If you are reading this, chances are, you are either the owner of a home-based business, or someone who is considering starting one of your own – and you’re not alone! With the added flexibility, agility and freedom that running a business from your home affords, it is easy to see why a large portion of start-ups across the world are doing so. This, however, comes with certain challenges, one of which being that most business-grade printing solutions were made for traditional office environments, with very few options designed to be truly suitable for the home office.
With that in mind, what are some of the options you should consider when choosing a printing solution for your very own home-based business?
Laser or Inkjet? It depends.
One of the main benefits of inkjet printers is that they are an affordable option for any home business owner while being capable of delivering vibrant colour image and photo prints. However, with the high prices of printer ink, they could end up being significantly costlier once you start printing larger volumes. But that’s all about to change with Brother’s range of Refill Ink Tank Printers, a new breed of business-oriented ink printers designed for greater cost-savings while delivering outstanding print quality and print speeds.
Or, if you are looking for more document-focused printing capabilities, then look no further than Brother’s range of Laser and LED printers. With either mono or colour printing options, these capable solutions provide speedy, stable performance that’s ideal for high-volume printing of documents with crisp and easily readable text – even on smaller font sizes.
Print productivity that doesn’t cost you dearly.
Printing costs can make up a significant part of your expenses, which is why Brother’s Refill Ink Tank and Laser print solutions are designed with small businesses and home offices in mind. Our ultra-high yield refill ink bottles and toner cartridges offer affordable, high-quality prints for all your marketing, invoicing, presentation or reviewing needs that not only translates to a low cost-per-page, but also allows you to print thousands of pages before requiring a refill or cartridge change.
Form and functionality bundled in one compact package.
Forget about those large, costly copiers that are commonly found in big office departments. Aside from being affordable, Brother’s print solutions take up a significantly smaller footprint than traditional copiers and are perfectly suited for your home office. Packed with wireless networking capabilities that allow staff to easily connect to a single printer, high print speeds, flexible paper handling, high-volume duplex printing, and innovative Cloud Apps that offer seamless mobile printing and scanning on the go, they deliver amazing value and functionality for the modern home office.
Made for the home, built to last
Another major concern about compact printers is that they aren’t designed to withstand the vigours of high-volume business printing. The thought of costly supplies and frequent breakdowns are the main reasons why many are put off by the idea of utilising them.
But Brother has got you covered.
All of Brother’s genuine supplies are optimised to work perfectly with our printers for unmatched consistency and reliability, which results in less wastage, repair and maintenance costs in the long run. And with over 100 years of award-winning reliability and customer service to its name, you can be assured that any Brother printer is built to last.
With that being said, there’s certainly no one-size-fits-all solution for your unique business model. Do you require a solution with only print functionality? Or maybe you’re looking for a Multifunction Centre that’s capable of scanning, copying and faxing as well? Whatever your needs, we’re sure that you’ll find the ideal solution right here.
Brother International Singapore launches new Refill Ink Tank printer series with improved speeds, cost efficient and enhanced features for the home and office environment.
With paradigm shift in the way we operate business- towards remote working, Brother has developed a new line of compact, space-saving print solution to suit every home and business need.
DCP-T520W (print, copy, scan with Ethernet and wireless LAN)
DCP-T820DW(auto 2-sided print, copy, scan with Ethernet and wireless LAN)
MFC-T920DW (auto 2-sided print, copy, scan, fax with Ethernet and wireless LAN and USB direct printing).
The performance and enhanced features include:
Achieve incredible cost efficiency
With the improved page yield of 7,500#pages for the black and 5,000# pages for colour printing, the new Brother Ink Tank series enable you to print more documents and photos at lower cost-per-print making your prints affordable.
Additionally, the new series* offer automatic 2-sided printing which help to reduce paper wastage by up to 50%. This helps in environmental concerns and saving costs.
# Quoted approx. yields are extrapolated based on Brother original methodology using Test Pattern ISO/IEC 24712. Quoted approx. yields are not based on ISO/IEC 24711
*Applies to DCP-T820DW and MFC-T920DW
2. Increase your productivity
Enjoy faster and improved print speed of up to 17 ipm/16.5 ipm* (monochome/cxolour printing) with the new Ink Tank printer. This means that you will spend less time waiting at the device collecting your printouts.
