We Strongly Recommend These Actions Be Taken Asap.

We can email you detailed information from the FBI that lists the actions they recommend. Please let us know if you would like us to assist with these steps.

The FBI has issued a warning that hundreds of thousands of home and office routers have been infected with malware. This dangerous threat can collect information and also render your network inoperable. The FBI recommends the router be rebooted to temporarily disrupt the malware. Owners are also advised to disable remote management settings and secure the devices with strong passwords. They should also be upgraded to the latest firmware.

If you have any questions or concerns about your software or router, please feel free to reach out to us. Peak IT 330-259-3454/Valley Office Solutions 330-729-1000

Here’s A Summary Of The FBI Notice And How To Reboot Or Reset A Router

In the warning, the FBI mentions that they didn’t yet know much about the origins of the initial infections, but the attack has grown significantly. Hundreds of thousands of routers in both homes and offices have been infected with malware known as VPNFilter. Since then we’ve heard that an unidentified group of cybercriminals may have mounted a large-scale attack on networked devices across the globe.

Symantec, a cybersecurity firm, has published a list of devices that are known to be more vulnerable to this type of attack. The article states that most of the devices targeted are tend to use default passwords or the router has not been updated to the latest version of its firmware.

Anytime you are on the phone with any tech help, the first thing you are asked to do is to restart. Rebooting gives your device, a router, a fresh start.

The FBI explains that power-cycling could interrupt the VPNFilter virus, though Symantec has cautioned that this type of attack can persist even after a reboot. If you are using one of the devices that are known to be susceptible to malware, consider resetting your router to factory settings. With this type of reset, you will need to set up your WiFi all over again; sometimes it’s better to be safe than sorry.

FBI Link

Contact us today for any assistance with office solutions!

Sync with Smartphone

Take Advantage of ‘SmartTech’

With all of the technology out there, it’s easy to keep every aspect of your office under control with one simple device. We have a whole suite of items that connect to the internet that we never thought would become a reality.

Now, just like in the Jetsons, we can control our thermostats, security, speakers, cameras, lights, refrigerators, and more from the palm of our hands. Make your office smarter by connecting all of these devices to make a cohesive and viable working environment! Bump up the heat a notch and dim the lights to make those computer programmers more comfortable. You can also drop the temperature a couple of degrees and raise the lights to get to work. This can work best on your next brainstorming session in the conference room.

Machines Can Learn Too

Have you ever noticed that your email can predict which emails are SPAM? If you pay attention, it can even predict the emails that you consistently delete and throw them in your junk box, too! More and more technology is following suit and learning your preferences, sometimes without you knowing it.

Smartphones, in particular, learn more about your habits than you can want to know. For example, I have an iPhone 6s Plus that I have synced via Bluetooth to my car. When I turn my car on and it connects with the Bluetooth, a little screen pops up to tell me that it will take me 19 minutes to get home. If I have an appointment when I get in the car, and I have it recorded in my calendar, it will tell me how long it will take me to get to my client’s office.

But, wait! It gets better!

Through predictive programming, lawyers can now predict the outcomes of their cases. This is done by using data, outcomes, and research, which previously took a massive amount of leg work.

Other professions, like architects and mechanical engineers, use machine learning programs, too!

They can predict how natural disasters will hit based off of previous weather patterns. This will determine the best angle for a wall to save the most amount of people. It can even predict exactly how many tons that bridge will have to support based off of traffic patterns. Predictive programming will lead to more time to do the things that really matter for your office. If you’re a little weary, start by getting Alexa or Siri to make your appointments, then move on to bigger, badder AI technology.

Don’t Get Rid of the Old…Reinvent

One of the major problems with the smart office trend is that many products out there are taking an easy processes and making it harder, like note taking. For some people, taking notes during a meeting on a computer or tablet is not in their wheelhouse. They don’t normally teach typing in schools these days. Personally, I prefer pen and paper over typing my notes any day. Beyond the nostalgia, I think it keeps me more engaged (ahem…less distracted). The rest of my office prefers everything to be digital. I’m a firm believer in the age-old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Sometimes, we need to compromise!

To bridge the gap between my physical notes and the digital notes that my co-workers desperately need, we purchased a Rocketbook. The Rocketbook is an eco-friendly, erasable notebook with an accompanying app that recognizes its pages and sends it off to a set of predetermined locations.

