Quarter of managers use social media to screen candidates, but legal expert urges caution on discrim

by officePROhub.com on 11/27/2011 - 11:37 pm

Tag: Industrial Relations

 

Monday, 28 November 2011 11:01
Myriam Robin

An industrial relations lawyer says that while employers are free to use the information available on social media sites to vet potential employees, they should be careful of falling foul of the anti-discrimination laws.

The warning comes on the back of Telstra research that found more than a quarter of the 1,255 recruiters surveyed use social networking sites to screen job candidates, and more than half of these admitted to having turned away prospective employees based on something they've seen on Facebook or Twitter.

The most common reason for this was candidates posting discriminatory comments (37% of employers said this counted against applicants) and inappropriate pictures (31%).

However, the findings also found a third of Australian employers who screen social profiles had hired people based on positive things they had seen online.

Industrial relations lawyer Peter Vitale told SmartCompany that most of the information available publicly on social media profiles was fair go for recruiters.

"It seems to me that if the material is published and people haven't set their security settings to limit who can see what's on their profiles... it's a perfectly legitimate thing to do," he says.

Vitale says a lot of relevant information could be gathered from social media profiles.

"For instance, the fact that there might be particular job experience disclosed on a website that's not reflected in an applicant's CV is a legitimate thing to question," he says.

"The only potential issue would be if the information discloses matters which might result in the candidate having a characteristic which might form the basis of discriminatory conduct."

"For instance, if the material indicated that a person was ill, and the employer took that into account, there might be potential anti-discrimination issues."

He also cautioned against using information protected privacy settings.

"If it's private, you're getting into questions of whether or not there's any attempt to access personal information which might be protected by the Privacy Act," he says.

"But that may be more of an issue for people that run sites like Facebook rather than the people who gather the information."

Vitale acknowledged some might have ethical issues with his support of using social media to vet potential employees.

"Some people would say people innocently put their personal information on the websites and it should continue to be respected as personal and private. Until they change the law, I don't believe that's right," he says.

"I'm not sure how far the law should go to protect people from themselves."

Vitale says when it came to recruiting, there have been no legal cases testing how far employers can go in using information gleamed from social media.

But the broader link between conduct on social media and employment has been established legally.

"We've seen employers successfully rely on information that employees are absent from work, for instance employees that claimed to be off work sick, employees can rely on that to support dismissal," Vitale says.

In August, Fair Work Australia found that an employee's use of Facebook to post abusive comments about a manager at his workplace was grounds for dismissal even though they were posted on a private profile, as the comments could be seen by other workers at the company

Printing of high quality transistors gets closer thanks to the University of Cambridge

by officePROhub.com on 11/27/2011 - 04:11 pm

Tag: Printers

by Susan Wilson

Inkjet printers used to be a cheaper way of printing out office documents but lately, it seems that these printers can do so much more.  Just recently researchers at the University of Cambridge developed a new type of graphene ink that allows inkjet printers to print thin film transistors with greater electron mobility and electrical conductivity.

According to PhysOrg, the researchers had to break down graphite into flakes, a very involved process. The graphite was broken down “using liquid phaseexfoliation (LPE), which consists of sonication of the graphite in the presence of a solvent, N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP).”  The result was then spun in an ultracentrifuge and large flakes are filtered out. 

Then the flakes were used in a graphene-polymer ink to print thin film transistors (TFTs) onto “Si/SiO₂ substrates and the transparent substrate borosilicate glass.”  The final step was to submit the finished product to high temperatures to remove the solvent.

Inkjet printers have been able to print polymer only TFTs for a while.  But those transistors don’t have the same level of electron mobility and electrical conductivity provided by graphene.  Frankly, the polymer TFTs were “too slow for many applications.”  Graphene-polymer TFTs show more promise.

This was the first time that anyone had produced a graphene based ink that could be used for printing TFTs.  The process was outlined more fully in a paper published on arVix.org.  Further improvements will bring the ability to produce flexible electronics that can be printed on a variety of different materials.