The use of the dye-based technology ensures that you get high-quality photos and text prints.
*Applicable to DCP-T820DW and MFC-T920DW only
3. Convenience print
To facilitate the convenience of printing, users can also make use of email print feature to print image or document by sending directly to the printer email address.
This allows you to print from anywhere, if your device is connected to the internet.
You can also enjoy effortless mobile printing where you can print directly from your devices such as iPhone or Android™ through Brother’s application iPrint&Scan and Apple Airprint. However, you will have to make sure that you are in the same network as the printer in order to print wirelessly.
Built-in wireless and Ethernet connectivity also allows the printer to be easily shared amongst the workgroup.
4. Ease of printing
The new series feature a. The plug and play functionality This eliminates the need for driver installation on Windows 10 PCs and notebooks making it a good option for users who are not familiar with software and driver installation.
b. Embedded, front-access Refill Tank System The font-access transparent ink cassette makes refilling inks convenient where it allows users to monitor the ink level and have it timely refilled.
What makes it better? The Refill Tank System also offers a quick, fuss-free refills without the mess.
c. Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
The 20-sheets ADF* allows user to perform multi-page copying and scanning without having insert the pages individually making it time efficient.
*Applicable to DCP-T820DW and MFC-T920DW only
d. Customizable one-touch copy shortcut
Users can customize the shortcut button on the printer for quick access to commonly used copy features such as “Fit to page” and “Reduce page size from A4 to A5”
The printers are available from 22 Feb 2021 in Singapore. The retail price of DCP-T220 is at S$198, DCP-T520W is at S$268, DCP-T820DW is at S$368 and MFC-T920DW is at S$408, all with GST. What’s more, you get 3 years carry-in or 30,000 pages warranty (whichever is earlier).
While video conferencing software, webcams, and fast internet speeds have made working from home and staying productive a lot more accessible, there are still some compromises that you must make compared to working from a physical office. One of them is having ready access to a printing solution on hand. But with a new breed of compact, yet feature-rich printers available today, that’s all set to change.
Why print at all in a digital age?
Rather than an archaic and fading technology, printers are the ideal complement to today’s digital processes. For one, it is far easier and faster to make edits and add comments to a hardcopy document and scan it directly to your colleagues’ emails. Additionally, printing out your weekly or daily job schedule allows you to quickly take stock of your work-in-progress without having to sort through emails and chatgroups. For those in sales, marketing, or who own small businesses, you can even print professional-quality booklets, manuals, pamphlets, brochures and other promotional materials from the comfort of your home.
Choosing the best printer for home use
Now that we’ve explored the benefits of having a printer as a work-from-home buddy, what should you consider when choosing one? Obviously, it should be compact enough to fit on a desktop, but there are some other important qualities that you should be looking out for.
Print Performance –When it comes to print speeds, not all desktop printers were made equal. Many budget options take a painfully long time to start up, begin printing, and to complete a print, making it a hassle to print even a single page – not to mention multiple copies of a document! So, make sure you choose a solution with a decent print speed to help boost your productivity rather than hinder it.
Running Costs – Due to their affordable prices and compact sizes, inkjet printers are often chosen for home use. However, once you start printing in greater volumes, your running costs could start to add up. To help keep that in check, consider ink tank printers like those from Brother which can be refilled via ultra high-yield ink bottles instead, as these can deliver an extremely low cost-per-page of just $0.0018 per page for black and white documents – all while producing impressively vibrant printouts.
Mobile & Wireless Connectivity – In this connected world, businesses have gone agile with smartphones, tablets and mobile-connected laptops. Taking full advantage of this new era of global connectivity, Brother printers with mobile and cloud solutions make it easier than ever before to scan, print, share your information wherever your business needs take you. You can even troubleshoot problems and manage your fleet remotely from the comfort of your desk.
User-friendly design –While we’ve established that having a compact printer in your home is great for productivity, it’s not all just about print speeds and connectivity. Brother’s printers are thoughtfully designed with the user in mind and come with in-built paper trays to help keep your printouts neat and tidy. And, unlike many other brands, Brother printers feature a user-friendly LCD screen, which makes performing various printing functions a breeze.
