A new regulation relating to data that can be used to identify an individual comes into force in May next year. All customer organisations need to be aware of the rules or risk huge penalties – and where there is risk, there is opportunity. In this special feature, we look at the essentials of GDPR and how resellers can help customers address the challenge and turn it into an opportunity.

Complying with GDPR may be a concern, but good preparation can make all the difference. Here, we explore how your customer service team might be affected.

As you’ve probably heard, as of May 2018 all companies who handle personally identifiable data about EU and UK citizens will need to comply with a data protection law called GDPR. It’s causing a great deal of concern to a lot of businesses, but if you approach it with knowledge and planning, it needn’t be such a worry.

Join us as we explore the new rights and rules that are laid out under GDPR, and the ways that your customer support teams may be affected.

GDPR: The Basics

The “General Data Protection Regulation” or GDPR is a new EU-wide data protection law that standardises and updates the data protection rights of individuals across all EU member states (including the UK post-Brexit, reference the recent “Data Protection Bill”). It implements several rules that give ultimate control over personal data back to the people that data refers to.

All companies that hold personally identifiable data about EU and UK citizens will need to be totally compliant by the 25th May 2018, otherwise they may face a fine of up to €20m or 4% of the company’s annual turnover from the preceding year (whichever is greater).

Though we have tried to be as accurate as possible in this article, it summarises some very detailed legislation. We would highly recommend you read the ISO’s guidance on GDPR to cover some of the finer points.

First Steps – A Full Data Audit

Because GDPR deals with identifiable data, carrying out a full audit of how data enters, flows around, and leaves your organisation is a valuable place to start. Take stock of the ways that you handle, store, recall, and process the data belonging to private individuals; what do you do with that data? What permission do you have from each individual to process that data? Does any information get shared with third parties? Are there any weak spots in your practices that might result in data loss or unauthorised access?

Take a top-down, inclusive look at all interactions your company has with individuals’ personal data, how it flows around various departments, how your customer-facing teams access that information, and what permissions they have with that data.

Willing Consent & The Right to be Informed

Consent is a concept that underpins the whole GDPR ruling. If a company wants to use a person’s identifiable data, the company will need to seek clear and knowing consent from the consumer. Companies will also need to be prepared to answer questions from consumers about how their data is used and publish their privacy policies in clear language so as to be easily understood. It also permits people to retract consent they may have previously given.

How this affects Customer Services: It is paramount that all team members (not just customer-facing ones) understand GDPR, and the core concepts that underpin it – not least that of consent. Additionally, it could be quite likely that your customer service operatives will be the ones fielding calls asking what data is held, what you do with it, and why you have it. Train your team how to handle these queries without ambiguity. If someone wishes to retract their consent from a given activity, your customer operatives may have to fulfil that request – make sure they receive training about compliance with individuals’ wishes under GDPR.

Rights of Access, Rectification, Erasure, and Portability

Under the right of access, citizens can request a digital copy of all data you hold about them in a commonly used electronic format, delivered within one month of the request. The right to rectification states that if a company holds incorrect or incomplete data about an individual, that person has a right to have it corrected within one month. Under the right to erasure, a company must comply with any request to delete a person’s identifiable data unless they have a lawful basis to refuse that request. Under the new right to portability, consumers have the right to request that their data be passed between two organisations without hassle (for example when they are moving to a new service provider).

How this affects Customer Services: The systems and storage media that your teams use should all allow for the amendment, deletion, and portability of data with no complications or security concerns. In order to fulfil access and portability requests, you’ll need to make sure your systems allow for data to be exported quickly, easily, and in a common format. As well as changes to your systems, your staff must be brought up to speed with how to use your systems in order to comply with these requests.

The Right to Restrict Processing

Citizens will be able to object to a company processing their data in ways that they object to. This may include sending the individual marketing materials or sharing their details with third parties. You are allowed to keep just enough of the person’s data to make sure their wishes are met.

How this affects Customer Services: Though this rule sounds simple, there are a few important circumstances to be aware of over on the ICO’s website. In order to act on restriction requests, your systems will have to allow for individuals’ data to be ringfenced in order to cease further processing, and your teams will have to be trained on how to carry out these requests in compliance with the law.

The Right to Object

Citizens will have the right to object to uses of their data for direct marketing, profiling based on any legitimate interest, or for statistical analysis should they have legitimate “grounds relating to their particular situation”.

