The Simply Smarter Blog

I am a proud Gen Xer. I loved growing up in the age where we experienced seismic technology shifts. We are a strange hybrid of digital users who are extremely comfortable with technology but still remember a time when things were a bit more primitive.

There is no question that life is much easier today with the influx of technology, especially in the workplace.  If this past year and a half has taught us anything, it’s that in the education field and business world at least, you have to be somewhat tech savvy to keep up with the times. Read on to learn how tech has evolved.

According to a recent study, only 29% of surveyed employees want to be back in the office full-time, and 56% would quit or look for a new job that offers flexibility when they work.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the landscape in which we work has forever changed. When companies were forced to operate remotely, many employees across the globe got a taste of what it was like to work from home full-time. Now, many organizations are choosing to operate with a hybrid workforce as a permanent solution to reduce costs and adapt to their employees' needs.

Yet, despite the benefits of a hybrid work environment, the way employees see culture and how organizations build it is evolving. With a dispersed workforce, it's essentially harder for organizations to connect with their people to create a unified cultural experience. In this blog post, we discuss five ways to build culture in a hybrid work environment to help your organization overcome challenges from a physically dispersed workforce.

When you look at today’s technology like self-driving cars, robotics and artificial intelligence, it’s easy to think we’ve landed in a sci-fi film. But go ahead and pinch yourself — this is real. Yesterday’s predictions are today’s reality. As we begin 2022, those devices are busy providing services in highly connected school, work and home environments, making so much possible that it feels like the future is truly here. Join us, as we explore what the classroom, meeting room and printers of the future look like today.

Recently, a security vulnerability in an open-source library called Log4J2 was made public on December 9, 2021. The Log4J2 library is a logging framework widely deployed within many Java-based applications. If the vulnerability is exploited, malicious intruders can pass and execute malware into the framework that could potentially allow them to access sensitive date and take control of targeted systems. Sharp has been working to assess the risk of the Log4J2 security vulnerability and how it affects Sharp document systems, professional and commercial display products and related applications, and services.

Understanding the importance of the retail experience, Sharp was able to successfully provide technology solutions for two iconic fashion brands’ prime retail locations in the heart of some of Manhattan, New York’s busiest shopping districts. Both brands had their own challenges and received a Sharp makeover that resulted in satisfaction from both the designers and their customers.

As organizations rekindle onsite work, enabling a culture of collaboration by reimagining office locations to be hybrid by design is more important than ever before. For expert insight into the topic, we interviewed Amy Loomis, Research Director for IDC's worldwide Future of Work market research service in our recent whitepaper, IDC Analyst Connection: Defining a Successful Journey for Office Reentry. In this article, we summarize her main conclusions about the hybrid office phenomena and the steps that need to be taken to foster a collaborative work environment.

Once upon a time, office workers got up and drove to the office, clocked in, and worked from 8 to 5. Then they went home, disconnected, and lived their personal lives until the next morning when they did it all over again. Then came technology – internet, smartphones, 5G. The lines blurred as workers had access to emails and network servers 24/7 – and supervisors and clients had access to them. And yet, even as the office continued to cross the line further and further into the home, standard wisdom was that employees needed to be in the office to do their jobs. Then COVID-19 came along and workers couldn’t be in the office and we entered the era of work-from-home, aka WFH.

In this digital era, the need to wake up at 2 a.m., pack a duffle bag full of camping gear and load the car full of snacks and essentials to get early deals at stores are long gone. Additionally, the worry about massive crowds (especially during a pandemic), long lines, empty shelves and the occasional pickpocket are a thing of the past. However, online shopping isn’t completely without worry, and there are still many reasons to safeguard your financial and personal information while shopping online.

In this article, you will find six online shopping tips to help avoid data breaches and fraudulent charges by keeping your information out of the hands of people who made the naughty list this year.