Combining this technology with 3D printing could result in some very interesting new electronics.  Imagine printing the body of a new smartphone with the electronics printed right in.  Add gorilla glass and a battery and you’re good to go.  How about a new suit space printed from a new synthetic material with sensor technology printed right in.

Maybe someday we can use a printer like the Brother inkjet printer above to create replacement transistors for our gadgets.

The possibilities are endless but isn’t that as it should be?

Manila folders going to Manila

by officePROhub.com on 11/27/2011 - 04:01 pm

Tags: Cloud Computing, Virtual Office

Ellen Lutton - From the Sydney Morning Herald

GONE are the days when a personal assistant had to be stationed next to the boss's desk.

Brisbane small businesses and sole traders have discovered "virtual PAs" - personal assistants based in the Philippines, India and all over the world - who do the work remotely, for a third of the price and at twice the speed.

Business owners say they are saving mountains of money by outsourcing time-consuming administration work.

Rod Westerhuis, a local real-estate agent, said he knows agents already using virtual PAs from the Philippines and is planning on hiring one himself in the new year. He said it's a "no-brainer".

"I can hire three of these assistants for the same price I'd get someone locally here in Brisbane," he said.

"It might cost me $700 a month for a full-time assistant and that's inclusive of everything; there's no extra super, sick pay or holiday pay on top of that.''

He said businesses were often reluctant to admit they used virtual workers because of the stigma attached to outsourcing.

"Some people get really offended by it, they think it's unethical. And while it might not be much money to us, it's a lot of money in the Philippines. And it's also about running a business efficiently and effectively," Mr Westerhuis said.

Brett Elvish, who runs his own finance consultancy business, regularly outsources administration and marketing work to other countries.

He prefers workers in the Philippines because of the small difference in time zones (two hours) and because they are tertiary qualified - but he has also outsourced work to the US.

"One woman, I gave her 10 hours of time to do some research for me and said that, once the 10 hours was up, we'd discuss how she was going,'' Mr Elvish said.

"I got an email saying the work had been done in 5.5 hours. At $6.60 an hour, the honesty and integrity was incredible. Why wouldn't I go back to that?"

A former director of a large finance company said he "shudders" to think about how much money was wasted on tasks that could have been outsourced.

"I've run much bigger companies than what I'm doing now and I think about the amount of money we would have wasted on all sorts of tasks … and how much money we would have saved by using these services," he said.

He agreed there was a stigma to outsourcing jobs. "I think there is that element there for some people. I've been asked by people if it is sweatshop-type stuff but it's simply not true," the ex-director said.

"People are very precious about Australian jobs and while I think that's fair enough, we need to accept that the world is now a smaller place.

"There's an enormous range of things that businesses are not taking advantage of. Bigger businesses are often lazy and reluctant to change, rather than having a strong moral aversion to something like this. It's laziness."

Paul Ellison, director of recruitment company People Plus, said the impact on the administration and personal-assistant job market would be "incredibly minimal".

"Maybe, in the more transactional or lower skill set part of the market, it could be useful, but some skills sets can never be done remotely or virtually. A lot of these jobs require an understanding of communication and a compatibility with their employer," he said.

What are your feelings on this?

Businesses using cloud computing services unknowingly

by officePROhub.com on 11/26/2011 - 01:43 am

Tag: Cloud Computing

Many Canadian businesses are using cloud computing services without knowing it, a survey has found, pointing to a knowledge gap amid widespread privacy and security concerns.

Cloud computing services include hardware, software or data storage services maintained offsite, often by a third party, and accessed over the internet.

Just 29 per cent of 705 senior leaders at Canadian businesses and government organizations said they were using some cloud computing services, according to a survey released by Microsoft Canada Thursday.

However, among the rest, one in five indicated that they used services like Microsoft Web Apps, Microsoft Office 365 and Windows Azure, which are, in fact, cloud computing services.