How this affects Customer Services: Your customer-facing teams will have to be aware that people can object to certain uses of their data, not least to direct marketing practices. If your customer service operatives have control of or access to your direct marketing lists, they must be aware that consent for direct marketing needs to be given freely and auditably.

Rights Relating to Automatic Profiling and Decision Making

If you rely on automatic profiling systems to make decisions about customers (such as automated credit scores), this is an important one. This gives consumers the right to appeal any potentially damaging decision made without human intervention, and plead their case to a human decision maker.

How this affects Customer Services: If your customer relations teams rely on automated decision-making tools, then you will need to make allowances for this new right. Individuals must have the ability to challenge any automatically generated decision with a human decision-maker. There are a few exceptions and rules surrounding automated profiling, you can check those out here.

Dealing with Data Breaches & Leaks

All organisations will be duty bound to report certain data breaches to their relevant supervisory body, and in some cases also to the individuals affected. This refers to any breach of security that could result in unauthorised loss, access to, or disclosure of individuals’ personal information.

How this affects Customer Services: At the very least, your customer service operatives should know what constitutes a data breach, the rules surrounding data security, and how to notify management of any breach concerns. Measures should be put into place in order to deal with data breaches; it might be a good idea to create an action plan for when data breaches happen, and to carry out “practice runs” of this plan so everyone is prepared.

Accountability and Data Protection Officers

Under GDPR, all companies are expected to govern their data protection measures carefully. You must train your staff and implement technical measures to make sure that your whole company is compliant with the new ruling. Under certain circumstances, you might also need to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO).

Though this last element may not affect customer services directly, it highlights the importance that GDPR is something that the whole company needs to work together on. Though we don’t want to make GDPR sound scary, the truth is that it only takes one weak link in the chain to undo a whole company’s good work. Your systems need to ensure compliance by design, and all of your staff, in all departments, and all levels of management, need to be made aware of the new rules.

Copier Service Contracts and What You Need to Know

When you’re dealing with copier service contracts you need to understand exactly what you need, what you don’t, and what you’re getting yourself into. For the most part, service contracts from copier dealers and servicing companies are a great way to expense away hassle-free use of your copier or multifunction printer. You just need to know how to negotiate these deals and also what to look for so you cover all of your bases.

Copier Service Contracts and Knowing the Minimum “Click” Amounts

We’ve used the term “click” so many times it probably doesn’t need to be explained, but it’s essentially a printed image. That’s one click for a single-sided piece of paper and two clicks for a two-sided sheet. It doesn’t matter how much is printed on a paper, if it came out of the machine with the intention to be printed upon, it’s a click.

When you enter into a copier service contract, you guarantee the service provider a number of monthly minimum clicks. You’ll pay that rate regardless of whether or not you actually use them or not. And you’ll pay overages if you go beyond that amount. That means you really want to take your best guess—hopefully based on some data—on how much your office actually prints each month.

Most copier service contracts (also called copier maintenance contracts) present you with a minimum number of clicks that you get billed for each month. It doesn’t matter if you go under that amount—you’re still going to pay that minimum amount. Of course, if you go over you’ll have extra charges!

Make sure you understand the overages before you sign so that there are no surprises later. Also, it’s common that the service provider will attempt to differentiate pricing between the included clicks and the overage clicks. This is in order to get more of the “guaranteed” or “expected” clicks up front and not receive most of their funds as overages.

Sometimes a Click is More Than a Click

One thing that can catch you unawares is when dealing with A3 or tabloid size paper. Anything that measures more than A4 or letter could count as more than one click. It all depends on the service provider and how your contract is set up. Make sure you specify this up front if you do a lot of 11×17 printing, so you don’t end up getting charged 2-clicks per page without realizing what’s going on.

Another thing to be aware of is color vs. black and white. A color click will always cost more than a black and white click (due to increased toner costs) but you want to make sure what will happen when you print a document with only a very tiny amount of color (perhaps a small part of your logo is color and appears on the top header of most printed pages). Like everything else, knowledge is power—you want to know what costs will be incurred before they happen. This keeps you from being surprised and/or disappointed by your service provider down the road.

