Businesses Could Save £205 Billion by Switching to Electronic Invoicing

Posted on May 9, 2013 by admin

Ricoh is encouraging businesses in UK and Europe to switch from paper to electronic invoicing (e-invoicing), highlighting potential cost savings of £205 billion for businesses , and £34 billion for the public sector if the majority of paper invoices were replaced with electronic ones . The cost and time savings are explained in a new report published today by Billentis and sponsored by Ricoh.

Despite the savings identified, a minority of businesses have adopted e-invoicing across Europe.  It is estimated that only one in five invoices will be electronic in 2013.  This highlights there is still some way to go to meet the European Commission goals for e-invoicing to be the predominant form of invoicing by 2020. The date for the public sector is even sooner, at 2016.  The report by Billentis identifies a number of reasons as to why businesses and the public sector are holding back from embracing electronic invoicing, ranging from confusing legal requirements to having trading partners who still want invoices in hard copy. The report recommends organisations define a three year strategy to implement e-invoicing successfully for themselves, their clients, and suppliers.

“The slow rate of adoption of e-invoicing makes it clear that the barriers to adopting it are still all too real for businesses and the public sector operating in UK and Europe,” says Rick Hewitt, Finance Director, Ricoh UK. “As the report highlights: one of the most critical steps to successful implementation of an electronic invoicing programme is having a clear objective and strategy to shape the migration from paper to electronic. But recent research shows that 57 per cent of organisations in Europe do not have a fully developed and implemented strategy in place for managing their business-critical document processes – including invoicing . Adopting a clear strategy that links e-invoicing to business objectives (including reducing costs by cutting time-to-pay, increasing productivity by eliminating time-consuming manual tasks, and more effective customer communications) will help organisations to successfully adopt a new electronic invoicing process throughout their organisations.”

“But changing a business-critical document process can be time consuming or complicated, and the key is to manage it without impacting day-to-day core business tasks. Organisations should gain advice from, and entrust the task to, a document process expert who can manage the transition from paper to electronic invoices on their behalf, leaving them to focus on meeting the needs of their customers,” said Hewitt.

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Canon brings smart imageRUNNER ADVANCE functionality to your desktop

Posted on March 20, 2013 by admin

Today announces the extension of its successful imageRUNNER ADVANCE range with the launch of two new compact black-and-white multifunctional devices (MFDs); bringing next generation output and capture to the desktop. With the new devices, the Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE range now provides a single and versatile platform to meet the document handling challenges of all office environments.

Smart functionality
The new imageRUNNER ADVANCE 400i and 500i A4 devices combine award winning¹ imageRUNNER ADVANCE output and capture capabilities in a compact design to provide users with smarter ways of working.  Whether standalone, or as part of a fleet, the new devices feature unique capabilities for personalisation, efficient document handling, simple device management and control as well as enhanced security.

Matthew Wrighton, European Marketing Manager at Canon Europe, says: “Our customers are increasingly looking for compact imaging solutions that help busy workgroups to work more efficiently as well as address concerns around security, management efficiency and cost control.  According to our recent Office Insights Report², value and cost were found to be the most important factors in the purchasing process for a third (34%) of decision makers, followed closely by reliability (20%) and output quality (18%). Our new devices offer this and more, by providing all the benefits of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE platform in a compact design.”

Document handling efficiency
Thanks to the imageRUNNER ADVANCE MEAP and MEAP Web application platforms, the new compact devices integrate with Canon’s award winning range of software to provide powerful output management and capture workflows. From simple personalisation and convenient authentication as standard to dynamic end-to-end document workflows for automation and efficiency, imageRUNNER ADVANCE offers a range of solutions to suit the business requirements of large enterprises through to small businesses.

The new imageRUNNER ADVANCE 400i and 500i also support mobile and flexible working by allowing users to print from any Google Cloud Print® enabled web and mobile app, or scan to and print from iPad, iPhone and Android mobile devices. For larger organisations or more demanding environments, the uniFLOW platform offers configurable scan workflows that leverage industry-leading OCR and compression technologies to optimise document workflows according to customer needs. uniFLOW also provides a secure platform for users to print from any device to any networked MFD.

Designed with user efficiency in mind, a large, easy-to-use 17.8cm tiltable colour touch screen makes operating the devices simple. The imageRUNNER ADVANCE 400i and 500i offer fast print speeds of up to 40 and 50ppm respectively and feature paper capacity of up to 2,300 sheets.