So, if you’re thinking of purchasing a printer for working-from-home, just remember; even though there’s no shortage of options around, there are only a few that can truly deliver great value, design, and productivity in a compact, affordable package – and you can find some of them right here
When it comes to printing solutions, is bigger truly better? In the recent years, we have seen a shift from large copiers to compact laser printers and multifunction centres as businesses embrace smaller decentralised departments and home offices. But aren’t copiers supposed to be more durable, cost-efficient, and offer greater functionality over desktop printers? Let’s explore these myths and discover how you can find the best printer for your evolving business needs.
Myth #1: Copiers are more cost-effective than desktop laser printers
While it used to be common knowledge that traditional copiers were more cost-effective due to their high-volume and low cost-per-page nature, the latest laser printers from Brother is set to change all that. This new breed of desktop laser printers is not only much more affordable than copiers to purchase or lease, but with higher yield toner replacements options available, they can also deliver significantly lower running costs in the long run.
Myth #2: Copiers offer more functionality for greater productivity
Many businesses are still using copiers for their functionality. This includes copying, printing, faxing and network connectivity. However, a broad range of Brother laser printers and Multifunction Centres come with advanced features such as wireless printing and scanning, NFC tap-to-print, mobile printing and scanning apps, Cloud printing capabilities, and many more to easily match or exceed the functions of a traditional copier. All packed in a sleek, compact device that fits easily on your desktop.
Myth #3: Copiers are more durable & can print higher volumes
When compared to many desktop printers, copiers are considered to be more reliable and capable of handling higher print volumes. But this is a myth that’s readily busted by Brother’s laser printers. Backed by industry-leading reliability and award-winning support, these productivity workhorses can be equipped with a variety of accessories such as additional paper trays, a sorter, a tower tray, or even a finisher. This allows businesses to enjoy high-volume printing that rivals those of copiers with support up to 600,000 prints over 5 years!
Fact: Brother Laser Printing Solutions deliver
Businesses are constantly evolving, and Brother has been at the forefront of print innovation for over a hundred years. Backed by its dedication to world-class reliability and customer service, our range of laser printers and multifunction centres are trusted by large enterprises, SMBs, and home office owners globally to take their business to the next level.
Perhaps it’s time to ditch that old copier and find your next productivity workhorse? Find yours here.
Even as businesses rush to embrace a Work From Home (WFH) culture due to the pandemic, the benefits of having employees working virtually from their homes are significant enough to see this trend continuing in the post-COVID-19 world. While it may be simple enough to have a notebook pc with a webcam set up for remote working, you’ll find that employees without a printing solution available are very likely to face a huge productivity void.
When bigger is not necessarily better
In the past, business printers were huge, floor-standing copiers that would take up a massive footprint. Although they delivered superior prints and connectivity features, they were simply too big, cumbersome, and costly to effectively deploy across your employees’ homes. On the other hand, traditional desktop printers just couldn’t match the performance, print quality, and cost-effectiveness of their larger counterparts – until now.
Small and mighty is the new normal
Today, that’s all set to change with a new breed of print solutions that are compact and feature-rich – ideal for deploying across home environments. What’s more, the best laser printers and multifunction centres from Brother are capable of delivering razor sharp text and exceptional graphics printouts at a lower cost-per-page compared to floor-standing copiers.
Best of all, these compact print solutions are capable of fast print and scan speeds, as well as cost-saving and productivity features such as automatic 2-sided printing, comprehensive paper handling, automatic document feeding, and much more – all packed into a tiny footprint that fits comfortably on a home office desk.
Staying connected means staying relevant
In today’s fast-paced world, time is the greatest commodity, and businesses that are able to connect, print, and share important information will enjoy a distinct business advantage. This is especially true in a home-based work environment, where the ability to collaborate with co-workers, clients and partners in a timely fashion can prove to be challenging.
That’s where a quality home-based printer comes in, and Brother’s latest range of compact laser printers feature mobile printing support for iPrint&Scan, Apple’s AirPrint™ and Mopria™ to ensure optimal productivity whenever you need, wherever you are. Furthermore, the free suite of Brother Cloud Apps on these devices means users can readily access the cloud to upload scanned documents or to print documents directly from an online storage site without a computer, making it easier than ever to share and collaborate.