"One of the things that really stuck out in our eyes was that 19 per cent of those respondents are using the cloud and didn't realize it," John Weigelt, national technology officer for Microsoft Canada, said while releasing the results at an event in Toronto.

A lot of businesses moving into the cloud are doing so without a full comprehension or understanding of what's happening, said John Weigelt, national technology officer for Microsoft Canada. iStock

A lot of businesses moving into the cloud, he added, "are doing so without a full comprehension [or] understanding of what's happening."

Almost half of respondents said the cloud was a "high interest topic" but were hesitant about it because of security or privacy concerns. Organizations that said they were already in the cloud were more likely to express those concerns (52 per cent versus 44 per cent overall).

Of those not in the cloud, only 10 per cent said they had a plan to look at how their business could use cloud computing solutions.

The survey was conducted online in October by Leger Marketing. Respondents were members of the company's online panel, which includes businesses and organizations across all sectors and industries that run at least five computers. Microsoft released only selected results of the survey.

A group of expert panellists who discussed the results following their release made it clear that businesses must do a significant amount of legwork to implement cloud services while ensuring privacy and security.

Businesses using cloud services to manage their data remain accountable for it, noted Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's information and privacy commissioner.

However, she said taking advantage of the flexibility, reliability, much lower costs and enhanced collaboration offered by cloud services while maintaining privacy and security is "eminently doable" if services are designed with privacy and security in mind.

Legal obligations

Toronto privacy lawyer Michael Power suggested said businesses need legal advice to ensure they comply with Canadian laws, which limit the disclosure of private information, require the private sector to provide notice of data storage outside Canada, govern confidentiality of health records and in some provinces restrict the storage of public information outside the country.

He added that laws in both Canada and the United States., including the U.S. Patriot Act, provide for access to data by law enforcement.

Businesses need to ask their cloud providers how they will receive notice if law enforcement wants access to their data and what restrictions there are on the use and disclosure of the data. They should also get details about how data breaches will be dealt with.

He recommended talking to a security consultant as part of the process.

"At the end of the day, I think you need to know who is holding your data, you have to have some measure of oversight, and you have to understand their security policies, procedures and practices," he said. "If you do that, then in a large part, you've met your accountability obligations."

Robert Cook, chief information officer for the University of Toronto, said security and privacy were top concerns cited by the university community when it was polled about the possibility of delivering university email services via the cloud.

Meeting obligations

The university was looking into that option, he said, because it was no longer able to provide a level of email service itself that satisfied the community and believed that cloud services could deliver higher quality service at a lower price.

He said his organization ensured it was meeting its obligations by conducting a risk analysis and privacy impact assessment in partnership with Microsoft, which was contracted to deliver the email services.

Weigelt said Microsoft undergoes third-party audits of its privacy and security measures and ensures it is aware of privacy obligations in different countries. But he warned that other cloud providers may mainly do work in a particular country and may not necessarily know the obligations in Canada.

He acknowledged that companies have to do a lot of legwork to ensure privacy and security in the cloud, but he argued that similar work would need to be done to ensure privacy requirements are met by data services kept in-house.

"It's the same legwork in the cloud," he said. "There's no added effort."

By Emily Chung, CBC News

Posted: Nov 25, 2011 12:15 PM ET

Tiny 21 gram 'Cotton Candy' USB actually a personal computer

by officePROhub.com on 11/21/2011 - 01:00 am

Tags: Cloud Computing, Office Computers, software and programs

Norwegian developers have created one of the world's smallest computers on a USB stick.

The device, dubbed "Cotton Candy", allows users to turn any screen on a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone into a terminal that accesses the USB's operating system, cloud services and apps.

The USB - weighing 21 grams, about the weight of a bag of fairy floss - would also work with television sets, set-top boxes and games consoles, the company, FXI Technologies, said.

 

One of the world's tiniest personal computers. Photo: FXI Tech

"We've turned things upside down, eliminating the screen and delivering the power of a PC and the web to any screen," FXI Technologies's founder and chief executive Borgar Ljosland said.