If your average day looks anything like mine, it’s stacked full of meetings with groups of internal and external folks of a variety of sizes on countless topics. To top it off, I’m trying to manage a hybrid work schedule, and need to rely on seamless communication, whether in or out of the office. In any other organization, I couldn’t imagine the stress this could cause. However, working for Sharp, and taking advantage of our collaboration tools has helped make this easy and seamless.

Every morning, you wake up and go through your routine before heading into the physical office or home office to start your day. When you get to your desk, you log into your computer and open your email. While sorting through your mailboxes, you notice that essential emails such as an RFP you were expecting, an invoice you’ve been waiting for, or important messages from vendors and partners are sitting in your spam folder. You might ask yourself, “how did these end up in here?” - a question that gets asked more frequently than you would expect. Missing these emails is not only frustrating, but it can also affect your business’s bottom line. Read on to learn why emails are marked as spam and how you can improve email deliverability.

According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report, there was an increase of 300,000 crime complaints from 2019 to 2020, with the top three scams including phishing, non-payment/non-delivery and extortion. These threats will continue to be dangerous for organizations of any size as employee remote and hybrid work formats become more ubiquitous. In fact, we conducted a survey with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) which found that small businesses are still struggling to navigate the rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape, with nearly half experiencing multiple incidents in the 12 months leading up to the study.

This cybersecurity awareness month, we’re sharing a few tips that you can help address these concerns and prevent your small businesses from becoming cybercrime victims.

Although October is officially National Cybersecurity Month, the truth is that cybersecurity awareness needs to be a year-round endeavor — and more so than ever in this post-pandemic, hybrid-office, cloud-centric world. The annual Cost of a Data Breach Report from the Ponemon Institute and IBM shows 2021 had the highest average cost of a data breach in the report’s 17-year history — $4.24 million, up 10% from the previous year. In the U.S., the country with the highest cost, the average was more than $9 million.

If, as an organization, you’re not taking security seriously by this point, then it’s only a matter of time before you’re the next victim. Start now with the knowledge that every device on your network and every person with access to those devices is a potential attack vector — and yes, that includes copiers and multifunction printers (MFPs).

Our latest edition of our Simply Smarter Leadership Q&A series features our Chief Financial Officer, Moonsun Park. A recent recipient of the 2021 NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business, Moonsun talks about some of her greatest accomplishments in a career that has spanned more than two decades, as well as key advice for women starting out their careers.

The ability to create high-quality, customizable printed materials in business settings is vital in 2021. That may be an unexpected statement given the pandemic-related tendency toward work-from-home solutions and SOHO-friendly office products, and a general need to be sure that any technology introduced covers the “new remote workforce” or the “hybrid office” or “digital transformation” — any one of those terms that’s been shoved into the collective consciousness over the last year.

You’d almost think no one will ever go to an office space and print again. That could not be further from the truth.

It’s one thing to run a business but it’s quite another to create an environment where workers love to come in every day. Employees are an essential part of every business and are what keep organizations progressing, growing and contributing to a greater good. A 2019 study from the University of Oxford found that happy, satisfied employees are 13% more productive with their time at work. Happier, more engaged employees will also create a positive work environment that can foster new relationships, lead to better recruitment and retention and ultimately provide workers with an individual sense of achievement and satisfaction.

As a recent recipient of NJBiz’s “Best Place to Work in New Jersey” 2021, we’re sharing five tips on creating a top workplace, based on what we’ve learned from our workers and what we know they appreciate.

Healthcare organizations have faced unprecedented challenges over the last year. In addition to the ever-present tasks of juggling client needs, working within budget restrictions, keeping up with compliance regulations and handling staffing requirements, there have been the unique challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic — intake systems that have been overwhelmed, a sudden boom in telehealth, the increased cyber threats brought on by bad actors ready to take advantage of the chaos, and the need to remain compliant with HIPAA and other regulations.

Fortunately, technology has kept up with a rapidly changing world, and there are a variety of solutions designed to meet healthcare’s challenges.

What do some of those solutions look like?