A new norm without compromises
Brother has been trusted by enterprises and organisations around the world for over a century, and while the trend of remote working and working from home has only recently started to gain traction, Brother has always been a leading innovator for compact, decentralised print solutions that are highly flexible without compromising on features, reliability and cost effectiveness. Take on the new norm with a trusted partner by your side. Discover Brother’s extensive range of work from home-ready solutions here
In the modern, tech-driven workplace, your IT department is among the most important for the future success of your business.
However, it’s no secret that this division is also one of the costliest to maintain. Therefore, the last thing you want is for their time to be wasted on small, but everyday tasks like ensuring the continued functioning of your printers and multi-function devices.
So, today we’re going to be exploring how you can reduce the IT-related printing expenditure in your business, through a few simple but effective steps. By implementing these, your IT staff will be able to focus on important areas such as securing your organisation’s online presence against hackers, researching the latest business improvement trends and bringing your improving your processes to streamline output.
IT departments are usually among the most costly to run, so you don’t want your personnel constantly caught up with printer issues.
IT-related printing costs: The facts
If you think that your printers aren’t costing your IT department significantly, and on a regular basis, prepare to think again. Here are some stats to show why this area is an absolute priority when it comes to cutting spending in your business:
30% of office workers say that printing issues are their biggest IT frustration (SOS Office Equipment): You know what this means – these employees will be making regular calls to your IT helpdesk to help them resolve whatever issue is impacting their work
23% of communications to IT help desks are printer related (ImageOne) – That’s right, nearly a quarter of all the calls your IT personnel deal with on a given day will relate to printer issues, preventing them from dealing with more pressing or complex issues. Ultimately, dealing with the problems themselves, takes up as much as 15% of their time (LaserResource). Think about what else they could achieve if this wasn’t the case
The average company spends 1-3% of its revenue on printing (Milner) – With so much money already going towards printing, the last thing you need from a financial standpoint is operating issues adding to this. However, given that 90% of businesses don’t track their printing costs (Buyer’s Laboratory), there’s a good chance that excess costs are going unnoticed
From this it’s clear that a little streamlining and modernising of your printer setup could go a long way to reducing the reducing IT-related costs in your organisation. But where to start?
Reducing IT-related printing costs tip 1: Staff training
An easy way to reduce the printer burden on your IT staff, and free them up to tackle more important tasks, is to ensure that all your staff are fully trained on how to properly use all of the devices required in the everyday functioning of your business, including printers.
This may seem basic, but you’d be surprised at how far a simple training session can go, especially if you’ve recently updated your printer fleet with new devices that could be unfamiliar to your personnel.
Dealing with printer issues accounts for 15% of your IT help desk staff’s time.
Another good preventative method is to engage with your employees on the most common problems they encounter when printing. From this consultation, you could draw up a FAQ document to which they can refer before feeling the need to log a ticket with your IT help desk. In the future, it’s likely you will see artificial intelligence (AI) taking a larger hand in providing this type of support role, as simple printer questions are perfect for natural language processing, and means that your IT staff can concentrate their efforts on tasks that machines aren’t yet equipped to complete.
Nearly a quarter of all calls to IT help desks refer to printer-related problems.
Reducing IT-related printing costs tip 2: Easier-to-use printers
Not all printers were created equal, especially when it comes to intuitiveness. You’ll be benefiting both your employees and your IT staff if you invest in devices that are easy to use from the get go. Factors to look out for include:
A touch screen interface – In the past, frustrated printer users would simply be left staring at flashing lights and unhelpful buttons when something went wrong. However, the beauty of a touch screen is that it can usually give the operator an idea of why the desired print job isn’t happening, and suggest what actions they need to take. By the same token, touch screen menus tend to be much more logical to navigate, eliminating the tedious guess work from what should be a simple task
Easy to use – Similarly, if your staff are constantly requiring the help of your IT experts to complete simple jobs like replacing toner in your printer, this is another red flag that you might want to update the device itself.
