01732759725
Sharp’s Cloud Portal Office is not just
another product; it’s the next stage
in the evolutionof data storage,
which is already a huge growth
area.According to industry analysts
IDC, half of all businesses use cloud
services in some formor other, and
it expects this figure to rise tomore
than 90% in the next three years.
AGartner study of large businesses
found that while explosive growth in
the number of mobile devices used by
employees is driving demand for easy
remote access, only a small proportion
hadmoved towards cloud email or office
systems. Research by Sharp shows that
this is just asmuch of an issue for smaller
businesses.
Business opportunity
Its survey of workers in theUK, France,
Germany, Sweden and theNetherlands
reveals a clear opportunity gap between
what GenerationCloudworkers are
demanding in theworkplace andwhat is
actually being provided by SMEs across
Europe.
The research highlights the emergence
of a new generation of worker, as
employeesmove towards amore flexible,
collaborativeworkingmodel –whether
employers are supportive of this or not –
and demandmore collaborative, flexible
working practices.
Half of respondents believe that
increased collaboration in theworkplace
would have a direct impact on their
business’ bottom line bymaking itmore
profitable; and 61% believe it wouldmake
themmore efficient.
However, the reality of service provision
within the SME sector falls far short of
what GenerationCloudworkers expect:
83% of those polled do not currently use
an official cloud solution at work; and
41% say collaborative document tools are
actively banned in their workplace.
By not fully embracing newways of
flexible and collaborativeworking, SMEs
are failing to realise the business benefits
they can bring:
n
43% do not haveways to easily share
documents and collaboratewith people
outside the corporate network;
n
39% of employees say their company
has no official policy on sharingwork
information beyond thework network;
n
67% of employees still typically share
information as paper print-outs; and
n
13% download collaborativeworking
tools if their company doesn’t provide
them.
16 Print.ITReseller
cover story
Sharp’s Cloud Portal Office creates newopportunities for channel partners to
gain incremental and recurring revenues, adding further value to SharpMFPs.
Takingoffice
productivity to
awholenew level
Better collaboration
Sharp has created its new file storage and
collaboration tool tomake businessesmore
efficient and to support an increasingly
mobileworkforce. By turning theMFP into
an on/off ramp for document workflow,
Cloud Portal Officemakes it easier to share
information.
For dealers, especially thosewho
already provide documentmanagement
andworkflow solutions, Sharp’s Cloud
Portal Officewill help ensure they remain a
valued business partner.
Quite simply, Cloud Portal Office
enables businesses to collaborate better.
It allows users to securely access, upload,
download,manage and print files; create
new folders; collaborate and share – from
any PC,mobile device, SharpMFP or Sharp
BIG PAD interactivewhiteboard.
What’smore, it is unique.UnlikeMFP
manufacturers that provide connection into
Cloud solutions, but without Cloud Portal
83%of those
polleddo
not currently
think they
use anofficial
cloud solution
atwork...