Now, when I take notes, there is no waiting for me to transcribe what I wrote down. I simply mark where I want my notes to go—to a Google Drive folder, our Trello Board, or to my email—scan the page with the app, and then my whole team has access to the notes I just took. They may have reinvented the ‘wheel,’ but it’s a great new take on an old concept, and saves us a ton of time!

Invest in Office Technology and They Will Come

Finally, businesses need to invest in the future in two different ways: technology and people. These go hand-in-hand, and it’s important to realize that sometimes the best impressions are left by the surroundings. Picture this: you’re 18 again, and you’re shopping for a college. Are you going to pick the college that has all of the up-to-date equipment or the one that doesn’t have enough funding for an office plant? The same concept applies to both potential clients and employees. The better the tech, the better the work.

At Valley Office Solutions, we have the latest technology to make the biggest impressions. Sharp’s new AQUOS Boards are 80-inches of interactive smart technology. With its ability to communicate with multiple devices, you’ll be able to give a superior presentation and sign that new client in no time. If you’re looking to make a statement, check out our selection of video wall displays.

After all, the best way to sell a product is to make sure your potential customer is thinking about it well after they leave. A 25-monitor display will surely make sure your product stays on the top of their mind. Office technology has progressed to the point that people crave the biggest and the best. If you invest in the right office technology, you’ll impress potential clients and the top-of-the-class employee prospects, as well as making your current employees’ jobs easier.

No matter what kind of office you’re in, there are many ways that you can make your office smarter and more productive. When you’re looking to keep everything connected, check out our partner company, Peak I.T. for all of your networking needs. 

If you’re looking to make a lasting impression with the latest and greatest professional displays, give us a call at 330-726-1000 or Contact us, and we’ll help you stay on top of the technology curve.

“That’s not the way we did it.”

“When I was your age, we had to…”

“How do you work this Insta-face?”

“I type fast enough!”

“You would have never survived in my day without all this technology…”

Our parents—and for some of us, our grandparents—worked in a much different environment than we do today. In the last ten years alone, several state-of-the-art office technologies have become obsolete before our eyes and some have evolved.

An old Facsimile machine circa 1848: By European Patent Office [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Take the fax machine, for instance. While the technology dates back to the mid-1840s, the fax machine as we know it wasn’t produced en masse until the mid-1980s. It took over a hundred years to get from transmitting electricity to a poor-quality image projected into a cylinder to using a telephone wire to transmit images. These were still low-quality compared to today’s standards—that printed from a dedicated machine in six minutes. In fact, Valley Office Solutions brought the first fax units to the Youngstown area in 1984!

These fax machines reigned supreme in the workplace up until the late 2000s. In the last ten years, we’ve gotten rid of the ‘dedicated’ phone lines and machines to join the 21st Century’s technology boom. Though some of the ‘traditional’ equipment still exists, we can now send faxes digitally without tying up a phone line!

Our brief history of the fax machine hasn’t explained the changes enough the next sentence might. Today’s office is nowhere near the same as those of our fathers. There is a long list of technological advances, but the change is really the result of the technology.

First, the modern workplace has changed how efficient and productive we are. Like we said in our last blog article, technology—like the multi-function printers,presentation equipment, and display boards available today—makes it easier, quicker, and cheaper to do the same things that our fathers did in the past. Daily business tasks like invoicing, filing, and maintaining customer relationships require less paper, fewer man-hours, and less stress. 

Anyone in the business realm today will tell you that this second point has changed their lives. Whether it’s for good or for the bad, our methods of communication are at a whole new level. With the development of email, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)*, chat functions, video calling, instant messaging, and text messaging, we can now communicate instantly with our officemates and our consumers.

This instant communication has changed the way we work. We are no longer waiting for the interoffice mail or waiting for more than 24-hours for the associate in Beijing to come back and fill you in on the project. We can partner with people around the world to create products and research possibilities anytime, anywhere. 

Finally, our third example of the changing workplace is security. In the past, our fathers’ had to worry about people leaking new ideas, but not to the same extent that we do today. The digital world can be a scary place and not everyone uses technology for the good. That’s why we developed Peak I.T., our partner company for network and data security.

We use technology and encryption methods that have never been hacked because it’s our mission to stay one step ahead of the game. It’s not as hard as our fathers think to make sure that the data you value is only accessible to the right people. Peak I.T. can not only monitor the health of your computers, multi-function printers, and other devices on your network, but they help prevent loss and restore your data in case of emergencies. 

We’re sure at this point you’re wondering how our fathers ever made it in business, but that’s the great thing about technology. While it’s always advancing, there are just somethings that are here to stay. We may not send faxes the same way we used to, but the tried-and-true business methods are still there. They have just evolved with the growing technological world around us. 

