So, we find ourselves at the dreaded beginning of the New Year and are thus prompted into making half hearted New Year Resolutions which we barely believe will stick with us until the end of the day!  How about a change, making some resolutions for the office and the business you are working in, to galvanise some change into maybe what is a routine environment.

Review Your Equipment:  This is the time to have a look at your printer, fax machine, photocopier, amongst others and see if they are still performing and meeting your business requirements.  If you are looking to produce more of your own marketing material, then buying a slightly higher specification printer may be the way forward.  Most major manufacturers including Oki, Xerox, HP and Dell offer excellent high end products designed to work with PC software packages to produce good results.  It is also possible to buy bespoke papers and card to help you product the marketing items you are looking for.

Go Green:  Well, not literally in a Hulk emulating way but maybe it is time to start turning your office into a haven of eco-friendliness by turning off appliances and lighting, recycling more paper, using both sides of the paper, recycling toners and considering using a printer with a greener slant, such as Xerox’s range of ink stick using machines.  These offer no wastage or have secondary packaging to recycle.

Get Organised:  There are a number of tools which are designed to help even the most discipline challenged person.  These include personal organisers, calendars, desk tidies, notepads, post-it notes and diaries.  All of these are aimed at making appointments and your working space a more dynamic experience on a day-to-day basis.

Drink More Water:  This is one of our personal favourite tips, as staying hydrated has been proven to help the brain function properly and stop people feeling sluggish in the afternoon.  Keeping plenty of water in the office is easy and can either take the form of a water machine or plenty of bottled water in the works kitchen.

Keep On Giving: Business contacts and opportunities are often born out of charitable ventures.  Look at ways you can integrate your business into the community, either by allowing work experience or by offering funds or time to an organisation already set up.  Some charities are delighted to receive help on computer training, creating flyers or business cards, businesses advice, etc and it will help you in return by offering a level of altruistic promotion.

Finally, look after yourself.  Take this time to think about how you can organise your time more effectively, so you feel more energised and enthusiastic about your daily work.  Use diaries or calendars to mark off clearly down time, so you can work towards targets, knowing you have pending time to yourself.  Happy 2013 everyone!

It is barely Autumn but here at The Supplies Group we feel it is timely to write about some items we stock which may keep you organised at the beginning of next year.  For those of us, who like to have things well prepped in advance, there are a number of essential tools we need to purchase for the coming 2013.  Of course, the doom bringers would have you believe there is no need to purchase anything with the word 2013 embossed on it, as they predict the end of the World but here at The Supplies Group we are a little more optimistic and like to mark our birthdays and up-coming events on the calendar!

Here are the items we would recommend:

Day Planners:  These are extremely useful for busy offices with many projects on the go; students who need to prioritise their workloads and even busy parents who have multiple family members taking part in many activities.  If you find yourself needing some help to remember deadlines, this is definitely the tool for you.  We offer a large wall mounted Sasco day planner, with space for 40 staff or projects and symbol stickers and pen.

Calendars:  This is where it is possible to fill your boots with delight as we have an absolute plethora of calendars to offer to you.  We appreciate some people like to get their hands on desk top affairs, slowly ripping off each day in a countdown to a new year and then there are others who like to have something more A4 sized, with the ability to handle notes.  Of course the total seriously calendar aficionado will total dig this offering here, which comes equipped with 2 markers and 3 magnets on this calendar.

For the traditionalist, here is a wall hanging calendar.

Finally here is one of the many desktop calendars we offer.

Appointment Books:  Every organised person or busy business needs to have an appointment book they can look at and update on a regular basis. Here we have an appointment book which has spaces for every fifteen minutes and has been bound in such a way to allow for it fall flat when open.

Why not have a look around the rest of our site, as we offer printer toner and inks, catering items and more pens than your average Sixth Form student.  Please do give us a call on 0800 783 5839 if you need any further advice or cannot find something you are looking for.  We will always do everything we can to help the customer.

