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Cyberattack Risks for SMBs

Businesses around the world are increasingly falling victim to cyberattacks, costing millions of dollars in lost data and time. Many small and medium sized businesses feel like they’re too small to be targeted, but nearly half of all attacks are aimed at these companies. Taking steps to protect your company is vital to your survival in this ever-changing digital landscape.
Common Types of Cyberattacks

Most cyberattacks fall into one of these categories:

Denial of service (DoS)
Password attack
Malware

In a DoS attack, hackers flood a network with information and requests, causing a “traffic jam” that doesn’t allow legitimate business to get through. If your system becomes too overloaded, it can crash and shut down. It can take hours or days to recover from a denial of service attack, during which your company and clients are at a stand-still.

Password attacks seek to gain access to your system by stealing login data. Sometimes this is done by trying various password combinations until one works, while other times thieves install cameras or software to log key strokes.

Malware attacks are perhaps the best known. This category encompasses viruses, worms, ransomware, and Trojan horse software. Malware can be installed on your system in a variety of ways, but the most common is through email attachments or malicious links in emails or advertisements.
Preventing Attacks

Though cyberattacks can be devastating to your business, simple precautions can dramatically reduce your risk of being victimized. Experts recommend taking these steps:

Install a robust anti-virus program to scan emails, files, and webpages. Be sure you update it regularly.
Install all security patches from your software and operating system manufacturers.
Use and update a firewall.
Tracking software can help detect and stop a DoS attack.
Passwords should be […]

By |December 20th, 2017|blog|
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The Importance of a Data Backup and Recovery Plan

If your business suddenly lost everything, digital records, data and paper documents, what would happen? It would most likely come to a standstill. Data management and the cloud have made business more secure and easier, but disasters can and do happen. Is your business ready?
Dealing With Technology Failure
You know how hard your day is when your smartphone or tablet isn’t working properly. Now imagine you’ve lost everything, data, email, your office phone system, paper documents, orders, billing, customer support….all GONE!

How much would your business suffer every hour? What would your losses be for every day you were down? How would this affect your business reputation? This is the key function of a disaster recovery plan. How do you get started? Prioritize:

Recovery Point Objective (RPO) – What information do you need to get up and running quickly? While it’s not good to lose archival data, it may not be necessary for daily operations.
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) – How fast do you need to be up and running? One day? One hour? Maybe faster?

Protecting Paper Records
Recently IDC conducted a study and found that 58% of businesses still rely heavily on paper documents. The best backup and recovery plan can’t restore paper documents. The problem with paper is that the processes that rely on it the heaviest are often most affected by it’s loss. In order to be truly effective, any recovery strategy must take this into account. Fortunately, today it’s easier than ever before to digitize paper documents.

Along with your IT strategy and paper strategy, you must consider non-digital backup and recovery:

Do you keep critical email addresses and phone numbers off site?
Do you have a method for notifying customers and staff when they […]

By |November 15th, 2017|blog|
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7 Tips for Working Smarter and Increasing Productivity in the Workplace

One of the biggest challenges in the workplace is finding the time to check off all of the items on your to-do list. If you can relate to the time management struggle, here are several productivity tips to help you work smarter and avoid working longer hours:
1. Give each task a deadline.
While you’ll be given a number of assignments that have defined deadlines, other projects may be more open-ended. If a deadline is not specified, create your own deadline. This will hold you accountable to completing the task in a timely manner. You’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish when you’re watching the clock.
2. Schedule brief breaks throughout the workday.
Even though breaks may sound counterintuitive, stepping away from an assignment for a few moments will help to improve your concentration and allow you to complete tasks at your peak performance.
3. Implement a two-minute rule.
Throughout the workday you’ll be faced with a number of small tasks that can be completed quickly. Implement the two-minute rule and commit to immediately taking care of tasks that can be completed within two minutes. This will prevent you from having to back-track later in the day to complete these tasks.
4. Limit the amount of meetings on your calendar.
Most employees would agree that meetings are the biggest productivity drainers in the workplace. Only attend meetings if it’s imperative that you be there. Before accepting an invitation to a meeting, determine if it’s something that can be accomplished via a conference call or web-based meeting.
5. Stop multitasking.
You won’t be able to do a quality job if you take on too many tasks at once. Instead, complete a single task well before moving on to the next one.
6. Make the […]

By |October 17th, 2017|blog|
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How to Protect Documents at Your Multifunction Printer

When you hear the term data breach, chances are thoughts turn to any one of the numerous examples over the last five years, of large scale breaches involving major corporations. In cases such as these, hackers obtained customer and client information, resulting in losses of upwards of one billion dollars collectively, and unmeasurable losses to the reputations of those affected.

If anything positive has come from these attacks, it’s been an increased awareness in security and vigilance among the public and private sectors, including areas that have been overlooked, such as multifunction printers (MFPs). The biggest risk factor used to be human error, where printed documents or originals were left behind after printing, but the MFPs of today have sophisticated network capabilities and components, making them vulnerable to attacks from outside, as well as inside, the confines of the firewall. Fortunately, there are a number of solutions to keep your MFP, and your data, safe.