*Valley Office Supplies offers custom phone systems. Call us for more details!

So how do we choose the best whiteboard? Whiteboards are so different from their initial development in the mid-60’s. In the beginning, the whiteboards were tough to clean, considering dry erase markers were not yet invented.

Today, users have several surface selections and other features that make you think before you just buy the first white board you see. You can have boards with printed graphics and wording, which have a magnetic or non-magnetic surface, and possibly a cork board as part of the finished framed unit.

There are simple choices when you want to make sure your whiteboard has no staining from the previous use, when you want cleaning to be easy, and when the lowest overall cost of use is important.

So, Which Whiteboard Is The Best?

Selecting the best whiteboard for your office or home comes down to few questions.

• How often will you be using it?
• What’s the purpose?
• Where will you be placing the whiteboard?
• How much money do you want to spend?
• What style are you looking for?
  • Cabinet style
  • Framed: wood or aluminum (types of wood)
  • Marker Tray
  • Black dry-erase board
  • Dry Erase Board / bulletin board combo
  • Planning boards: calendar, project planner and grid boards

This table provide a quick look at the whiteboard material options.

Which is the best? Here’s a deeper look at each surface type:

What is a melamine whiteboard?

Melamine is an inexpensive laminate coating for whiteboards. The compound is made of cheaper material, so the coatings on a whiteboard will wear down faster compared to a board made of porcelain. Melamine boards cost the least, but require the greatest amount of regular maintenance and have short lifespans, so the use of melamine boards can be more costly for a school, business, hospital or other organization in the long run.

Ghosting marks are caused by the wearing down of the melamine and the porous design. The surface of these boards is very porous, leading to staining from regular use of dry erase markers. Preventing ghost markings can be fixed by cleaning and conditioning the board regularly. If permanent markers are mistakenly used, the ink cannot be cleaned off. Whiteboards with a melamine finish are a more affordable product. You may want to save some money by going melamine if you’re using the board less frequently.

One last thought about melamine boards is that they are not magnetic, so you can’t display papers and posters on them without using sticky tape. Based on all this information, melamine boards are not the best whiteboard option for most users.

What makes a porcelain whiteboard better?

Porcelain boards are the most popular whiteboards on the market, offering some advantages over melamine boards, yet still has issues that could frustrate users. White ceramic is used to make a porcelain whiteboard and manufactured with varying degrees of ink resistance. The boards also have a steel or aluminum backing. The steel backing makes these boards magnetic. Ceramic is a durable material that can be resistant to stains, dents, and scratches.

Another feature to a porcelain marker board is that it has longer lasting layers which are great for heavy use. Due to the layers, you don’t have to clean and condition the board as often, and markers are less likely to ghost. The boards can become stained over time with regular use. Using whiteboard cleaners should eliminate the staining, and the removal of permanent marker ink is difficult. The use of porcelain whiteboards is perfect in common rooms like factory floors and office lobbies. The only downside to this type of board is that it will cost a little more, but the lifespan is much more substantial to melamine.

All About Glass Whiteboards

Marker boards made with tempered glass are another option but have their disadvantages. These boards are extremely durable and often feature rounded corners for safety. Glass whiteboards are modern looking and don’t always need framing. The glass can come in many different colors, including clear. Because the surface may not be white, it can be difficult to view presentations made on them. One idea is to accent the boards with a colored wall behind it to make the marker board stand out.

You can also make glass marker boards magnetic by adding a steel backing. Be careful though this can cause reflection problems. A great feature of a glass surface is that you can use liquid chalk, dry erase & wet erase markers. None of which will cause staining, streaking or ghost markings. Glass is very easy to clean. Glass marker boards tend to be more expensive than whiteboards. If you have a modern office or workspace where a board will be used repeatedly, consider making an impact by using a glass whiteboard.

Another option is EverWhite

The EverWhite dry erase board is an option that stands up to heavy use, that always stays white and that lasts a lifetime. The online buying guide Galt said this about EverWhite whiteboards: “If you want a dry erase board that will last through a lot of use, whether in a classroom or business, EverWhite is the answer.”

These boards are made with a proprietary, non-porous surface that does not allow marker ink to penetrate. The surface is so solid that EverWhite offers a lifetime guarantee against ghosting and staining. You can purchase EverWhite boards with a magnetic or non-magnetic surfaces.