The key to deciding whether you need to purchase an inkjet or a laser printer is to really have a good look at the type of documents you are going to be printing out on a regular basis.  The answer for most people is they often want to print plain text documents, graphics and photographs but this is simply not practical unless you have the space to buy both types of machines or have a large budget. There has been definite progression over the last ten years with laser printers, with the lower end of the scale now fitting both home users budgets and available space but they are still unable to tick all the boxes on printing capability.  So, it is important to consider the bulk of the material you want to print out over a month and then make a decision.

• Photos, photos, photos:  An inkjet printer is still the best medium for anyone who is going to be using their printer mainly for photographs.  Inkjets spray ink onto the paper via nozzles and the best type of inkjet is one without a tri-colour cartridge, as this allows for better value for money, as it is a rare user who will go through all three colours equally.  With this method of transferring colour onto a page, you get better and more subtle colour coverage for photographs.  When used in conjunction with the specialist photographic paper, either your treasured family memories or business photographs will be printed out in all their magnificent glory.

• Text heavy documentation:  The majority of inkjets have a hard time replicating a crisp and clean line of text and even though there are some more expensive inkjets which are able to do a fine job, they tend to be on the costly side.  Laser printers are designed for this type of work and even the most budget monochrome laser printer will give a better print out than the equivalent inkjet.  Laser printers also work out to be the far more economical option when printing bulky text documents.

• Creativity:  If you are looking for a printer to take you to the next level with your art projects or to add to an arsenal of crafty tools, then an inkjet printer is definitely the one to go for.  There are many types of papers including ones to allow you to transfer your T-Shirt designs.  The possibilities of using this paper are endless and can even be ironed onto wood!

• Usage Costs:  It is important to really work out how much printing you are likely to do on a regular basis.  A laser printer will always win hands down when it comes to printing out documents in an efficient and cheap way, as using toner cartridge over time definitely works out more cost effective than refilling or buying an ink cartridge.

• Speed: Laser printers are able to print at much faster speeds than any competing inkjets, due to the set-up of technology inside them.  Laser printers produce completely dry and ready to use paperwork as soon as it comes out of the printer, whereas inkjet printers give slightly damp documentation, which needs to dry for a few moments before it can be used.

• Size: This should be your last consideration but laser printers generally are not that small.  Inkjet printers are most often designed to fit on a desk top or small office space, so if you are really strapped for space this is something to bear in mind.
  

These are the main points we feel are necessary for consideration and in summation, if your work is mostly monochrome printing and in high volumes, then a laser printer will happily fit into your workplace, giving you speed and value for money.  However, if you are looking to use the printer for photographs or graphical work; the inkjet option is always going to find a home first.

Imagine this scenario; you have lovingly taken many months constructing your website, you regularly blog, you make sure your content is linked on reciprocating websites and you do everything you can with social media to get the message out about your website.  This is something you have created and nurtured and over time you are quite attached to the information you have placed online.

How shocking would it be to then find out someone else is stealing your content and definitely not crediting you with it?  Of course when we were in school, anyone caught cribbing work off someone else would have instantly been penalised and shamed as a cheat but in today’s electronic world, it is so very easy for someone to plunder your hard work and pass it off as their own with very little repercussions, unless you are prepared to be vigilant and scrutinise your content.

We would suggest you constantly monitor your brand and Google similar words and images to your articles and products to see what returns you receive in the search engine.  If your expectations believe online theft only happens by relatively unknown websites, then you may be in for a surprise.  If you find the theft has happened with a website you respect or feel they carry a high amount of credence for the work they put up, it can be daunting thinking about tackling them about the situation.  This is what we would suggest you do:

1)     Firstly approach them directly and ask them to remove the stolen content.  This may or may not be enough to rectify the problem.  It is highly likely the company will totally ignore your pleas as they have already stooped as low to steal your work in the first place.

