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When one is starting up in a new office space, one of the biggest initial outlays will be on office furniture. Without realising it, this can easily run into thousands of pounds, and eat away a much bigger chunk of your budget than you had allowed. If you find yourself in this position help is at hand however, as there are many great companies from whom you can rent office furniture.

As you can imagine, the amount of offices that are constantly closing and then starting up again in London is phenomenal, and many companies have tapped into this. Furniture hire in London is big business, as more and more people are taking out short term leases on office space to test the water, and are loathe to splash out a fortune on furnishings which may end up being disposed off or sold on at a massive loss.

The hardest part of the process is finding the company that best fits your criteria, depending on the kind of style you want to create within your office. While most new offices favour a more modern, and contemporary décor, there are still some who prefer the older, dark wood office furniture. This is often dictated by the business that the office will serve, but rest assured there are companies to cater for all tastes and styles.

From chairs to desks to filing cabinets to screens to hat stands, you can literally hire anything at all that you feel your office needs. A quick internet search will bring up a huge range of results in your area, and then it is simply a case of checking out the styles of furniture they offer, and of course the prices. These can differ greatly between companies and the best deals tend to be for the longer term rental.

There is no minimum on what you can hire at any one time either, so you can create a complete bespoke office, or simply hire those finishing touches that you think will be appealing but want to test them out before you lay out the cash to buy them. Another reason for hiring furniture is if you intend to give your office an overhaul and want to give the style you have in mind a test run before you buy.

Whatever reason you have for hiring office furniture, there are companies to help you and the entire process can be taken care of with just a few clicks of a mouse.

If you’re looking for an effective way to improve the it services that operate within your business, then the chances are you might have considered the merits of installing a new network within your office.  However, installing a set of data cabling can be complicated, which is why we’ve put together this list of things to consider when installing.

Firstly, it’s important that you take the time to consult an expert in the matter (unless you’re an expert yourself, obviously!).  Installing a full data cabling system will inevitably lead to some teething troubles (as will any new system), but it’s important that you try and minimize the risk.  Consulting a network firm will likely be one of the best investments you make, and the majority of them will be happy to visit you and offer a consultancy service to ensure you get things right the first time round.

Secondly, you should always ensure that you stick to the Hazardous Waste Regulations, which ensures that any materials in your office that are replaced will be disposed of in the most effective way to ensure that your firm’s carbon footprint is kept as low as possible.  It’s also important that you make use of high quality cables rather than those that are lower, as this will mean far less turnaround in the products used, subsequently saving you admin costs as well as ensuring you have a reputation as a firm that cares about being ‘green.’

Finally, you should ensure that if you’re conducting a large network installation, you make the safety of workers the biggest priority.  Needless to say, there can be the potential risk of increased electrical damage, and there might be necessary building work carried out.    Again, it might well be worth consulting an electrical firm to ensure that everything is installed safely, and there are many firms out there that are experienced in the matter who will be able to help you.

Article – Remark Group

One of the best offerings among the new smart technologies that are now out on the market are interactive voice response systems given the fact that the new technology allows call centres to offer the best telephone experience to their customers.  However, before choosing a network based IVR you need to make sure that you choose the best system for your individual company which means that you will want to take a look at the following factors when making your decision so that you commit to an excellent fit for your business.

The top consideration for most businesses when it comes to choosing an IVR is usually cost, which is reasonable given the fact that most likely this will be a larger investment for your business.  Given this fact, it is best to make sure that you have the option to try any product you have your eye on before you purchase it.  For businesses that are worried about the costs it is important to bear in mind that choosing the correct IVR can save your business as much as 95% of all live agent salaries making it well worth it to pay some money out upfront for the unique service.

The next thing you need to think about is if you want all of your calls routed through the IVR service.  Some phone calls will need to be taken by a specialized agent depending on the nature of your business, and for these you will need to take advantage of specialized call routing.  This way you get a personalized redirection service for your phone calls so that call distribution is still automatically taken care of but live agents can be utilized for more difficult calls so that at the end of the experience your customers still get the exact type of aid they need.

It is also important to consider if you have access to IT staff to trouble shoot the IVR system that you have in place, because if you do not then it is important to make sure you choose a high quality IVR system that has fault management build into the network offering.  Around the clock customer service is something that you should expect from the IVR operator in these situations and is something that will help you quickly get a fix or assistance when needed so that it is always available for use.

Finally, the last thing that you should consider is the costs of set-up and the type of functions that you want included within your IVR network.  There are huge numbers of options to consider, but the aim should be to match your functions and apps up with your business needs.  Among the most popular choices are an accounts payment system, customized call routing, voice customization, data store entry, computerized information service, analogue level support, and similar types of customer aid.  By putting together a package that will meet your customer needs you will be able to make high use of your IVR system and be able to reduce your dependency on live agents.

