for me to share my passion with you. I mean, what’s the absolute worst that could happen?...I help your business recoup some lost profits?

It's good to be home,

Brian
bmerson@centricbiz.com

Hey! You! Get Off of My Cloud - The Rolling Stones ("Get Off of My Cloud," 1965)

At this point, you would almost have to be living under a rock to not have heard the phrase “cloud computing”. It just sounds sexy, doesn’t it? Cloud computing. Much more fun to say than “updating my infrastructure” or “deploying a server refresh.”  Unfortunately, however, many SMBs (small to medium businesses) still don’t realize how this “new technology” (not really…it’s been around for years) is about to change the way they do business.

In a nutshell, cloud computing is this: Taking advantage of IT resources, such as a server or a software application on a server, that are physically located elsewhere, and doing so by way of an internet connection. [Disclaimer: I fully understand that network geeks everywhere are groaning as they read this over-simplified definition…but it will do just fine for our purposes here.]

Larger corporations have been utilizing the cloud for years (we just didn’t call it “the cloud” until recently).  For example, a corporation in Washington, D.C., with satellite offices in Philadelphia and Richmond, could house all of its data storage and deploy programs and applications on their servers located in the D.C. office.  The Philadelphia and Richmond offices can simply access these servers via the internet, thereby sharply reducing the need for this corporation to invest in additional hardware (servers), redundant software, or labor (IT staff) at its remote locations. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?  Today, this example would be referred to as a “private cloud”. [Once again, see my disclaimer above.]

The “public cloud”, on the other hand, is probably of much greater interest to SMBs who have had rather limited access to cloud technology in the past due to the high cost of internet bandwidth. The public cloud involves service providers making IT-based resources available to the general public via the internet (very similar to the business model in which your company buys power from the power company, as opposed to purchasing and maintaining its own generators). Over the last five to ten years, thanks to technologies such as video streaming and music sharing, most of us now refuse to live without high-speed internet in our homes, much less our businesses, so SMBs have adopted more substantial bandwidth and cloud computing is financially very hard to overlook.

So now that we’re all on the same page regarding what cloud computing is, and why it’s more viable now than it was in the past, let’s talk about the really sexy stuff, like some examples of how it can benefit your business.

One of our most popular cloud offerings at New Frontiers is Hosted Exchange. Microsoft Exchange Server is the world’s most popular email server and provides incredible collaboration and productivity features. However, many SMBs have been reluctant to adopt this technology due to the exorbitant up-front software and licensing fees, as well as the additional hardware resources (onsite server) and expertise (IT staff) to run this resource-intense application. As you’ve probably guessed, the cloud eliminates these concerns. By utilizing an Exchange Server “in the cloud” (in this case, in our New Frontiers Data Center) a business can provide its workforce all of the features of Exchange, and these features can be accessed from any device with an internet connection…including mobile phones and tablets. This obviously makes employees more mobile, accessible, productive and connected. Even businesses with an onsite server currently running Microsoft Exchange are embracing the cloud for this service. In this case, cloud computing saves businesses money by freeing up in-house IT staff to focus on more “geek-like” tasks involving network security, hardware virtualization and other undertakings best left to those with an aptitude for that kind of silliness.

Another way in which the cloud is boosting employee collaboration and productivity, is through a Hosted File Server (and much like the smartphone, this is a technology that SMBs will soon be wondering how they lived without). By moving file servers out of the server closet and into the cloud (thereby eliminating time spent worrying about air conditioning a closet), small businesses are realizing the benefits of being able to view and edit files and documents stored on their server, safely and securely, from anywhere and at any time. Even better yet, by taking advantage of a Microsoft SharePoint account (you guessed it…hosted in the cloud!), network users can “check a document out” from the server, make changes, and “check the document back in”, even while keeping a record of changes made (version control).

These few examples truly are just the tip of the iceberg. With all of the possibilities offered by cloud computing, it appears that SMBs will no longer be constantly chasing more powerful infrastructure (i.e., servers) to keep up with the newest applications that will give their businesses that competitive advantage they’ve been searching for.  And if you’ve been thinking the latest, greatest technology is slightly out of reach due to budgetary concerns and a slow economy…we should probably chat.

I’ll look forward to hearing from you,

Brian
bmerson@centricbiz.com

…there's got to be another way. – The Who (“Who Are You?,” 1978)

I have a few observations about the person that first coined the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” First of all, this person obviously wasn’t an English major, however, neither am I, so that is quickly forgiven (by me, at least…probably not by an English professor). More importantly, I’m also betting this phrase wasn’t first typed using a PC or Mac, nor distributed via email, or shared via any other network-based technology.  If it had been, the phrase most likely would have read, “If it ain’t broke, prepare for it to break…and at the worst possible time.”

Now it’s not that I’m a pessimist, it’s just that I’m amazed by the way technology has taken over our lives (especially in the business world) and how quickly our day falls apart when these technologies fail us. Even those employees who claim to be “old school” or “technophobes” simply can’t function once their email isn’t working or they can’t access the server.

This reliance on technology by businesses today has even changed the way technology geeks (and wannabe geeks) behave. As little as five years ago, IT support companies simply sold their customers a “block” of time (usually 5 or ten hours to a block) and waited for the client to call when something went wrong. In today’s technology-reliant offices, this “break/fix” business model just simply doesn’t cut it.  Minutes must seem like hours to the business owner watching staff sitting idle because they can’t access email or applications and files on the server.

As you might have guessed, I have a solution for this dilemma: Managed Services. And I can sum up the differences between managed services and the “break/fix” support model of yesterday with two words: “proactive” and “preemptive”. As a New Frontiers Managed Services client, you can expect our team of engineers to treat your network as if it were our own. We're constantly evaluating your network to assure it remains reliable and secure. Our software is monitoring your network 24x7x365, searching for issues and alerting our engineers before these issues become work-stopping problems. This same software also allows our technicians to offer immediate remote help desk support to end users on your network, as well as scheduling after-hours application of patch releases and security updates. And on the rare instance that a service technician needs to come on-site to deal with an issue…well, that’s covered, too.

So if the fear of finding out exactly what an hour of downtime will cost your business isn’t enough to make you seriously consider managed services, I hope you’ll consider this: How much would it benefit your business to know exactly what your IT expenses will be each month? At New Frontiers, we simply manage your network for a flat monthly fee, and in many cases the total cost of this service can be less than you are currently paying for the break/fix support you’ve come to accept as the norm. And doesn't it just make sense to budget for a team of engineers and technicians with a wide array of specialized skills to manage your network for less than the cost of a single IT employee or contractor?

I’m pretty adamant in my belief that this is the best way to assure your network remains healthy and secure, but if you’re not yet a believer, I hope you’ll contact me and let me know what I’ve missed.

I'm hoping to hear from you soon.

Brian
bmerson@centricbiz.com