The tiny device, which uses Google's Android operating system and is expected to retail for about $US200 in the middle of next year, has been touted as a way for the search engine giant to get Android on a wider range of electronic devices beyond the smartphone and tablet.

"From TVs to car stereo head units to refrigerators and lighting fixtures, it seems no piece of consumer electronics is out of Android's reach," Wired magazine wrote.

"And, ultimately, getting Android on as many devices as possible gets Google's search bar and services on to multitudinous screens beyond the desktop environment. This potentially means more ads served, and more revenue for the search company's core business."

The specs, as supplied by FXI Technologies:

ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-A9 (1.2GHz) CPU, an ARM Mali(TM)-400 MP (Quad-core) GPU, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, HDMI output and the Android operating system.

The USB decodes MPEG-4, H.264 and other video formats and display HD graphics on any HDMI equipped screen.

Content is accessed through a secure FXI web portal and can be controlled via smartphones, keyboards, mice and other USB peripherals.

As Lexmark evolves, focus moves from printers to software

by officePROhub.com on 11/21/2011 - 12:41 am

Tags: Managed Print Services, Printers, software and programs

By Scott Sloan — ssloan@herald-leader.com

Posted: 12:00am on Nov 20, 2011; Modified: 8:20am on Nov 20, 2011

Two acquisitions since last year by Lexmark International have continued to move theLexingtoncompany further from its roots in printers only and more into computer software and services.

 

Foreshadowing much change in the printer industry, behemoths including Hewlett-Packard have followed suit and snapped up competitors in the realm of what's called enterprise content management.

 

The name is complicated, but the idea is simple. Printer companies are working to make themselves invaluable to businesses by getting more involved in the flow of information, regardless of whether it ever shows up on a printed page.

 

ForLexington, it could mean more high-tech employees of a different sort. During the past year, Lexmark has been posting more and more jobs with a computer software focus on top of the highly paid engineering posts the company is known for locally.

 

What have they done?

 

The moves began in June 2010, when Lexmark acquired Kansas-based Perceptive Software, which specializes in enterprise content management software.

 

Perceptive bills itself as providing "content in context," as it takes information in any number of ways — a scanned document, perhaps, or a typed-in form — and makes it accessible in a company's workflow.

 

Take, for example, a bank. If you were to fill out forms by hand to apply for a loan, Lexmark's role in the process once stopped after scanning the forms. Today, those forms can be scanned and sent directly to various steps of the bank's decision-making process using Perceptive's software.

 

"We were on the capture and delivery ends," said Lexmark's Tim Rowland, vice president of worldwide enterprise operations, referring to scanning and printing. "What we've done with Perceptive now is fill in that gap."

 

One of Perceptive's newest customers is Hospice of theBluegrass, which has hired the company to help in its government-mandated quest to move to electronic records.

 

Perceptive's software "came off as very intuitive and easy to use," said Cros well Chambers, the non-profit's chief information and security officer.

 

Lexmark continued to bolster those software offerings last month with its purchase of Netherlands-based Pallas Athena for $50.2 million. The company specializes in what's called business process management in which its software interfaces with other data bases to make workflow easier.

 

Take a vehicle accident insurance claim as an example, said Darren Knipp, chief technology officer of Perceptive Software, which will oversee Pallas Athena. To complete questions in a claim form, Pallas Athena's software will interface with other data bases to find the answers. The software also could route the claim to a particular customer service person based on certain factors.

 

"It will route the case to him and include any content like pictures of the accident, insurance cards, past losses and injury reports," Knipp said. "That way when it comes to you, everything is wrapped up in the case. You can do your thing, and it goes to the next person."

 

Pallas Athena specializes, too, in what's called document output management, which is just what it sounds like. Once everything is finished, one click of a button will print the necessary reports.

 

Pallas Athena "strengthens the workflow component that we have in Perceptive," said Lexmark CEO Paul Rooke.

 

How did they evolve?