Security – You should be confident that if you need security oversight over printing in your business, that your printer is up to the task of providing it. If not, expect your IT staff to waste heaps of valuable time clearing people for printer use, or preventing unintended security breaches from unknowing employees
Reducing IT-related printing costs tip 3: Be ready for wireless printers
With office trends such as activity based working and Agile methodologies ruling supreme in many offices, wireless printing is a game-changer for staff who don’t want to have to carry their device over to the printer each time they want a hard copy of a document.
However, this supposed time-saver can turn into a real headache for IT employees who can find themselves running the gauntlet of WiFi errors should your office be ill prepared for welcoming wireless printers.
Preventing this unnecessary drain on time and resources ultimately comes down to a balancing act between your printer and your office’s WiFi capabilities. If your device is old and slow, chances are your employees will experience delays or problems when trying to print wirelessly. Equally, if your building has notorious WiFi blackout areas, you aren’t giving your printer a fair chance at delivering on expectations. In the latter case, changing internet provider, or installing additional WiFi extenders can help solve recurring connectivity problems.
Wireless printers are the way of the future, but can cause problems for your IT department if they’re not well connected.
Wireless printers are the way of the future, but can cause problems for your IT department if they’re not well connected.
Reducing IT-related printing costs tip 4: Employ predictive analytics
Predictive analytics refers to the use of a combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), data mining and statistics modelling to take current data sets, and use them to formulate predictions. This technique has potential for a wide variety of implementations in a business context, with maintenance scheduling being one of the most common.
Put simply, predictive analytics allows you to forecast when maintenance is likely to be required for a given asset, allowing you to take action before a major malfunction happens. It also means that if a device, such as a printer, is not operating properly, even if it’s not obviously broken, proactive steps can be taken to remedy this. Clearly, from an IT point of view, this is preferable in terms of time and resources to waiting for a major mishap to occur.
Predictive analytics can help IT departments cut costs on printer maintenance.
You can also cut costs on the shipping and storage of spare parts for your printers, as predictive analytics can give you a clearer idea of when you’re likely to need them, replacing the need to have heaps of parts stocked just in case.
Reducing IT-related printing costs tip 5: Investigate managed print services
What is a managed print service?
Managed print services and Toner Management Program are all about optimising office workflows while reducing the costs of printing at every step.
Usually, managed print services are offered by printing experts, such as Brother, and usually take care of all aspects of your operational printing needs – from printers to copiers, scanners and faxers.
Generally speaking, there are four essential components to a managed print service:
An assessment – The first thing an external provider will do is assess the status quo. What devices do you have in your fleet, how are they being used and what problems tend to crop up from an employee standpoint?
Replacement – Based off this assessment, and in consultation with you or your IT department, the provider will likely make recommendations on what you could replace in order to improve your setup and decrease costs. This could be one or two devices, or a more holistic overhaul to bring your office into line with modern standards. Note, the alterations recommended could even be as small as replacing a few parts in your devices
Servicing – Crucially from your IT department’s perspective, a managed print service will also control the servicing of your fleet. This will free up a lot of time that would be otherwise wasted on frustrating but necessary maintenance on printers and other devices
Tracking – As mentioned, very few organisations actively track metrics around their printers, copiers and scanners. Not only will a managed print service look at usage patterns and suggest ways in which to improve your processes, it will also look at where your costs are coming from and what you actions you can take to reduce them now and in the future
How can a managed print service help you reduce IT costs?
Reducing time spent on printers – The essence of a managed print service is that it allows you and your staff to concentrate on running and improving the business, while the external provider manages the nitty gritty of your printer fleet. While it’s unlikely they will be on hand to respond to individual employee queries or problems, with their expertise behind you, you know you’re setting yourself up for the best chance of success
Uncovering hidden costs – While you may be able to identify that your printers are costing your IT department more than they should (in both time and money), it’s not always easy to determine why. The expertise and objectivity that comes with external oversight can help you establish where your unnecessary spending is happening, and what you can do to counter it
Access to the latest technology – While your IT department is likely keen to keep your operation at the cutting edge of technology, it’s no secret that this comes at a significant cost. However, a good managed print service partner will often be able to offer programs whereby you can access the latest products from their range, without the steep upfront costs. Usually, this operates on a regular payment plan, which allows you to accurately forecast your costs as you move forwards.