You can easily clean an EverWhite board by using a simple cloth; microfiber cloths work best. For random cleaning, use water or any window cleaner, such as Windex®, without damaging the surface. You can even remove permanent marker ink from an EverWhite surface by rewriting on the permanent ink with a dry erase marker and then erase it all off.

Whiteboards are the focal point in your space. Anytime you draw or write on the surface; you’re inviting attention to the board. If your board is stained, you’re not able to make your best presentation. So don’t just go out and buy the first whiteboard you see, consider how you will use your white board and make the best decision for your space.

No matter what kind of office you’re in, there are many ways that you can make your office smarter and more productive. When you’re looking to keep everything connected, check out our partner company, Peak I.T. for all of your networking needs. 

If you’re looking to make a lasting impression with the latest and greatest professional displays, give us a call at 330-726-1000, and we’ll help you stay on top of the technology curve.

The Paperless Office. It’s been “on the way” for at least 25 years.

Yet paper is still here. Everywhere. In folders (“for review”), on desks, in the output trays of your copiers and printers. And the largest accumulation of paper is in those omnipresent blue or green recycle bins. 

Paper is still prominent in all aspects of our business. There’s no question that paper is still critically important in our world. We just all need to admit that and move to a more “paper-light” environment. Yes, we can achieve that!

Did you realize that there are almost five generations in today’s workforce? There is a large part of those people who have spent their entire careers working and communicating with paper. This segment is having a hard time breaking away from paper. Paper is comfortable, and it works, even with advanced electronic alternatives. Paper is effective. It’s familiar. It’s easy to read and portable, particularly when comparing to viewing information from a mobile phone, laptop or computer monitor. It’s tactile. Holding that paper or book just feels more satisfying than clinging to a device. Even when the brainstorming happens on an Aquos interactive board, the content still seems to make its way onto paper.

So, it’s not surprising that we haven’t yet realized the paperless office.

Is the idea of paperless or even “paper-light” stagnant? Have all the tree-huggers stopped yelling about all the trees being destroyed? Did we stop worrying about the sensitive documents being left on printer trays, shuffled to recycle bins and the possible security and compliance risks? Studies show that 65% of the printed office documents are just thrown away within a day. Does this happen in your office? And then there is the legal files, Protected Health Information, HR and other documents that are filed away in boxes and sent to offsite storage. Are you still doing that? Are you paying a sizable fee to store the paper? Clearly, there are options and room for your processes to improve. 

Simple things you can do now to begin the change

Consider electronic file scan and storage. FileMax is a comprehensive document imaging, archiving and retrieval solution for any business burdened by excessive paperwork and the need to store it and access it whenever necessary. Add up what you spend on waste and storage, and you’ll quickly identify how much an online document management solution can save your organization. Saving in many ways; cost, space, and trees. 

Employ copiers and printers with secure release printing. Huh? Simply put, everyone performs a File, Print to a central “internal cloud” and then walks to any printer in the building, and by entering their ID number or swiping their ID badge or door card, release only their print jobs. Bam – no more waste. Bam – all print jobs are secure. And those “I NEED my own printer” conversations are gone. Talk about saving money. Ask us which copiers allow secure release printing. 

Look at your various business processes. Think about your Accounts Receivables. You can easily streamline this process by eliminating the duplicate tasks of creating paper invoices, sending them via snail mail, waiting to receive them back which creates even MORE paper documents and data entry…just to end up with the paper in storage). Implement a better process and at the same time, eliminate almost all paper. Move your process to electronic invoicing docs, electronic mailing, and electronic payments and adjustments. Your computer does what it’s supposed to. This electronic processing is far easier to implement than you might guess. Then there’s HR (same kind of simplification). Electronic HR documents make everyone’s life more comfortable, especially when you consider that you can unlock an entirely new set of HR capabilities to manage information and identify talent. Let us help you look at all of your business processes and engage FileMax, your document management solution, to help you. You don’t have a doc management, imaging, archiving and retrieval system, talk to one of our FileMax specialists.

For the paper you DO consume, plant trees! Studies reveal that around 8,333 letter-sized pages equal a tree. How many trees are you destroying? How many are your planting? Consider giving to any number of charities that plant trees, such as, One Tree Planted, National Forest Foundation, Arbor Day Foundation. 

If you love paper, don’t worry. Yes, its usage will decline and will be replaced in many business processes by technology. But there is no doubt about the fact that paper is here to stay. Just remember, like everything else in our advancing technological world, better ways are here. Embrace them! Let Valley Office Solutions help you!