What’s Included in a Copier Service Contract

Most copier service contracts include toner, drums, maintenance & repairs, and anything else that isn’t paper (or staples if you have a finisher). It’s designed to be hassle-free and to allow you to focus on your business and not maintaining a device in your office (or becoming an expert in troubleshooting issues). Of course, it can also include some things you don’t want—like fine print. Reading the fine print can save you tons of headaches down the line. Some of the more “incendiary” fine print we’ve seen includes drastic overage fees, quarterly or annual service fee increases, and exceptions for ongoing maintenance that don’t allow for normal wear and tear issues.

The bottom line with any copier service agreement is that you have to be able to read the fine print and understand exactly what you are being charged. There are a lot of copier service companies out there, so make sure you’re getting a good deal and don’t be afraid to shop around. 

All Office Equipment offers education printing solutions:

Today’s schools and universities are under pressure to meet tough standards while facing budget constraints.

At the same time, teachers and students want to embrace new technology while studies show that the use of colour increases learning and participation.

As device flexibility and 24/7 connectivity becomes part of daily life, cost-effective digital printing, document management and connectivity have an important role to play in learning and the creation of educational materials.

Key challenges

Detailed student applications and regular testing are important processes but can be time-consuming and costlyEducation professionals must continually monitor and account for spending. Flexible billing systems need to be connected to print, copy and scan at a student account levelThere is a growing expectation that schools and universities should use the latest innovative technology, including next-generation cloud and mobile solutions while students and teachers alike expect to be able to use their own devices on-sitePrinters and printing tend to get overlooked when schools think about carbon emission reductions meaning opportunities to make power consumption cuts and save money are missed

How AOE can help improve your business

- Effectively print, grade, assess and manage documents for enrollment and evaluation

Regular tests focus learning and evaluate students’ knowledge but are often time-consuming and can require costly pre-printed forms.

Easy to configure and ideal for admissions processes, evaluation and the enrolment of new students, education grading software for MFPs makes it easy to print, scan and individually grade tests, saving time and cost as well as create a more detailed evaluation of student performance.

Keep control of departmental spending

With educational budgets tight, staff need to monitor and account for spending at a departmental level.

This can mean restricting user rights and implementing volume restrictions via an output management system. In universities, a batch system limits students’ print volumes by available credit.

Smart MFP panels also serve as an interface to review print queues and monitor user quotas, card readers can act as authentication devices while printers have the option of QR code labels that are read via smartphones.

Connect performance with cutting-edge technology

The BYOD (bring-your-own-device) trend is seeing students in schools and universities using their own laptops, tablets and smartphones to access documents and information, reducing IT costs and increasing user engagement.

Google Cloud Print and AirPrint-ready OKI devices make it possible to print on the move.

The ability to store documents in a cloud repository by the teacher or professor and print on-demand by the students at smart MFPs can also be more cost-effective than printing multiple copies, reducing waste and delays.

Keep costs down and make printing more sustainable with eco-initiatives

Many schools and colleges could make savings by adopting a more eco-friendly approach to printing.

Energy-efficient applications contained in OKI devices include ‘Deep Sleep’ mode to cut power consumption to the minimum and ‘Auto-Power Off’ which automatically powers the device down after extended non-usage.

Default mono and duplex printing and switching to managed document solutions can also help to reduce running costs.

Your benefits at a glance

Make test grading and admissions more efficient, save on printing and external pre-printed form costs and get more visibility and understanding of student performanceTake control of print costs, monitor and account for spending at a departmental levelCloud-based storage and on-demand mobile printing via OKI devices helps deliver cost-effective document management and enables students to use their own technology devicesCombining managed document solutions with environmentally-friendly print applications supports energy reduction and cost-efficient printing

Looking for the right solution for your department? Call All Office Equipment today for the best business solution. We offer free audits to show you how we can save you money!

Call us today: 01 6290453

Email: info@aoe.ie

Check out our education brochure below to see a huge range of products we offer for educational use:

http://www.tech-education.co.uk/all-office-equipment/compulsory/

A photocopy machine is one of the most important pieces of equipment in any business. As a business employee, you may be responsible for making hundreds of photocopies on a daily basis. You should not be embarrassed if you do not have experience with a photocopier, however. Many people view photocopy machines as large foreign objects. The following is a quick tutorial that can having you making copies in less than two minutes:

Turn on the Photocopier

The first step you will take in using the photocopier is making sure it is powered on a plugged up. First, check for plugs, and make sure that the copier’s cord is plugged into a nearby outlet. Next, look for the power button. Most copiers have the power button on top, but you may find the switch on the side. If you find that the unit is already on but is not responding, then it may be in “sleep” mode. In that case, you can press the “copy” button to see if it responds to that.