Enhanced cost control & security
In addition, the new models also provide scalable security capabilities to address the concerns of any organisation; from standard features such as smart user authentication and function-level control to sophisticated options such as Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Canon’s unique Universal Login Manager (ULM) provides smaller organisations with enterprise level reporting and access control – all without the need for a server. ULM provides full visibility of usage and costs by user as well as the option to apply user-level restrictions for enhanced security and cost control. More demanding environments can access centralised and complete output management and control through Canon’s uniFLOW platform which offers advanced functions such as DLP and rule-based routing.

Efficient device management
As with the rest of the imageRUNNER ADVANCE range, these new compact models can be centrally managed, monitored and reconfigured to simplify fleet management and maximise device uptime. Remote service capabilities for toner management and ordering enable service providers to remove back-office burdens from customers, while remote upgrading and diagnosis maximise device uptime. Built-in support for industry standards such as genuine Adobe PostScript® also ensures seamless integration with existing IT environments.

Leading environmental performance
As with the award-winning A3 imageRUNNER ADVANCE range, the new devices consume less than one watt of energy during sleep mode, are Energy Star qualified, and have amongst the lowest TEC ratings in the industry.

Matthew Wrighton continues: “Canon’s new imageRUNNER ADVANCE 400i and 500i devices satisfy the growing market demand for high-quality A4 imaging solutions and extend Canon’s award-winning portfolio. The two new models strengthen Canon’s ability to provide a complete and tailored document solution to organisations of all sizes and form part of the widest portfolio of office imaging products on the market.”

The imageRUNNER ADVANCE 400i and 500i devices will be available across the UK & Ireland  from 1st  May 2013.

imageRUNNER ADVANCE 400i /500i key specs:

  • Efficient mono A4 output at 40 /50 ppm (400i / 500i)
  • Space-saving design
  • Customisable 17.8 cm tiltable colour SVGA touch screen
  • Up to 2,300 sheet capacity
  • Powerful capture, cost control and integration
  • Advanced security options
  • Class-leading energy efficiency
¹ Canon’s Universal Login Manager was awarded BLI’s 2013 Outstanding Achievement in Innovation,
Canon was also awarded BLI’s 2013 Document Imaging Solutions Line of the Year and BLI’s 2013 Energy Efficiency Line of the Year. Source:www.buyerslab.com
² Office Insights Report is the result of an independent study into office technology trends across 18 European countries commissioned by Canon Europe. The research consisted of an online survey of 1,671 employees, including 300 decision-makers, from a range of market sectors, and a further 60 in-depth telephone interviews with a selection of end-users from 12 countries.  www.canon-europe.com/officeinsights
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European Business Leaders More Concerned about Losing Competitive Edge Compared to their Peers

Posted on March 5, 2013 by admin

When questioned about the impacts of technology-led change global business leaders are positive about its impacts on creativity and innovation and concerned about keeping up with the pace of change. Their challenges are focused on system and process issues rather than stifled intuition or a possible takeover by computers or robots. The European business leaders are more worried about keeping up with the pace of change, than those in Asia and North America. 45 per cent of Europeans said they were worried about not being able to keep up with technology and losing competitive edge, compared with 35 per cent in Asia and 37 per cent in North America. The insights are from a new study called Humans and Machines, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Ricoh. The research investigates the impacts of technology upon human creativity and intuition.
When asked to rank their top technology challenges, business leaders placed ‘systems not connected to each other’ in the top spot, followed closely by the fact that ‘technology is evolving more quickly than the internal processes that support it’. European business leaders are most impacted by disconnected systems (46 per cent) compared to 39 per cent in Asia and 34 per cent in North America.

“European businesses leaders face a challenging time – in addition to technology led change they must manage complex regulations and grow their businesses in a competitive and mature landscape. In addition, they are focused upon recovering from the global economic crisis, where the viability of the euro is being questioned. While this may attribute to their increased concern about remaining competitive, what is important is to determine what can be done to help drive growth and business agility into the future.” says Carsten Bruhn, Executive Vice President, Ricoh Europe.
“The study exposes the need for European organisations to review the way they work and prepare to transform their traditional way of doing things. Through better integration of their systems and more streamlined business processes that connect their people and their technology they can improve employee knowledge sharing, be more responsive to client needs and ensure an agile business infrastructure that is ready to meet the needs of the future.”
Interestingly, business leaders do believe they are more creative today than they were ten years ago, although once again the optimism is lower in Europe (52 per cent) compared to Asia (64 per cent) and North America (63 per cent). Europeans are also less positive about whether technology helps them make good decisions, with 40 per cent believing it to be the case, compared to Asia (59 per cent) and North America (52 per cent).