Start at the Multifunction Printer

Effective policies and procedures can help significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized use or distribution of sensitive data. User authentication through the use of swipe cards, passwords, or other identifier ensures users are physically present at the MFP at the time of printing. Access can be further defined by levels, preventing guests or employees from utilizing certain features, or blocking them from sensitive materials.

Go Mobile

BYOD, and mobile printing are here to stay, but with convenience, comes risk. Deciding who can print, and on which devices is the biggest challenge, and user authentication techniques must be employed to ensure integrity.

Secure the Hard Drive

The internal storage device located inside your MFP is at risk during it’s useful lifetime, and long after. User authentication and disk encryption techniques can help prevent unauthorized access to […]

By |August 30th, 2017|blog|
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Considering Document Automation? Ask Yourself These Key Questions

Today, technology has evolved to where we can better organize the workplace and businesses processes than ever before. Document workflows are just one area that can benefit from automation. As you begin the automation process, here are some key questions to ask and answer to help define your business needs.

Automating Process

Process automation is defined as: “the digitization of any manual business process that centralizes and compiles information within a business enterprise.”

This can include everything from streamlining workflows to creating electronic filing systems. Process automation can:

Minimize human error and eliminate the related costs
Speed job completion, freeing employees to focus on core business tasks
Track, monitor and report on documents workflows and processes
Improve regulatory compliance, information reliability and corporate governance

There are many benefits of process automation that can be shared enterprise wide from marketing to the mailroom! The consulting group McKinsey found that process automation can reduce the costs of document management by up to 90 percent.

Identifying Document Automation Opportunities, What’s Next?

Once you’ve identified areas ripe for automation, it’s time to dig into the process to capture more data to then create your automation strategy. Ask and answer these questions:

What type of documents do you create? Invoice, proposals, time sheets, forms
How and where do your store these documents? Filing cabinets, storage boxes, digital file formats
What is the volume of documents you produce company-wide? Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly
What formats do you typically use? PDFs, word documents, emails, etc.
How many team members require access? At one time, in total
Do you currently have workflow systems in place? What methods, equipment and applications do you currently use
Is data manually input, or automatically […]

By |July 19th, 2017|blog|
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Thank You for Your Readership

Xerox Canada’s Bridge to Digital Business blog closes, but you can still stay in touch
Five years and 285 articles later, the time has come to close the Xerox Canada Bridge to Digital Business blog.
When I first took over the helm of the Bridge to Digital blog about three years ago, I’ll admit I was skeptical about whether a blog about helping Canadian businesses move into the digital realm was still relevant. Being of the oft-discussed millennial generation with our deep roots in technology, I assumed most businesses would be far on the path on their digital journey.
Boy, was I wrong.
We’ve spent the last five years exploring just how challenging it can be for businesses to make the leap to digital. Just last month, IDC Canada published a new study that found that although Canadian business leaders were aware of the necessity for a digital strategy, only 38% of businesses are taking the actions needed to move to digital.
The problem is not uniquely Canadian – and that’s one of the key reasons why we’ve decided to close this blog. Businesses around the world are struggling to embrace digital, become more productive, maximize their efficiencies and compete in today’s landscape. So I’ll pop up from time to time with more articles about these themes on some of the other Xerox blogs below.

I hope you’ve found our articles informative, and that they’ve helped you make one or two business decisions. I also hope you’ll keep in touch with us in the Xerox Canada Newsroom for press releases, updates, and facts about Xerox in Canada and in the other Xerox blogs that cover every part of our business and our world:
Channel Partner Connection: Help for businesses that sell […]

By |July 19th, 2017|Uncategorized|
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Xerox ConnectKey Portfolio heats up this Summer

The Xerox ConnectKey® portfolio continues to heat up in the market place and was recently recognized by Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab in their annual Summer Pick Awards. Four Xerox printer and multifunction printer (MFP) lines – including three ConnectKey devices – were selected based on their productivity-boosting capabilities.

The award winning devices in the Summer 2017 Pick Award are:
The Xerox VersaLink® B400 series was awarded “Outstanding Multifunction Printer for Mid-Size Workgroups” because of its support for mobile printing, ConnectKey apps and impressive feature set, including flexible media handling.
The Xerox VersaLink C400 series was named “Outstanding Color Printer for Mid-Size Workgroups” due to its access to ConnectKey apps that streamline workflows and add functionality.
The Xerox VersaLink C405 series received “Outstanding Color Multifunction Printer for Mid-Size Workgroups” based on its highly intuitive touchscreen panel that simplifies walk-up activity and access to time- and money-saving ConnectKey apps.
The Xerox WorkCentre® 6515 series won “Outstanding Color Multifunction Printer for Small Workgroups” for its easy-to-use touchscreen panel and high-quality, professional-looking output.
“This group of Pick-winning Xerox products was clearly designed with productivity in mind,” said Marlene Orr, senior test technician for Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab. “The Xerox VersaLink B400 series, VersaLink C400 series and VersaLink C405 series deliver ConnectKey technology in a compact footprint, allowing users to streamline workflows and add functionality, while the Xerox WorkCentre 6515 series is an affordable option with an intuitive design perfect for small workgroups. And the fact that all four devices offer high-quality output, above-average tested speeds and robust mobile support increases their value proposition even further.”
To read more about the awards, click here.
Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab’s Pick Awards are reserved for products that have undergone rigorous testing and have been named “Best […]

