We were fortunate to be able to bring decision makers from about 40 of our customers to Busch Stadium for a morning seminar about how technology is changing the workplace. Attendees heard from us, from our partner HP, and from Cardinals GM John Mozeliak.
The morning started with a presentation from Kate Dougherty, OE’s VP of Sales and Marketing, that served as an overview of the ways technology has changed work, and about some of the ways OE has reacted to that change.
The central point of her discussion was that communications technology has radically redefined work. Workers used to be tied to their desks — that’s where computers and phones went — because it’s where they had to be. But now that we’re a mobile society, work can be conducted online from anywhere.
This is why we’ve invested so heavily in our e-commerce platform, making it easy for users to operate, but adding features like departmental budgets, approval processes, and contract lists that make it indispensable for businesses to manage.
Kate also talked about the changes we’ve seen in out top categories, Facilities, Furniture, and Technology.
Facilites
Our Facilities category has evolved right along with our e-commerce site, allowing customers to turn to OE for their facilities and breakroom products right along with their traditional office supplies. This saves them time and costs by being able to consolidate vendors.
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Read more about out Facilities program here.
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Technology
In the Technology category, the ability for us to use advanced technology to help our customers monitor their printers with software has enabled us to save them substantial time, costs, and carbon by analyzing things like:
- Paper & toner usage – spotting ways to help you reduce it – by as much as 30%.
- End-user print behavior
- Security
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Read more about our managed print services here.
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Furniture
This is probably the category that sees the evolving work trends more acutely than any other. Design trends are moving away from traditional cubicles to a more home-like aesthetic,
with companies setting up different spaces to accommodate different ways of working.
We’re seeing demand for more collaborative spaces and couches, and less need
to design the furniture around technical requirements like phone lines and data ports.
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Read more about our office furniture services here.
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HP Discussion
Adam Minnick, one of our reps from HP, delivered a riveting presentation on security, and how the vulnerability printers can pose goes under the radar of many IT departments. With the networking features built into today’s multi-function printers, those devices are more like PC’s than printers, and thus just as vulnerable to attack if not protected properly.
Wrapping Up
A day at Busch Stadium is always a great day and this was no exception. John Mozeliak was a highlight, of course, but the real star of the show was Adam from HP. You could see that many of our customers had no idea how serious the threat unsecured printers can pose. Here are a few pictures from the day.