A new paradigm of remote and hybrid work is rapidly replacing the traditional standard of a five-day in-office work week. Gartner sees working from home as a “cornerstone of the post-pandemic future of work” and projects that nearly one in five employees will work remotely after the pandemic concludes. Additionally, the 2021 State of IT report from Spiceworks Ziff Davis says the Covid-19 pandemic has been “a catalyst for business transformation,” with 76% of businesses planning long-term IT changes.

With the rapid increase of this digital transformation, the need to support a hybrid or remote workforce is paramount. But, how do you enable employees to work efficiently with one another – sometimes nationwide or globally, connect with clients virtually, and eliminate communication barriers and productivity issues, all while working to lower IT costs?

Sounds like a lot, right? (It is), but the answer is simple – by implementing a Unified Communications solution.

It’s back to school time!  Gone are the days of backpacks being weighed down with multiple, heavy textbooks and folders stuffed with numerous worksheets handed out to students.  Today, since most schoolwork is done online, one of the most important school supplies is a laptop. And, when it’s time for college, the knowledge gained on a laptop that runs on the Windows operating system will be beneficial.  Most professors will use and also require students to use Microsoft Office programs which can only be found on Windows operating systems.  Students may need specialized software, such as Adobe Photoshop, which isn’t available on Chrome-based operating systems.  So why not get high school students prepared early? In this article, we will explore some of the top priorities when considering purchasing a laptop for high school students. 

You either have it, know of it, or are still fighting the trauma flashbacks – that clunky, slow, larger than life work laptop. The muscle required to tow it to and from the office probably qualified you for the Olympic sport of weightlifting. Fortunately, technology has advanced, and now lighter, faster and leaner laptops are on the market. Since many models look the same and have similar features, laptop shopping can be overwhelming – especially when you’re buying them for your entire office staff.

Laptops see heavy daily use, now more than ever before. Business laptops are generally more expensive, but the extra cost ensures a higher-quality product. While it’s tempting for some businesses to focus solely on cost when choosing a laptop to buy in bulk, you could be signing yourself up for the same decision in another two years, not to mention other headaches along the way. Read on for a few factors to consider that contribute to the quality and longevity of your devices.

While summer is in full swing, the back-to-school season is closer than you think, but this year it might feel a little different — and by different, we mean “sort of normal.” After the truncated 2019-2020 school year and the mostly at-home 2020-2021 school year, it looks like students and teachers will, for the most part, be going back to in-person learning. And while discussions about masks and vaccines continue to take place, other changes are taking place, and many of those will require changes to the way children learn and teachers teach, and the tools and technologies that facilitate those activities. Here are a few things to think about when enabling school safety and better interactive learning

Many of us fondly remember the hit sitcom Parks and Recreation, especially the adorable character Leslie Knope (played by hilarious comedian Amy Poehler), who stopped at nothing to beautify the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. And while Leslie persevered and grew in her career, there is another key takeaway from the show that remains applicable six years after it went off the air: serving in local government is an essential – and often thankless – job.

Municipalities work hard to get information to their citizens about events, community programs and safety updates. Local residents may not always see all the work going on behind the curtain, but it’s considerable and usually time sensitive. With all of these responsibilities, figuring out and updating technology can often fall to the bottom of the priority list, despite the need for the right tech to do the job. This is also a space where printing is still very much necessary, as local governments need to constantly produce public documents such as booklets and brochures, sometimes in multiple languages, and frequently on tight budgets. City workers simply can’t afford to have their printers break down or malfunction.

Here are a couple of examples of how local government agencies addressed some of their printing and technology challenges to serve their constituents more effectively.

Doesn’t it seem like more and more cybersecurity horror stories are popping up in your news feed? I know I’ve seen an uptick, especially these past few months. Cybercrime is becoming child’s play for brazen hackers with little to fear and a whole lot to gain. The ambiguous nature of bitcoin and the extremely difficult pursuit of apprehending cybercriminals has emboldened them to make audacious ultimatums.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, the ransomware gang REvil that hit JBS Foods last month made headlines once again for a ransomware attack that started with Florida-based IT firm Kaseya in an attempt to extort a $70 million bitcoin payment. While extraordinary attacks like these are newsworthy, small and midsize businesses (SMB) are getting hit too, and a majority are paying to get their data back.