2)     If your work continues to remain visible on their website, your next line of attack is to contact their hosting service directly.  This can be obtained by doing a DNS lookup as the domain name may be owned by a different company to the people who do the web hosting.  This information can be found at http://www.domaintools.com

3)     Lastly, if you are still waiting for resolution then it is relatively easy to serve a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Notice of Infringement.  This can be served to the hosting company too and will usually see the website taken down for a period of time until the article is removed.

There are other measures you can set up, before any copyright infringement has happened which will hopefully deter people in the first place from stealing your work. Clear warnings about how you will take punitive action if your content is copied without your permission and making it standard business practice to put a copyright footer, including the date and your blog name at the bottom of each posting.  For online content it is possible to license your content with a Creative Commons License which then gives you control over who and where your work can be copied to.

Overall we hope this article gives you some confidence to tackle anyone who may have taken your intellectual property from your website and safeguard you from future cyber attacks.

There are a number of reasons to make sure the office you work in is operating as eco-friendly as possible; most people are aware of the impact of rubbish on hugely overfull landfill sites and recently it has been proven by psychologists that people enjoy working in an office with schemes where they can participate in recycling or contribute to eco-conscious tasks.  The initiatives and incentives take very little time to set-up and if made part of a team co-operation, then it also acts as a team building exercise to.  Here are some tips to get things started:

1)     Energy Efficiency:  Initiate this by asking staff to turn off their computers, printers and other electrical items at night time.  Most people leave these appliances in stand-by and this is a waste of energy.  Nominate someone to also undertake an energy efficiency survey and speak to the Office Manager to see if you are using a green energy supplier with a renewable tariff.

2)     Recycling:  Ask staff to set up desktop paper saving trays, so waste paper can be used for notepads.  Set up designated and clearly marked bins, so any plastic from vending machines, plastic magazine wrapping and packaging, along with aluminium cans, printer and fax cartridges and fluorescent light bulbs can be recycled.

3)     Environmentally Conscious Office Supplies: Get someone to do an audit around the office and see if there are areas where changes can be made to make items greener.  Things to consider are changing paper from virgin pulp to recycled, biodegradable cups and plates, recycled toilet paper and paper towels.  Of course you may want to consider putting in heated hand dryers to minimise paper usage in this area.  Where possible, buy printers with a double-sided printing option built in, so non-essential documentation can be printed with less paper usage.

4)     Greener Chemicals: Have a chat with the person responsible for buying in janitorial supplies used in the kitchen and bathroom areas and ask them to swap over onto recognised eco-friendly ones.

5)     Others to Consider:  Sourcing kitchen buckets for staff to place food waste and scraps into, so this can both be collected and recycled or for a designated member of staff to take home and compost.  Try and set up water saving devices around the office and finally ask staff to consider cycling, walking, sharing transport or taking public transport into work.

Most staff members welcome positive changes as they want to continue to maintain and help the environment of the planet.  Consider at the end of the year making a report to show staff how much of an impact all their good work has actually had by estimating energy savings and demonstrating how many cups have been bought over the year, which are now quietly degrading somewhere.  You may even want to set up an incentive scheme for the person who achieves the highest amount of recycling over the year or for the person who manages to think of a new way of being eco-friendly in the office.

Document management software is a piece of technology to help alleviate the need for mountains of paperwork and allow the construction of documents within the office.  The vital usefulness of this software is the ability for documentation to be accessible with ease, new documents can be created quickly and it allows the transfer of information across the business with a few clicks of the mouse.  Most software also has levels of protection and sensitivity awareness, allowing it to be used in areas where information needs to be kept rigorously under control.

However, whilst making the decision to use this type of software is standard practice within most large to medium corporations; smaller businesses may be put off by the initial outlay cost and also find it difficult to see how some of the services offered, can be put into use within their day-to-day office running.  This is where a bit more research may be needed but there are certainly some amazing programmes designed to work excellently in a small organisation.  Here are a few tips to make the decision process easier.

