Read online or download now: Managed.IT issue 57
In this issue:
What’s New: The month’s best new products and services
Bulletin: Home worker technology sales boom as office workers stay at home
Cover Story: The ground-breaking ibml FUSiON scanner
Opinion: Matt Clothier makes the case for Application Compatibility Packaging
Cloud: Atlas Cloud targets 400% growth in five years
Printers: Why it’s important to secure network MFPs
ERP: How Oracle NetSuite can help businesses make better use of data
Document Output: Lasernet rides to the rescue at Comline Auto Parts
Collaboration: Avaya launches new cloud meeting and team working app
What’s New in AV: New meeting and conferencing products
Insight: Introducing the Insight of Things
I couldn’t do my job without… Joanne Manville picks her favourite work tools
Comment
Two weeks into the lockdown and tempers are fraying, but the technology is holding up remarkably well, Or at least the broadband is. Mobile reception has always been patchy in my neck of the woods and reports from frustrated contacts suggest it has been worse than normal recently. But who cares? Today, everyone is communicating over Zoom, Lifesize et al and making the most of the generous packages available. It’s tempting to think that the changes in working practices we have been forced to make will be long-lasting, not least because they will be required in the fight against climate change. I don’t know how much appetite there will be for home working in the future, but I’m sure video calling is here to stay. It really is a much better way to communicate.
Figures from market tracking companies like GfK and Context reveal a big spike in sales of home-working equipment, especially monitors, computers, keyboards and mice, in the second week of March (see page 11). GfK even reports a surge in retail sales of freezers, fridges and hair clippers. I don’t know what impact coronavirus has had on sales of office seating, but my reclining, adjustable, well padded task chair is what I miss most from the office. How long, I wonder, before I’m allowed to return to the office and miss having a large double bed within feet of my workstation.
James Goulding, Editor