Before moving to the next step, you will want to make sure that the copier has paper in it. The paper tray will be located either on the front or the side of the device. Fill the tray with paper if you notice that it is empty or the level is low.

Put Your Document on the Copier

The next step is placing your document on the copier. You will lift the photocopier’s cover and place your document on the glass surface. You will want the front of the document facing downward on the glass. You will also want to place the document the way the guide marks tell you. You will see the guide marks once you lift the cover. After you have properly placed your document, you can close the copier cover.

Select the Number of Copies

You will need to select the number of copies that you want the copier to make. The unit will have a digital number display and a set of plus and minus keys so that you can change the quantity. Some models have numeric keys for this same function.

Select the Color Preference

Next, you will want to tell the copier whether you would like color copies or black and white copies. The unit will have a dedicated button for this selection. Press the button to make your changes.

Select Paper Size

After you select the color preference, you will want to select the correct paper size. 8.5 x 11 inches is the standard paper size. If you need to use a special paper size, then you will have to feed the paper into the tray.

Press the Copy Button

Finally, you will press the “copy” button to print your copies. Some units have the copy button labeled as a start button. Once you press the copy button, your copies will start printing. You may stand in front of the copier while is it printing so that you catch any errors immediately.

Any queries on how to get the best out of your photocopier, or if you're looking for an upgrade? Call All Office Equipment on (01) 6290453.

This year PaperCut has focused on enhancing the overall look and feel of our solution, and extending our features to continue to reduce any potential security risks associated with printing. In release 17.2 this trend continues. End users are presented with a slick new interface, which administrators can quickly customize with new branding options. We’ve also added a number of enhancements to help your organization be GDPR compliant. For PaperCut MF users, Integrated Scanning is now available on Xerox and Sindoh, along with more improvements to make configuring Find-Me easier. 

A modern look and feel for all users

The refreshed, modern interface introduced in 17.0 on the Admin web interface has been expanded to the User web interface.

Now end users can enjoy the same modern look and feel as administrators, with a stylish and savvy interface that presents an intuitive layout to allow everyone to get the most out of their PaperCut MF or NG deployment.

We recognize that some organizations want to carry over their branding to provide their users with a seamless and integrated online experience. So not only did the User web interface get a makeover, but we have now made it easier than ever before to apply your organization’s branding across PaperCut MF and PaperCut NG.

A new “Branding” section located in the Options menu provides quick and easy configuration of customization; allowing you to make PaperCut truly your own. Within the new Branding section, you can customize the branding of the Login page, User web interface, Admin interface, and the Client Tool.

New security improvements for GDPR

With regulatory changes being brought in across the globe to protect users rights to data privacy and protection, PaperCut is actively equipping our products to help our customers meet their data protection obligations.

The latest data regulation taking Europe by storm GDPR, will enforce significant fines in the case of privacy and data breaches. In the 17.2 release, new Forget-Me and What Do You Know About Me features help organizations comply with their GDPR obligations relating to their printing system.

To help comply with the “Right to Access” changes, What Do You Know About Me allows organizations to provide a user with all the information stored about them in PaperCut NG or PaperCut MF, giving them full visibility into their data records.

To help comply with the “Right to be Forgotten” changes, Forget-Me is a secure and automated process to have all information associated with a user redacted with a single admin command.

Restrict admin access to specific shared accounts

PaperCut MF and PaperCut NG now offers improved security by providing the ability to restrict admin access to specific shared accounts. Admins can be given access to manage only the subset of accounts they are responsible for.  This prevents the risk of unauthorised account access and reduces potential confusion for IT Administrators.

Improvements continue for Xerox embedded application

After receiving an interface refresh in 17.0, the PaperCut MF embedded application on Xerox EIP devices has had a number of new functions added, including Integrated Scanning, the ability to select multiple print jobs when releasing, the tracking of printing from USB drives and more. All this new functionality will make it feel like a new embedded application for Xerox Multifunction Devices!  

And yes, the Xerox Integrated Scanning is supported on all the new VersaLink and AltaLink devices as well!