Assess the type of documentation your company uses:  Even as a smaller company, you may still have large amounts documentation shared within your departments.  Homogenisation of documentation is important between each area of your company, as it helps to maintain a professional front and this is where document management software can really assist.  Templates can be created quickly and then shared seamlessly across the organisation.  Without this type of software, changes can be emailed but it is down to the individual to make sure they update their computer and this can sometimes be forgotten on a busy day.  This shows document management software can cut down on man hours spent making sure changes to branding or small print has been implemented across the board.

Information packs: If you regularly send out documentation packs, with information gathered from different departments, then document management software, will be the cohesive glue in making sure everything goes out with the correct logo, information and branding on it.  Collating differing documents from other areas of the business can sometimes differ in the look and feel and with the exhaustive use of templates; this will totally unify the paperwork and cut down on checking and rewording time.

Sensitivity of information: If your company is engaged in dealing with documents with a high level of secrecy, then document management software can be imperative.  Certain documentation can be given profiles to make sure they are assigned varying levels of protection.  The author can decide exactly how the authored document will then be disseminated.

Lack of storage space: Most small businesses are pushed for storage and the last thing anyone needs are boxes of documents or stacks of filing cabinets lined up in the room.  Using documentation storage software will allow these documents to be filed electronically and gives the added bonus of instant access to anyone looking for an archived document.  This also makes it the environmentally conscious choice for any small company too. Not only does this add a less cluttered office space, it actually reduces costs by the lack of need on printer paper.

It is worth searching the Internet for solutions specifically aimed at small businesses.  The overall advantages are definite if you are a business with a high documentation output and a variety of staff members in different roles; including ones in remote offices or working from home.

With the pressures of work, we can often fall into a trap of feeling exhausted, eating badly and then crawling into bed tired, only to repeat the pattern again the next day.  To get out of that rut sometimes takes a bit work.  We have listed some tips below to give you a starting point and allow you to wave good-bye to those previously stressful days.

1) Walk to work:  I understand this point is not strictly in the office, however starting the day with good momentum, sets the tone for the rest of it.  Walking to work will allow you to gain some fresh air and exercise but will also allow you, if you so desire, to use the time to relax and clear your mind.  Try focusing on your surroundings, rather than your two o’clock meeting and you will hopefully arrive at the office in an excellent mood.

2) Healthy breakfast: Avoid that mid morning slump by eating something decent in the morning.  If you skipped breakfast at home, make sure you have something you can eat when you first get into the office.  You could pack a breakfast to take with you to avoid eating something convenient from a local shop, which may not be as healthy.

3) Take your own food:  Some people need to eat little and often and taking your own snacks into the office are an ideal way of controlling what you eat and making sure you do not succumb to a bar of chocolate or packet of crisps.  Nuts and home made healthy energy bars are a good way of controlling blood sugar levels.  Continuing on this theme, taking your own lunch into the office is one way to make sure you stick to eating nutritious food throughout the day.

4) Get out and about: It would be a waste to remain sat at your desk with all that delicious food.  Once again, getting outside or changing your environment does wonders for the soul and when the weather is beautiful, there is nothing nicer than sitting outside with your packed lunch.  You may even make some new friends or contacts at the same time.

5) Keep hydrated:  This is a common cause of stress headaches and general fatigue and one easily rectified by simply making sure you drink enough water throughout the day.  This is especially important if you drink copious quantities of coffee or tea.

6) Exercise:  Enrol in some physical activity during your lunch break.  Decide on something you feel you can stick too.  Some people prefer a relaxing activity like yoga; others need to burn off their frustrations with intense cardio activity in the gym.  Either way, the benefits to your overall health is enormous.

7) Maintain your goals:  If you visualise where you want to be with these healthy choices in a few months time, you are far more likely to stick to your goals.  It can be difficult when your colleagues are eating doughnuts during a tea break but ultimately the long term benefits out weight any temptation you may be feeling.

8) Cleanliness: Have a good scrub of your desk and wash your hands on a regular basis.  Offices can be a breeding ground for germs, as communal areas can become pretty grubby.  Make sure you ventilate your office on a regular basis by opening the windows to get a blast of fresh air into the stuffy environment.

