We are now able to offer a single point of contact for all your technology needs including copiers and printers, document automation software, cybersecurity, IT support, IP phones and leased lines.
What are the benefits of reducing the number of suppliers?
Cost Savings
Reduced Administrative Costs: Managing fewer suppliers reduces administrative overhead associated with procurement processes, invoicing, contract management and communication.
Enhanced Quality and Consistency
Consistent Quality Standards: Reducing the number of suppliers can help ensure more consistent product or service quality. This is because fewer suppliers can be managed more closely to meet specific quality standards.
Simplified Logistics: Managing fewer suppliers simplifies logistics, making supply chain management more efficient, agile and less prone to errors or delays.
Reduced Risks
Minimised Supplier Risk: With fewer suppliers to manage, companies can more effectively assess and mitigate risks such as financial instability, compliance issues or ethical concerns.
Compliance and Sustainability
Easier Compliance Management: With fewer suppliers, it is easier to manage and enforce compliance with regulations, industry standards and company policies.
Allied Office Machines are delighted to announce a strategic partnership with Hampshire Business Computers, a leading IT provider in the Hampshire region.
This collaboration between Allied Office Machines and Hampshire Business Computers aims to combine their strengths and expertise. With Allied Office Machines’ extensive experience in office equipment and business process automation and Hampshire Business Computers’ proven capabilities in IT infrastructure, cybersecurity and cloud based phone systems, the alliance is set to provide exceptional value to clients.
“We are excited to join forces with Hampshire Business Computers,” said Steve Drayson, MD at Allied Office Machines. “This partnership allows us to expand our service offerings and provide a more comprehensive IT solution to our clients. Both companies share a commitment to excellent customer satisfaction and support for local community and charities.”
Olly Ross, Sales Director of Hampshire Business Computers, added: “Partnering with Allied Office Machines is a fantastic opportunity to bring together our complementary skills and expertise. Our combined resources will enable us to offer a broader range of services and drive innovation in the technology solutions we provide.”
Picture: Steve Drayson from Allied Office Machines and Olly Ross from Hampshire Business Computers and the team
We are delighted to announce Allied Office Machines are sponsoring a local charity Romsey Opportunity Group.
Romsey Opportunity Group supports children under five with physical, emotional and sensory disabilities and their families in a play based setting.
The charity has been open since 1971 and continues to provide facilities for babies to pre-school children with special needs. It gives the children the opportunity to learn and develop through play, as well as provide information, support and valuable respite for their families.
The group is run by a committee and staffed mainly by a team of volunteers which meets twice a week on a Tuesday and Thursday morning between 10am-12pm at the Appletree Centre, Princes Road, Romsey.
The use of the building is provided courtesy of Hampshire County Council but they receive no other funding. Sessions are kept free thanks to on-going fundraising.
Steve Drayson, MD at Allied Office Machines, commented: “We are always happy to support a local charity and give back to the local community. The Romsey Opportunity Group is one of the few special needs centres in Hampshire where they cater for the youngest age group, zero to five years”
Sue Fisher, Trustee & Volunteer at Romsey Opportunity Group, added, “ Allied Office Machines have kindly donated a printer/scanner which will help us produce our newsletters and run the administration side of our charity more effectively”
Our Allied Office Machines Lightbulbs team has taken part in the Rowans Hospice Corporate Quiz.
It was an enjoyable, well organised evening and lots of funds have been raised for this worthy charity.
Our team has done well and finished in a joint 4th place. We are looking forward to the next one!
Rowans Hospice provide palliative and end of life care to the highest quality for those living with a life-limiting illness in the Southeast of Hampshire. Their highly trained hospice carers help to improve quality of life for the patient by easing physical symptoms as well as offering psychological, spiritual and social support to both patients and their loved ones.
Based in Portsmouth, Window Warehouse is the south coast’s leading manufacturer of quality uPVC and aluminium windows and doors to the domestic and commercial sectors.
Allied Office Machines have been a trusted technology supplier to Window Warehouse for many years. The partnership has started with Allied providing printers and copiers and grew into supplying software solutions and cybersecurity.
When their previous delivery notes scanning system was no longer supported Allied recommended a software replacement GlobalCapture. This solution has a flexible licencing model which is also more cost effective and highly scalable, so it can expand into other departments.
The delivery notes are created with a barcode from the main system and printed. Once they are signed by the customer, they are scanned back into the system which completes the electronic document trail for each job. This enables the company to resolve any queries quickly and efficiently and speeds up invoicing and payments.
GlobalCapture® is a software solution that automates manual tasks and transforms documents into business intelligence.
Andy Bulcock, IT Manager at Window Warehouse explained: “ On Allied’s recommendation we have selected GlobalCapture to update our delivery notes scanning process. The next stage is to automate this process even further and replicate it all electronically. The proof of delivery will be completed via the drivers’ mobiles where customers sign for the job. The confirmation will be sent automatically into the system which means the invoice can be raised even sooner ”
Steve Drayson, MD at Allied Office Solutions added: “We are very happy to assist Window Warehouse in their digital transformation and provide the business technology they need to support their growing company.