A new algorithm is being developed by Xerox and it is going to be able to tell how aesthetically pleasing a photograph is. The tool is currently under development and there is a sample available for consumers to try on the Open Xerox website. This allows you to use sample images they have provided and the algorithm will judge them. Currently it is not possible for users to upload their own photographs.

The algorithm has been designed to find pictures that are regarded as ‘special’ by identifying qualities that photo enthusiasts like. Xerox said, “This algorithm is capable of identifying exposure and composition and is able to assess pictures for the number of colours they have and decide whether this is something that the photograph selector might want.”

The application is still heavily under development but so far its results have been interesting. Currently it is possible to search for images in a set number of categories and it is able to judge them for their quality. The company are currently seeking feedback on the algorithm so if you want to test it out for yourself then it would be a good idea to visit the company’s website.

An Advertorial Feature

In an age dominated by computer technology and internet services, you may wonder what role phone calls still have to play. For businesses, phone calls provide a quick and easy way to communicate with colleagues and clients alike, providing a more personal experience that offers a more instantaneous response. But why are business calls important? And how can you make the most of them?

Business phone services are provided by a number of providers in varying forms, helping to meet the needs of all businesses. Business phone calls have a number of different benefits and can be used as a form of internal communication within offices as well as one of the primary forms of contact with customers and clients.

Why are Business Phone Calls Important?

Business phone calls are important because they provide an easy way for communication to occur between colleagues and clients, ensuring that the business operations are completed quickly and with minimal complications. Business calls also provide a personal touch to correspondence between businesses and their clients or customers. This helps them to build a positive public image, leading to increased success.

Business phone calls are especially important when it comes to troubleshooting and problem solving. Customers always appreciate a form of communication which offers them instantaneous responses on problems they may have encountered and the best way to achieve this is with business phone calls.

How Can You Make the Most of Business Phone Calls?

A business telephone has been an integral part of offices for years and making the most of it is simple. The first thing you should do is make sure that you have the best possible phone package available for your needs. You should always consider what you will use the phone for and how often and then chose a  phone package or tariff that meets these requirements. One of the main considerations you should make is whether or not to invest in a package with allowances for international calls. Whether you select this service will depend entirely on the nature of your business and the quantity of these calls you are likely to make.

Alongside this, the overall cost of the package should be considered. Most packages will charge for allowances as well as the monthly line rental. These are often very competitive meaning that you get the best possible price. Considering other alternatives, such as using a VoIP line (a connection which transits vocal communication via a computers IP address rather than across a traditional phone line) can also help to save even more money.

Lastly, combining your business telephone package with other services, such as broadband services is a great way to keep costs low whilst getting the best possible communication services for your business. Daisy Business Broadband is just one example of the types of broadband services which are on offer, providing customers with a range of features such as fast upload speeds (up to 1Mb), high download capacities (as much as 24Mb) and caps which range from 5Gb to 40Gb.

An Advertising Feature

Years ago paper was shredded simply by cutting it with scissors. As time went by, technology improved considerably and electric shredders were designed to cut paper in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Businesses and homes use shredders to destroy private, confidential, or otherwise sensitive documents. An office shredder is a very effective way of preventing fraud or identity theft. In general terms, the rule is: the smaller the cut, the higher the level of security.

These are the most common types of paper shredder popularly used today:

Multi-scissors: Multi-scissors have the shape and structure of any other scissor, but instead of having one blade they can have up to four or five blades. Nice paper ribbons can be created from this original item.

Strip-cut shredders: Strip-cut shredders produce long strips of a preset width. The most common are 1/8 and 1/4 inch. This is, however, the least secure system – along with the multi-scissors. These types of shredders therefore may not be exactly what you are looking for to complete your full office shredding needs.

Cross-cut (or confetti-cut) shredders: this type uses two contra-rotating drums to cut rectangular, parallelogram, or diamond-shaped shreds. Cross cut paper shredders offer increased security because the shred is much smaller. Its main disadvantage is that they don’t shred as many sheets at the same time.

This shredder type is rapidly becoming the shredder of preference for business use, in spite of being more expensive.

Micro Cut shredders: this is a variation of the cross-cut that uses a shred size that is much, much smaller; it literally turns paper into dust! The best advantage is that this type offers the highest level of security. There is very little way that anyone rooting through bins would be able to piece back together documents shredded by a micro cut shredders.

Super high security

The highest levels of security include shredders that are capable of turning a single sheet of paper into a minimum of 12,064.5 particles.

Although you may think that nobody really needs to destroy paper to that point, you will be surprised to know that even these types of shredders have a use. Top secret documents from government and the military are often destroyed by using these kinds of machines.

Even if you do not need to turn your documents into dust, many security experts recommend acquiring a paper shredder in order to protect highly confidential letters, bills or documents.