After a while, adhering to the choices you have made to get fitter and healthier will start showing and in a few weeks not only will you look better physically, you will also feel better. Your colleagues may even want to put down the doughnuts and join you in your campaign!

In this period of economic austerity, we are all looking for smart ways to cut down on business expenditure.  With an increase in technology and computers, long gone are the days when businesses needed to farm out their artwork to expensive external printers.  Modern printers, including ‘budget’ printers, often come equipped with extra print features and it is worth checking your printer manual or the manufacturer’s website to see what is available.  Here is a little reminder of some of the different ways you can use your printer to bring down costs within your organisation.

Business cards: These can represent an enormous expenditure especially if part of your logo changes or something to do with your job description, as they then need to be produced again.  The majority of printers are designed to be able to take cardstock thick enough to produce decent looking business cards, allowing you to control how many you need to print in one go and cut down on paper waste.  There are a number of websites offering royalty free images or images at a reduced rate when used for commercial purposes, such as http://www.istockphoto.com/ and http://www.shutterstock.com/ allowing you to create professional artwork, in-line with your corporate identity.

Brochures: If you own a medium or large sized printer, you may find there are features on your installation CD or within your print options which allow you to print edge to edge or have some control over margins.  This will give you the added advantage of being able to produce at the touch of a button, company brochures, product catalogues or presentation material on the fly, with good faith knowing these will be comparable to outsourced print work.   Some higher end printers include features such as folding and saddle-stitching, allowing further documents types to be produced.

Labels:  Once the scourge of laser printers due to the heat of the internal parts causing the glue to melt and the label to stick to the drum or other integral parts; most manufacturers now produce labels for laser printers as well as inkjets.  Labels can be used on a wide range of materials, including CD’s, ring binders and data cartridges.  This can cut down on costs in the warehouse and archiving.

Postcards and Flyers:  Many businesses use these as a staple to send out promotional offers in the post to their customers.  Producing these on your own printer, coupled with using compatible ink or toner can significantly reduce the cost of creating these image heavy documents.

Integrated Software: A number of manufacturers have been extremely smart and have added in print software with templates to allow you to produce marketing material to be proud of:

HP are leading the way in encouraging users to make the most of their printers by offering free software called “HP Creative Studio” http://www.hp.com/hho/uk_smb_hp_create/  The website is intuitive to use and has been laid out with a plethora of ideas to get your creative juices flowing.  Business templates can be found here: http://www.hp.com/sbso/productivity/office/index.html for most HP printers and there are a number of free templates and images for people who are starting out, along with article resources giving hints and tips on how to market your company effectively whilst producing your own literature.

Oki also offer their own “Template Manager” http://www.oki.co.uk/templatemanager

This is not compatible with Windows 98 software or Mac OS at the moment but aside from that it does offer a wide range of templates, along with image manipulation, merging of images and once again is free to download.  Oki offer a range of media including pre-creased media for folded brochures, banner media and media which will withstand outside weather exposure.

Xerox has a basic version of business card templates for you to download here: http://www.xerox.co.uk/office/small-business-templates/corporate-identity/acrobat/engb.html, although you will need to make sure you have a version of Adobe Acrobat Reader for your computer to be able to read these files.

As you can see there are a number of areas where your humble desk printer can help save you money with and if you need any advice on getting different media for your printer, please give us a call at the Supplies Group and we will help find the right product for your printer.

As an owner of an on-line business, you will be aware of the importance of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and will be making it a regular part of your working week to update and check. Understanding how to achieve the best results can appear to be daunting, with many areas of the Web to get to grips with.  Luckily there are a number of tools to be found on the Internet to help with this important task and help make sure you are reaching the necessary wide range of people’s websites and on-line blogs.