How Brother can help
Brother has helped businesses of all sizes through our managed print service and toner management program. We take a personal yet strategic approach to our service, which aims to reduce costs, emphasise sustainability and ensure security at all stages of the process.
From finding the most logical locations for your devices to optimising your printers once they’re installed, our expert team will be with you from start to finish to provide assessments, advice and feedback on your printing practices. This means your employees can focus on business tasks, while we cover the maintenance and management of your fleet.
What’s more, our solutions are designed with scalability in mind, meaning we can help you adapt and grow your fleet as your business changes. For more information on how we can help your business improve and cut costs, get in touch with our team today.
This article has been republished from Brother Australia with minor changes.
The paperless office. Along side terms such as digital transformation and agile these three words are everywhere when it comes to what businesses are told they should strive towards.
And for good reason. Not only does going paperless have positive impacts on the environment, it can save your business a lot of money and improve security by keeping important documents in password-locked cloud storage.
However, if you think that the paperless office of the future means you can do away with your trusty company printer, prepare to think again. In this article, we’ll take a look at how and why printers will continue to play an important role in paperless offices to help you avoid jumping the gun and getting rid of this vital piece of kit.
Despite what you might think, printers still have an important role in the paperless offices of the future.
Why printers are still important in the paperless office
1. Because ‘going paperless’ doesn’t happen over night
While it may seem impossible to imagine your business without technology, for years physical documentation was the only option we had, and the processes and systems that built up around this fact have become deeply entrenched. As a result, going paperless is a journey, not a destination.
For many businesses, going paperless doesn’t mean the total elimination of paper.
If you were to rid your office of printers as part of a drive to encourage paperlessness, you’d soon find staff running into roadblocks because they rely on printers more than even they realise. Encouraging staff to be more economical with their printing, and ensuring that your printer setup isn’t in excess of what you require are both solid moves, but entirely removing printers from your office, as paperless as you may want it to be, is likely going to be counter productive in the short term.
In fact, for the moment, many businesses admit that going paperless doesn’t mean eliminating paper entirely – and for as long as paper persists, your printers will need to too.
Some workers still prefer to work with printed documents as opposed to cloud-based files.
2. Some staff prefer physical documents
In the same way that some readers will never prefer kindles over the real deal, some staff simply work better when handling physical documents as opposed to doing everything digitally. While you can promote economical printing among your staff, those who prefer to have paper in hand for certain tasks may be taken aback if that option is removed entirely.
Top tip: Encourage discussions among the different teams within your businesses as to what types of documentation you all believe need to remain printable. While this can allow wiggle room for those staff who do prefer physical documents, setting expectations in this way can help you accommodate different work practices while still moving to an overall more paperless environment.
Printers can fit easily into modern practices such as agile working.
3. Printers can fit with modern work practices
While the rise of trends such as remote working may seem to add fuel to the fire that printers are a thing of the past, recent trends show that they are in fact easily adaptable to modern working practices.
Take agile, for example. As businesses start to focus more on the pod-based teams that feature prominently in agile methodologies, we’ve seen a shift in printers too. Instead of huge devices situated centrally for office-wide use, printers have migrated to the teams where they’re most needed. Generally speaking, this means fewer, smaller devices that sit within pods, and are used for their specific tasks.
Printers are easily adaptable to modern business such as remote working or agile structures.
Similarly, in the era of bring your own device (BYOD), mobile printing offers a solution that means staff don’t need to worry about where they are are or what device they are printing from. Employees simply need to connect to their nearest printer, press the button and their documents will be ready for use, either by themselves or their team in the office.
Brother has years of experience in helping businesses to achieve their productivity and sustainability goals through devices that meet their objectives. Whether you’re looking at decreasing paper consumption in your organisation, or are seeking technology to suit your new agile environment, Brother’s team of experts is on hand to help you make the right decisions.
For more information on what we’ve discussed today, or to for specific advice on products, get in touch with our team.