 

Rooke sees the acquisitions as building on the legacy of Lexmark over its 20 years.

 

One of the original employees after the company was spun off from IBM in 1991, Rooke recalls the origins of Lexmark, when the company had more dot-matrix printers than laser printers in its fleet of products.

 

"At first, it was basic printing; then it evolved to managed services," he said of the industry revolution of the past decade, during which printer companies have managed businesses' printing by choosing the most efficient printer setups. "Now it's extending into the businesses' content and particularly this unstructured content, stuff that comes off of paper, and now into business process management and workflow management."

 

For Lexmark, it's a natural progression, he said. The company began to differentiate itself in the 1990s by tailoring its products to businesses. It helped pharmacies print on pill bottles. Its products helped retailers print the tags you see on product shelves. And now it's looking to become more and more to those companies.

 

"They're all connected," Rooke said. "It makes perfect sense for Lexmark, and that's what we're trying to do."

 

It was a vision that was surprising at first to Scott Coons, who continued as CEO of Perceptive Software after its acquisition by Lexmark.

 

"I never imagined being acquired by what people thought to be a traditional hardware company," he said. "As we got to know Lexmark, it became very apparent to us they're a solutions company rather than a hardware company."

 

And those solutions Lexmark talks about, such as ways to use less paper — its mantra is "print less, save more" — are what's driving the need to become more involved.

 

As companies and consumers begin to think more about their environmental footprint, many are beginning to print less. As the entire printer industry is maturing in terms of pages printed, companies have turned increasingly to software to boost revenue and profits. It allows them to strengthen their hold on customers, who are finding the companies helpful in finding efficiencies.

 

"As documents don't get printed at all, customers are looking at ways to manage that content electronically and, more importantly, not only managing the digital version of that but linking that information back to their core systems," said Kevin Goffinet, a Lexmark executive who has overseen the integration of Perceptive Software. "This isn't just about a repository of information but about the workflow."

 

Lexmark's software is competing with those of other companies such as industry giant HP, which acquired enterprise software company Autonomy last month. It's also competing to make businesses more efficient with the likes of Xerox, which acquired business process outsourcer ACS last year.

 

Lexmark's software and solutions on its multifunction printers and in its managed print services offerings recently led to the company being named a leader in the field by research firm Gartner.

 

"Software that touches printing and document management is incredibly important for the future success of these companies," said analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research. "Lexmark is competing against Xerox and HP, who have strong software offerings in various areas, and very strong scale and research and development capabilities.

 

"It's incredibly important that they continue to invest in this segment."

 

Where are they going?

 

The goal to grow Perceptive's sales is based in part on using Lexmark's international sales force to expand the reach of Perceptive's products, which before the acquisition had been limited primarily to theUnited States.

 

"We're doing this by hiring more Perceptive salespeople into our international locations for Lexmark," said Lexmark executive vice president Marty Canning.

 

Goffinet estimates the company will have its sales force to the desired reach within six to nine months.

 

And the expanded focus on software could mean a larger variety of jobs inLexington. Perceptive will continue to be based inKansas, but Lexmark has been hiring cloud-based developers here for its printer-based software initiatives, noted Rooke, the CEO.

 

The company recently unveiled a cloud-based "Print Release solution" that allows mobile printing from anywhere.

 

And there still are plenty of industries to tap into for software development. Rowland, the vice president of worldwide enterprise operations, sees the worlds of insurance and government as prime targets.

 

Added Randy Sparks, director of worldwide solutions marketing, "There's a ton of paper-based processes that we can help with as they transition to digital processes.

 

"We think we're ready to be the bridge between the copy space and the digital place," he added.

 

But how far Lexmark goes will be the primary question, analyst Cross suggested.

 

"HP can do Perceptive-like things and then do business analytics on the data that Perceptive has rendered," she said. "They can take it a step further. The question is: Does Lexmark ever get to that point?"