Picture: Andy Bulcock from Window Warehouse and Frankie Girardelli from Allied
Hampshire based Allied Office Machines are proud to announce they have extended their sponsorship of Winchester Rugby Club.
Allied Office Machines have been supporting Winchester Rugby Football Club since 2003 by donating multifunctional printers to help run the administration of the club.
Steve Drayson, MD at Allied Office Machines, commented: “We sponsor Winchester Rugby Club as we feel sport plays an important role in the local community and encourages young people to be more active. Especially in this digital age, where everyone spends too much time indoors on their devices. We wish the Club the very best of luck in this season and beyond”
Winchester rugby club continues to progress and currently runs four senior men teams, a ladies team and over 600 boys and girls in the age grade teams. They are supported by 150 volunteers who help to provide rugby for the benefit of the community. The 1st XV secured promotion last season as did both the 2nd XV and 3rd XV highlighting the strength in depth that has been developed over recent seasons. The 1st XV are now playing in the Regional 2 South Central League and as they enter the second half of the season stand 2nd in the table.
Robbie Sanderson, President at Winchester Rugby Club, added, “Winchester RFC are delighted to extend their twenty year partnership with Allied Office Machines. Allied provide the necessary printing equipment for our increasingly busy club office and making life easier for our back room team.”
Picture L-R: Robbie Sanderson (President WRFC), Steve Drayson (MD at Allied Office Machines), Steve Barrow (Chairman WRFC)
If you have printers and photocopiers from Allied Office Machines, you most likely benefit from our toner inclusive maintenance agreement. This means we replace your toners as needed.
Some users are changing partially used toners for new ones, much before the existing toners are empty. These used toners still could print thousands of pages with no loss of quality. They only need to be replaced when they are completely empty and the machine stops working.
For the benefit of the environment and to cut wastage, we have provided the following useful information.
Toner replacement procedure
The correct procedure for replacing printer and photocopier toner is:
When the machine indicates a toner is running low, do not replace the toner at this stage. There is plenty of toner left, you do not need to change it just yet.
When the machine finally runs out of toner, it will stop. If it is a colour device, it will need either a cyan, magenta, yellow or black toner. Check which one needs replacing. It is highly unlikely you will need to change more than one toner at a time. The device will indicate which colour toner needs to be replaced.
Empty? OK, it’s time to change it. Please make sure you have selected the correct toner, give it a gentle shake, and replace it.
If you are using our auto-replenish service, your machine will notify us in plenty of time for the next replacement to be sent out.
At Allied Office Machines we are constantly looking to improve our green credentials and create a sustainable approach to the way we do business.
Our partnership with Ricoh helps with this as sustainability is built into their product design and prevalent throughout their value chain.
Ricoh have undertaken a series of initiatives in the areas of energy efficiency, resource conservation and human wellbeing to minimise the environmental impact of their devices. As a result they are pleased to introduce their new range IM C Series.
Energy savings
The IM C Series boasts industry-leading low Typical Energy Consumption (TEC) values and automatic eco-mode energy saving (0.3W) when in sleep mode. By using an innovative new toner that fuses at a lower temperature, IM C Series significantly lowers energy consumption. Sleep mode power consumption has also been reduced, helping you achieve a smaller carbon footprint with lower costs.
More recycled plastic
Designed for sustainability throughout its lifecycle, the IM C Series is made using 50% post-consumer recycled plastic while PET toner bottles are produced from 100% recycled plastic. Plastic packaging is reduced by 54% thanks to a more sustainable material and no excess packaging.
Waste management
Waste management is also a focus as our operations generate paper, plastic and metal waste, which we strive to consume less and recycle more to reduce our environmental impact by:
Encouraging individual responsibility for recycling initiatives and providing recycling facilities for paper, printer toners, plastics and metal
Refurbishing older equipment and providing these as a service. Refurbishing means we return the condition of the equipment to nearly new.
The products we can no longer refurbish are donated to Southampton Special Purpose Workshop, a Hampshire-based company helping adults with special needs. SSPW strips out all materials from the equipment which are then recycled.
In addition, we offer a free toner cartridge recycling service to all our customers with 90% of all used toner cartridges being recycled.
Read more about the new Ricoh range here and our Corporate responsibility and sustainability here
With so many high profile attacks, is the current ransomware strategy not working?
Companies are entrusted with the private, personal, and sensitive information of their clients. When there is a ransomware breach, clients’ data is encrypted and stolen.
If the ransom demanded is not paid, three things typically happen:
1. The business loses access to their data. To remedy this, they need to restore the data from IT backups, leading to loss of revenue over the weeks/months(?) it would take. But that’s only as long as their IT backup is not infected by ransomware… Sometimes cyber criminals delay their attack after they have hacked into a company, so their ransomware code gets included in the regular daily/weekly backup.
2. To punish the company for non-payment, the stolen client data gets published on the dark web for other criminals to take an advantage of. A recent series of attacks on schools saw their data being shared including children’s SEN information, passport scans and details of teachers’ pay contracts. Read more here.