This article has been republished from Brother Australia. The original article can be seen here: https://empowers.brother.com.au/2019/09/12/why-the-paperless-office-still-needs-a-printing-solution/
Working from home, while already on the rise among businesses of all kinds, has found an essential role as an everyday policy for companies weathering the COVID crisis. If you’re an employee of an office that has gone remote for the time being, or even permanently, you need to think about what this means for your technology use. In a traditional workplace, your devices are protected by company resources and the efforts of the IT department. At home, more of this responsibility falls upon you – what can you do to defend your connected devices and prevent intrusions by cyber attackers?
What are the fundamentals of WFH cyber security?
The general concepts behind cyber security have not changed in the era of pervasive remote work. Unfortunately for companies of all types and sizes, cyber criminals have not halted their activities in the face of the pandemic. In fact, there have been a wave of new phishing schemes in which cyber attackers pose as health authorities sending out news bulletins.
The World Economic Forum indicated that since workers are “distracted and vulnerable,” the chances of a social engineering attack slipping in under a company’s defences are greater than ever. Furthermore, the WEF stated that “heightened dependency on personal devices and home networks” has weakened organisations’ ability to fight off hacking. This raises the question of how best to safeguard your data when using everyday devices for work purposes.
What can you do to protect your devices?
While the devices you have access to in your home office may not always be purpose-built for business use, that doesn’t mean they are wholly lacking in security features. Making sure your PC, smart devices, printers, scanners and network access points are well protected is a relatively straightforward process. The following action items can guide you through and assist you as you turn your home into a suitable workplace.
Identify IoT hardware in your home and access the settings
The internet of things is a tech-world term for an increasingly common subset of technology: Items that are not PCs or smart devices, but can send and receive data. These range from smart thermostats and doorbells to internet-connected printers, scanners and copiers. In your home, you likely have plenty of these devices connected to your WiFi network. To be sure attackers aren’t slipping in through weak protection on these devices, you should actively check their security settings rather than settling for the defaults.
Password-protect all your devices
One specific device setting that deserves your attention is the password. When a printer, multifunction device or other technology tool leaves the factory, it is protected by a default password. These passwords are not as easy to crack as strong ones you select yourself, so you should log into your device by typing its IP address into your web browser on a PC, then log into the administrator control panel and pick a new password. Rather than simply typing in an easy-to-remember phrase or reusing a password from other devices or accounts, it’s important to select a novel, hard-to-crack choice. A password manager app can help with this process.
Update firmware on all your connected devices
IoT devices contain protective features designed to keep criminals from using common exploits to take them over. If you don’t keep these machines’ firmware up to date, however, they may not be safeguarded against the latest threats. You should determine how your device of choice updates its firmware, for example through an automatic downloader tool, then ensure the process is going smoothly. Having the latest firmware is an understated but effective way to keep many threats out of your network.
Secure confidential documents with passwords
Working from home can mean dealing with secure company documents on a daily basis. If you have sensitive information stored in a format such as a PDF document, you should ask yourself what would happen if the file was compromised. Secure document management can mean adding extra layers of protection, such as setting up passwords for your most sensitive content. As with your devices, you should not reuse passwords – a password manager app can help you here, as well.
Implement firewalls and use a static IP address
When you work from an office, there is typically a firewall in place to prevent unauthorized access to the network and its devices. You should extend this good practice to your home office, to ensure remote working does not significantly weaken the protection around your company’s files and programs. You can contact your internet service provider to learn about firewall features and the process of using a static (rather than a dynamic) IP address, which will help you log into secure corporate networks from afar. Treating your home router with the same kind of cautious security features as corporate networks is a valuable anti-intrusion safeguard.
How should you set up your home office?
If it looks like remote work is a medium- or long-term solution for your company, or if there will be more permanent opportunities to work from home in the future, you should consider your current hardware and software setup. Do you have professional-quality technology in your home which will allow you to uphold professional standards? Remember that your customers’ expectations will remain elevated, and your ability to meet those requirements hinges on your IT configuration.
Seeking out a new, professional-grade printer, scanner or multi-function device is an essential part of equipping your home office. You need to balance high-quality printing and scanning features with networking that supports high-quality security. Sacrificing either the quality of your work or the integrity of your network is unacceptable, which means your device of choice must suit both objectives equally well. You also need to pick hardware that fits other requirements, such as the amount of free space: While a stand-up device might be ideal for the company headquarters, an efficient desktop model could be perfect for you to use at home.