The next step in your on-line marketing campaign is to make sure you take on the mighty Google.  Making the most of and achieving results in Google needs some serious dedication in the way of researching and examining your brand’s position and reputation on a weekly basis too.  In this technological world of glorious on-line expansion and commentary, there are many websites dedicated to recording consumer’s experiences with a company or organisation and it is important to bear in mind not everyone is going to write a favourable paragraph about you.  Companies like ValuedOpinions and OpinionsOutpost offer the consumer rewards for filling out online surveys about specific products and services.

There is an old cliché saying about “no such thing as bad publicity” and we would suggest taking that attitude, however difficult it might feel.  You can also cash in on the awareness of your company by turning it into an exercise to create SEO and links to your site.  The best way to achieve this is to write a press release and talk in a very positive and professional manner.

In the meantime, checking your keywords and how they are ranked within Google is equally important.  You may feel overtime you want to tweak certain words you have emphasised within your website, if you feel you are not receiving enough traffic to your best selling or most prestigious items.  Here, over at the Supplies Group, we look at the generic word ‘toner cartridge’ and we show up but on the 4^th page of results.  This is acceptable for such a broad term but we are constantly tweaking words for specific manufacturers and models of printers to make sure we are if a comfortable position to attract browsers attention.

Overall, taking time to look at how you are fairing within on-line marketing tools, will be the one thing which will keep you ahead of the competition and prohibit the need for costly advertising spend and damage to your reputation.

Once in a while, here at the Supplies Group, we like to take things back to basics and give our customers some advice on how to maintain and look after their printers.  In this article, I want to talk about how to get the best from your HP printer by regularly changing and maintaining your fuser unit.  Have you ever wondered what this piece of technology within your printer does and why it is so important to preserving the quality of your print output?  Here is the rundown on why keeping on top of this consumable item, will make for a stress-free printing environment.

1)     How does it work? The art of how toner is taken from their units and ‘fused’ onto the paper is a clever process.  The whole procedure relies on two rollers, which are heated up to an incredibly high heat and then the paper is pressed between the two rollers.  The toner is literally pressed into the paper and unlike inkjet printers, HP laser printers produce print which is dry to touch as it arrives out of the printer and it also leaves the paper warm due to the ferocious temperatures it has been exposed to.

2)     When to replace your fuser: Your printer should be set-up to let you know when the HP LaserJet fuser unit is coming to the end of its usefulness.  The fuser unit is given a certain lifespan dependent upon how much ‘yield’ you use, which correlates to the amount of toner covering the page every time you print.  The average usage for most people is to use 5% toner coverage when printing.  The fuser unit will be used more rapidly if you increase the amount of imagery you place onto your documentation.

3)     What are fuser degradation warning signs? You may be in a position where your printer has not alerted you to the need to change the fuser and your printer has now started acting erroneously?  The obvious signals your fuser needs changing are when you have paper jams and the print on the paper becomes faint or dirty.

4)     Why should I replace my fuser unit?  Deciding to try and save money by continuing to print on a worn fuser unit can lead to bigger complications including toner build up on the rollers, damage to the drive gears and ultimately a printer with so many issues it works out to be too expensive to repair.

5)     Will regular maintenance help? The simple answer is yes!  There are a number of cleaning routines and tips which will help your fuser remain at optimal performance within the printer and therefore keep the rest of the machine working effectively too.  A gentle hovering to remove any build up of dust around the rollers, along with the use of a solution kit to remove any build up of toner accumulated on the fuser, will all help the longevity of your fuser; just make sure you always wear rubber gloves.  Sticking to the recommended types of media for your machine will also remove any unnecessary stress on your machine.

6)     Any other issues to consider? Lastly, fuser units often come in two voltages and it is vital you pick the one which is correct for your machine.  Always refer to the instruction manual and find the correct product code before purchasing your supplies, as the incorrect component can result in terminal damage to your printer, as it will be unable to cope with the electrical pressure placed on it.

Finally, if you need any help with changing a HP fuser unit or need some advice, please give us a call on 0800 783 5839, where our team of customer specialists will be more than happy to help.