3. ICO may need to be notified of the breach and a fine can be issued. Tuckers Solicitors, one of the UK’s leading criminal law firms, have been hit with a £98,000 fine after hackers were able to access current court cases information and leak them on the web. Read more here.
Your insurance company may cover cybercrime and pay the ransom for you. We are aware of cases where this has happened. I can only imagine how high the following years’ insurance premiums going to be. Also, the UK government has made it illegal to pay ransom to some ransomware criminals. Read more here.
“We are protected from ransomware by our robust antivirus and EDR defences”, you say? Well, it may be true you are protecting your devices as much as possible, but cybercriminals are becoming more and more devious and they are finding ways to get in.
Many large corporations spend millions on cybersecurity and still get hacked. Recent high profile attacks include BBC, Boots, BACapita, Mazars and Royal Mail.
Experts agree that it is no longer a question of if, but when you get targeted. A business needs to take every precaution they can in building strong perimeter and end point defences. However they also need to plan for when there is a breach and how to manage it.
Find out more about Bullwall RansomCare which will stop an active ransomware attack.
Contact Martyn on 01794 526088 or email m.pegram@aomltd.co.uk
Martyn Pegram, Account Director at Allied Office Machine, has completed the super popular London Marathon. He managed to raise £1968 for a local charity The Rainbow Centre.
Martyn at the start of the London Marathon
Here is Martyn sharing his experience with us:
“It’s fair to say that my Marathon training was less than perfect. I had a sixteen week plan, which was disrupted twice. First I damaged my Achilles and had to rest for five weeks. Then I had twisted my stomach muscle, which took me another three weeks to recover from. This meant I only had half the allocated time to train. When I could get out, I did enjoy making videos to highlight what I was doing and who I was doing it for. With only two weeks to go I hadn’t gone beyond ten miles. However I did not want to risk another injury.
The day itself was an awesome experience. The crowds. The noise. The anticipation really gets you going. I set off with all manner of things in my mind “Don’t start too fast”, “Focus on the mile you’re in”, “Run your own race” and my favourite, which was “Finish line, not finish time!” I felt OK at the start, nothing too bad, nice and steady. I took water at each stop and only had a couple of sips (as per advice) but it’s amazing how so little water makes you want to visit the loo so much!! 🙂 So I stopped at virtually every toilet stop on the way.
6.5 Miles in is the Cutty Sark. The crowd there is loud. I still felt fine and I was thinking, this is virtually 25%. But not long after that my muscles were burning and I started to struggle coming up to 8 Miles.
Just after Mile 9, my left calf went and it was horrid. I tried to stretch it, but it was agony. Part of me thought, ‘You’re not even halfway, so find a medical tent and stop’. But then I thought about the video I’d seen from the Rainbow Centre. In this video Eniko (one of the staff) said, they were asking the children to do something every day, which was like the equivalent of them asking her to climb Kilimanjaro. It really kept me moving forward, as I was only doing this for one day.
Completed!
At Tower Bridge I tried a mini slow jog over it – perhaps I knew the cameras were there! – and then I crossed it and turned right and saw the halfway marker. There’s a board with messages for the runners and I had some – once again it kept me going. This was the longest homeward stretch, but I thought I just had to finish now no matter what.
After that point the crowds are smaller, but equally raucous. Singing “Sweet Caroline” at a pub on route with all those people was great. That bit seems to go on forever, with my calves burning I could feel the blisters on my toes and heels – I think mainly due to the rain earlier in the day. It certainly wasn’t because I was going too fast.
At Mile 21 I needed some treatment and they asked if I needed to stop. Not a chance was I going to stop now. I kept thinking of the kids at The Rainbow Centre and all of those people who had sponsored me – I didn’t want to short change anyone. The last 2 miles was mainly stragglers, so more and more of the crowd, who could see my name on my vest, were encouraging me. The crowd really are fantastic.
With just the 385 yards to go, I was cursing Queen Alexandra – I could have finished already!! I was limping and devoid of energy, but the grandstand crowd all chant for you and there’s another board with messages. I was in absolute zombie mode and really emotional.
When I crossed the finish line I checked three times that it was over and then collapsed on the floor, shattered and in agony. After a little bit of medical, I got my medal and t-shirt.
I’m so pleased to have done it and very thankful to the Rainbow Centre for giving me the opportunity to take part in something so incredibly iconic, but just like Sir Mo Farah, that’s my last London Marathon. One and Done!
My favourite part of all though was to go in and visit the Centre afterwards and to have a picture taken with the children and staff. I know that the near £2000 that I raised will really help them and that, for me, made every step of the Marathon worthwhile.
Children and staff at The Rainbow Centre
Perhaps my experience will inspire others to get off the sofa and raise some funds for this amazing charity.”
The Rainbow Centre is a Fareham-based charity supporting people across the Wessex region with neurological conditions including Cerebral Palsy, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke and other acquired brain injuries. As a non-governmentally funded organisation, they are dependent on the generosity and fundraising endeavours of their brilliant community which help to fund the neuro-rehabilitation provided by the Centre.
The Rainbow Centre had eight amazing London Marathon runners who collectively raised over £10,000.