However, there are some areas where Europeans are more confident. 65 per cent believe that technology has helped drive open debate and discussion within their organisations, compared to 57 per cent in Asia. Europeans are also more confident about the role of technology in terms of improving productivity. 72 per cent said that they believed this was the case, compared to 59 per cent in North America and 68 per cent in Asia.

Bruhn adds, “It is clear that the impacts of technology are varied, a one-size approach to transformation is not possible. What is certain is – change is unavoidable. The ways of working that we have taken for granted are unlikely to survive much longer. However a workplace where decisions are made entirely by computers or robots isn’t forecast by global readers just yet. The future shows great potential for humans to benefit from more creative and informed decision making, supported by technology, effective business processes and new ways to share and access information. If European business leaders master a truly connected and efficient workplace, just imagine what can be achieved on top of what has already been experienced today.”

Download the global business insights at http://www.ricoh.co.uk/thoughtleadership

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Digicorp Welcomes Its New Business Development Consultants

Posted on March 1, 2013 by admin

As part of the Company’s expansion the team will be identifying organisations that will benefit from our expertise in print/copy/scan/managed print solutions.

The Company has plans to grow this team later on in the year. If you are hungry for success in a consultative sales environment where you can make a tangible difference to the efficiency of the business’s you work with, please submit your details.

Please send your CV to careers@digicorp.co.uk to apply now.

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Canon launches a desktop scanner for efficient processing of documents into office workflows

Posted on February 4, 2013 by admin

Canon has launched a new compact and versatile desktop scanner aimed at small offices and corporate departments who need a reliable cost-effective scanning solution. The Canon imageFORMULA DR-C120 offers fast and easy scanning, and features a suite of powerful software that helps businesses to reliably scan and convert documents into existing workflows and to the cloud.

The Canon imageFORMULA DR-C120 allows users to work more productively with high-speed, double-sided colour scanning of up to 40ipm and a 50-sheet automatic document feeder. Its robust feeding mechanism and design is extremely versatile for scanning a variety of mixed document types from ultra-thin to thick card (27-209gsm) and documents up to 3m in length. Using the folio mode feature users can also scan up to A3-sized document and there is an option to addCanon’s A4 Flatbed 101 Scanner Unit accessory in case there is a need to scan books or other bound material.

The new device is simple to operate for quick, accurate scanning and processing of documents. Regular scan jobs can be launched by either using a button on the scanner or from Canon’s intuitive CaptureOnTouch software. The scanner driver software also incorporates a full auto modefunction that automatically applies the optimum scan settings so that users don’t need to worry about configuring settings for different document types. It also features plugins for cloud-based connectivity with Microsoft SharePoint, Evernote and Google Docs, for processing and accessing documents instantly and seamlessly to the cloud from anywhere around the world.
Sean Suematsu, European Document Scanning Solutions Director at Canon Europe, comments, “Businesses increasingly need a simple cost-effective solution that offers fast-and-easy capturing of paper-based information into existing office workflows and to the cloud. Canon’s user-friendly and versatile imageFORMULA DR-C120 meets this need, allowing organisations to work more efficiently and with more flexibility. Replacing the popular imageFORMULA DR-2010C, the DR-C120 comes with a powerful suite of out-the-box software creating an improved and more user-friendly scanning experience.”

The DR-C120 includes new image processing features, such as automatic deskew that is based on both the angle and content of documents, an automatic resolution setting, and also multi stream output. The imageFORMULA DR-C120 is also more energy efficient when scanning, using less than half the power compared to many other devices in its class.

The imageFORMULA DR-C120 comes with an impressive range of premium software, including CapturePerfect, eCopy PDF Pro, BizCard, OmniPage, and PaperPort. The eCopy PDF Pro is a powerful easy to use desktop PDF solution creating, converting and editing PDF files. The device also includes standard ISIS and TWAIN drivers, allowing users to use it with other installed software imaging applications.

The imageFORMULA DR-C120 will be available through all Canon sales offices and selected distributor partners across Europe from February 2013.

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