Earlier this year, 1,044 employees supporting Sharp’s B2B business in the U.S. logged on to Microsoft Teams to attend the company’s annual kickoff event, remotely. The annual event is traditionally an opportunity for Sharp employees from around the country to get a chance to hear from top leadership about the company’s successes of the previous year, priorities for the coming year, as well as re-acquaint themselves with colleagues from across the country. This year, due to COVID-19, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America decided to hold the event virtually, and while it would have been difficult to do the type of in-person networking that a regular event of this kind would normally have, Sharp wanted to at least make the two-hour virtual event as close to an actual in-person event as possible.

Sharp’s media team, who worked hard behind the scenes to ensure that virtual attendees received the best experience possible, gave some tips to help pull off a successful online meeting of this scale.

Today’s government marketplace has changed.  Budgets are constrained and staffing is reduced.  To fill this void, government, education, and nonprofit organizations are turning to cooperative purchasing to obtain the goods and services they need without the hassle and aggravation of sending projects out for bid. 

Many in the AV industry might be familiar with the innovative work and reporting of Gary Kayye, founder of rAVe pubs and Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC). Pre-pandemic, you probably saw Gary and his dedicated rAVe crew conducting camera interviews at major industry trade shows such as InfoComm and the Digital Signage Expo. With his first-hand experience in academia, we thought it would be compelling to get the inside scoop from Gary on how AV is shaping the future of education and learning. 

Whether you’re headed into a job interview, presentation, or a special occasion, it’s important to “look the part.” The same applies to dressing up your learning environment technology. In schools, having a modern space, tools and resources allows students to be informed, stay motivated and communicate with ease. The COVID-19 pandemic has launched educators and students into completely new ways of learning where they rely on technology more than ever. While we know the impact that interactive displays have on the classroom, adding digital signage to school common areas can make a major visual impact while providing a simplified way to communicate to large audiences at once.  

Traditionally associated with retail spaces, fast food and fast casual restaurants, digital signage is seeing increased demand from K-12 to colleges and universities. There are countless locations within a school – some you may not have thought of – where digital signage can make a difference. 

At Sharp, we’re always looking for ways to help you think “simply smarter.” So we thought it would be a great idea to feature our leaders on the Simply Smarter blog to get an inside look at what they are working on and their views on the office technology space at large, while learning some fun facts about them too! Today, we’re interviewing Shane Coffey, vice president, product management. We hope you enjoy getting to know Shane!

Just picture this— you’re a new employee diligently working, and out of the blue, your CEO e-mails you, asking for 10 Amazon gift cards. She says it’s for an important project she’s working on and she needs the gift cards ASAP! The pressure is on and you take a break from your hectic to-do list, and begin ordering the gift cards, until you realize… the person emailing is not your boss after all, but rather, a sneaky cybercriminal. And just like that, you are the newest victim of a phishing scam. How mortifying, right? Well luckily, there are steps that can be taken in order to avoid such embarrassing catastrophes.

If you think about your day, you do a lot to ensure the security of your person and your belongings. Leaving the house? Lock the doors and windows, possibly set the security system. Leaving your car? Always make sure to hear that beep as you walk away clicking the lock button on your keypad. Going into the office? Probably need that key fob to get into the building. These actions are so simple that we sometimes don’t even realize we’re doing them – and that’s how simple securing your company’s data from cybercriminals should be.

Despite all the talk of the paperless office, over the past decade even more businesses have become aware of the benefits a managed print services (MPS) program can deliver. Printing remains essential, with almost half of companies saying that print will be important through at least 2025. However, due to the COVID-19-induced acceleration of the hybrid workplace combining in-office and work-from-home employees, print deployments are being reevaluated. In the hybrid work environment the proper execution of MPS is more important than ever, as organizations need workers to focus on the real business of the company rather than worry about the management of printers and copiers.