 

She used Lexmark's example of how its software assists with mortgage applications: "Can you get to the point where a Lexmark solution does the first level of analysis on those documents, saying yes or no, we'll deny this mortgage application immediately?

 

"This solution concept is all merging together," Cross said. "It's going to be important for them to decide what they can do successfully and how far they want to go into business analytics."

KYOCERA MITA launches five new A4 monochrome MFPs for small workgroups

by officePROhub.com on 11/20/2011 - 11:26 pm

Tags: Copiers, Office Equipment, Printers

KYOCERA MITA Europe B.V. has announced the launch of five new A4 monochrome multifunctional devices. Two of them, the FS-1135MFP and FS-1035MFP/DP will replace the former BLI awarded FS-1128MFP as well as the FS-1028MFP and FS-1028MFP/DP with enhanced functionalities and superior printing speed of 35 pages per minute (ppm). The business entry models FS-1130MFP, FS-1030MFP/DP and FS-1030MFP come additionally with the same core functionalities and a print speed of 30 ppm. With their superior network integration and security features they are made to fit the needs of small workgroups from small offices to large businesses.

All five devices come with standard duplex printing, copy and colour scan functionality. The FS-1130MFP and FS-1135MFP are marketed as 4-in-1 devices with accessory fax function. All have a 50 sheet reversal document processor for high speed and easy usage, with the exception of the new basic model FS-1030MFP. At 6.9 sec, the time to first copy for the whole device group is extraordinarily fast.

New functionalities

In addition to the well known features of former KYOCERA A4 MFPs the new models offer a variety of new features that make document processes easier and more secure. For instance, the copy of double-sided ID cards on a single sheet of paper with a dedicated program key and they support optional authentication via IC cards for a convenient and secure way to manage the access rights for selected devices, which can be easily integrated to give accountability of all print jobs. In addition there is the private print function available for secure printing of confidential documents. It simply requires a pin code before the print job starts. “The new security features will give our customers peace of mind, by providing a safer transition from digital to paper” said Berthold Hurtz, Product Manager of KYOCERA MITA Europe B.V..

 

Minimized environmental impact

With these new A4 MFP models KYOCERA MITA provides the possibility to reduce power consumption to a very low level. The integrated sleep mode can be activated after one minute and reduces power consumption immediately to 7.8 – 10.6 W/h. ‘Automatic power off mode’ is now a feature available in all of the new devices, this function fulfils future requirements of EU directives and brings the devices down to a power consumption of only 0.5 W/h in the off-mode.
These models also support half speed print mode that brings the noise level down to 49 dB(A). To complete the comprehensive environmental approach the new A4 MFPs are of course based on the well established KYOCERA ECOSYS technology with its long life components to reduce waste and save money.

Low cost for high speed

The premium models FS-1035MFP/DP and FS-1135MFP print, copy and scan 35 pages per minutes. Thanks to ECOSYS technology and low toner cost the printing cost are exceptionally low in their printing class. The 30ppm models offer a lower purchasing price with an attractive cost per page.

The new A4 mono multifunctional devices are available from KYOCERA MITA authorised partners from 15 November 2011.

About KYOCERA MITA Europe B.V.

KYOCERA MITA is one of the world's leading office document solutions companies. Its product range consists of ECOSYS printers, reliable multifunctional systems and wide format devices, completed by supplies, efficient document solutions and comprehensive services. KYOCERA MITA provides innovative products, built on a foundation of long-life components, allowing it to offer its customers low total cost of ownership and high efficiency in any workplace. For further information, visit: www.kyoceramita-europe.com
KYOCERA MITA Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of KYOCERA Corporation, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2009. Ranked no. 604 on Forbes magazine’s 2011 “Global 2000” listing of the world’s largest publicly traded companies, KYOCERA Corporation is a leading manufacturer of high-tech ceramics, electronic components, solar cells and electronic office equipment. KYOCERA Corporation’s long-term growth strategy is to focus on business that supports telecommunications, information processing, environmental protection and the preservation of quality of life.