By |July 12th, 2017|Uncategorized|
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Set the Page Free in the Modern Workplace: Beyond Ink & Paper

By: Falynne Finagan
“Everyone comes into the office, and everyone leaves their doors open. There is always a need for face-to-face meetings.” – Warren Werbitt, Owner and Founder, Pazazz.
“I constantly have to remind people that we’re not here to just put ink on paper.” As the owner and founder of Pazazz, an independent Montreal-based print house, Warren Werbitt knows a lot about the need for effective communications. “We’re a service. We create marketing communications and help our customers generate revenue,” explains Werbitt. “We’re always looking for new ways to convey that message.”
Pazazz specializes in graphic design, direct marketing, fulfilment and finishing for some of Canada’s biggest department stores, health and beauty companies, hospitals, universities, real estate firms and more. For Werbitt and his crew, setting the page free is about moving beyond those legacy perceptions tied to the print industry.
“We’re combining cutting edge technology to create cutting edge marketing,” notes Werbitt.
How do you set the page free?
Tweet us using #SetThePageFree, or share your thoughts in the comments below.
In fact, Pazazz acquired the world’s first Xerox iGen 5 Press equipped with both the optional extended color gamut and the optional capability to print on thick stock. The press expands the company’s product mix, particularly with short-run packaging. It also enhances color quality at Pazazz, which is the first printer in Canada to gain Pantone certification for color printing.
“The first time I compared an image printed on the iGen 5 with four colors to the same image printed with five, I almost lost my marbles,” Werbitt says. “The fifth color made it just so much more vibrant.”
Keeping up with technological advances has both benefits and challenges, says Werbitt. “A new tool in the office, whether it be […]

By |July 5th, 2017|Uncategorized|
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The Advantages of Going Digital

In this month’s issue of Canadian Business Journal, Mohan Mailvaganam, Director of Digital Process Automation at Xerox Canada, talks about why digitization is an essential and strategic move for businesses to help save costs, reduce paper usage, and even improve their customer experience and competitive advantage.
“Organizations from all sectors and of all sizes – from small- and medium-sized businesses to large corporations – can realize [benefits] such as improving the client acquisition process and streamlining back-office operations by leveraging workflow automation and digitization capabilities,” Mailvaganam says.
Xerox has used digitization to help organizations across Canada to realize immediate business benefits. Recently Xerox worked with Family Service Toronto (FST) – a not-for-profit organization that provides counselling, community development, advocacy and public education programs – to digitize its paper-based processes prior to moving to a new location. The project was daunting – including converting decades of paper records stored in more than 500 bankers boxes. But with a positive 10-year cost-benefit analysis that showed the initial investment in a digital document management solution was worthwhile, FST realized a digital strategy was the right choice to make. FST were able to cut operating costs and improve internal business process, including reducing invoice processing time by 60%. More importantly, FST was able to redirect resources from back-office processing to direct client service, improving experiences for both staff and clients.

Mailvaganam says the biggest barrier to change is institutional culture – how the organization thinks and acts from upper leadership to middle management and down to frontline staff. He says there has to be company-wide buy-in to effect real change, and many organizations don’t understand the specific benefits to their operations. He recommends that companies begin by understanding their documents and […]

By |June 27th, 2017|Uncategorized|
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How the Xerox Research Centre of Canada is Helping Toronto become an Innovation Hub

As a bit of an innovation-junkie, it’s hard for me to admit that the word innovation has become overused. I was in my vet’s office buying cat food last week, and it was being advertised as being “innovated to provide superior health benefits to cats.” Maybe that’s true, but it did get me thinking about just how often we hear the word innovation used as a buzz word when what we really mean is “what do we need to do to remain competitive or provide a good product?”
I’m a firm believer that innovation IS the key to the future, and one of the most important aspects of the health of an organization, a city or a country. To me that kind of innovation isn’t about changing the colour and marketing it as new and exciting, but more about the kind of innovation that truly changes the game for the future.
So of course I was excited to see that Toronto was listed as one of the top 10 cities for innovation by Innovation Leader Magazine. But what really peaked my interest was one of the key reasons for selecting Toronto as the only Canadian city to make the list, was our very own Xerox Research Centre of Canada.

The Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) is Canada’s leading materials research centre and home to a world-class team of scientists and engineers with broad expertise in materials chemistry, formulation design, prototyping, testing, and chemical process engineering. Their work focusses on delivering real-world solutions for businesses in areas such as security and authentication, electronic and sustainable materials, chemical processes, coatings, and novel technologies for the printing, electronics and manufacturing industries. The Centre has also been nurturing an […]

By |June 21st, 2017|Uncategorized|
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