Discover why genuine Brother consumables is the best for your Brother printer.
Did you know that counterfeit and 3rd party compatible supplies may result in inferior printouts or damage your machine?
Compatible supplies may work with Brother machines and machines from other brands, but they are not a perfect fit for Brother printers and may cause damage to your machine and not to mention the inconsistent and unpredictable page yields.
Purchasing supplies at low price may not end up with cost savings. You may even spend more for repair if you get a counterfeit or compatible product.
Let us tell you why?
Choose Brother genuine products and supplies to ensure optimal, uncompromising performance from your Brother machines. Print without worrying about maintenance costs and increase your machine’s lifespan. Save money, time and paper due to less downtime or repairs.
How to ensure that your Brother supplies are genuine? To help you verify, we have made it easy to authenticate your products with our security hologram.
Authentication options: 1. Examine the label 2. Mobile Authentication 3. Web Authentication
For best printing results, we recommend buying only Brother Genuine Toners and Cartridges
If you are purchasing online, please look out for our authorised reseller icon to ensure that you are buying from the right source.
You could also download the list of our authorised resellers here: https://bit.ly/3kbW4dv
Right now, we are giving you shopping vouchers when you purchase Brother machine with our Genuine supplies. Receive up to $80 shopping vouchers with the selected bundle model. Check out our latest promotion offering via https://www.brother.com.sg/en/products/promotions
As your business grows, so will your printing needs. Many companies have more than one Multi-function Centres (MFCs) and printers in their offices. Due to the fact that the workflows and print demands of today’s businesses grow increasingly complex, it can become extremely inefficient and time-consuming to manage, configure, optimise and update each individual device one at a time. Imagine having to physically manage different devices in multiple locations. Therefore, to optimize your office printing and imaging infrastructure, centrally manage your print fleet is a more cost and time efficient solution.
Brother’s BRAdmin Professional is an innovative fleet-wide management solution that helps to optimise your business productivity and IT resources, putting total control and accountability firmly in your hands.
Designed to provide real-time, fleet-wide management across your company’s network infrastructure, BRAdmin Professional is ideal for businesses with a growing suite of machines across multiple locations. By allowing you to centrally manage your machines from one location, this simple-to-use tool will help to reduce downtime and optimise resources, so you can focus on the more important aspects of your business.
Status Monitor
Experienced the annoyance of sending a print job, waited a few minutes, and nothing happened? Was it only then that you realised that your printing device needed more paper or supplies replacement? Status Monitor allows you to receive instant alerts through your computer whenever your Brother device needs attention.
Enjoy greater visibility over your fleet
The user-friendly dashboard allows you to glance and know which machine is ready, sleeping, or low on supplies for greater visibility over your fleet. Furthermore, you’ll receive real-time notifications via email, reducing down-time to a minimum.
Maximise efficiency and reduce costs
BRAdmin Professional gives you the freedom to leverage on real-time usage information to optimise your fleet. It displays live page counters from each network-connected device, helping you understand which devices are being underutilised, so that you can deploy them accordingly.
Greater access to your entire fleet
BRAdmin Professional management software is completely free of charge and is available as an executable program you can install on your computer. Alternatively, you can run it on a web browser through an Embedded Web Server and start managing your Brother machines from any computer on your network.
Empowering your productivity
Ideal for a large suite of machines spread across multiple locations, BRAdmin Professional saves your organisation’s IT administrators the effort of having to physically visit every printer whenever it requires attention. This results in less printer downtime and more productivity from your staff.
Import and export your device settings across your fleet
Save your IT administrators from tedious processes. A sub-feature of the BRAdmin Professional utility lets you save selected settings to an exportable file, which can then be re-imported to multiple devices at simultaneously. This allows you to update your entire fleet quickly and effortlessly.
Setting up BRAdmin Professional is simple. Download the firmware from Brother solutions guide and set up the network IP addresses range for all your printing devices. BRAdmin Professional 4 will detect all the printers in your fleet.
BRAdmin Professional 4 works well with network-connected Brother devices. It only supports Windows operating systems, works best for Windows 7 and above.
