The Benefits Of Mindfulness

It is difficult for one to avoid information promoting the benefits of mindfulness, so much so that one's own self defense mechanisms filter much of it out and deposit the information in the overload scrap heap. This is a shame because mindfulness really works!

The important aspect of mindfulness is that for a practice to be effective, one needs to tailor it to your personal needs, lifestyle, and how you learn.

There is tons of credible research available to define the benefits of a mindfulness practice. With this research as the basis, here are some of the widely accepted benefits of a mindfulness practice:

1. Reduced rumination. Rumination is the continual replaying of similar thoughts and often associated with worry or even obsession. Typically, the thoughts are focused on the past or the future and the more a person ruminates, the less they are focused on and aware of what is happening in the present.

2. Stress reduction. Stress is often associated with worry and worry typically is related to something in the future. By focusing on the present, you become more aware of what you can influence and manage and what is beyond your control.

3. Boost working memory. The mind can only hold 5 or 6 separate things in working memory. When you add an additional element to be considered, something usually falls by the wayside. Focusing on the present allows you to keep the elements that are critical to the present in front of you and you are less likely to ‘forget’ something. For example, if you are ‘thinking’ about what you are going to do on the weekend, you may overlook something you meant to do on your present shopping trip.

An effective way to stay focused in the moment is to keep a note pad handy to record things that need to be done ‘in the future’.

4. Improved focus. Mindfulness helps notice when an intrusive thought arises – a thinking habit ‘fork in the road moment’ – and makes it possible to let the thought go or record it for attention later.

5. Less emotional reactivity. Emotions arise regularly. This is the mind’s normal response to experiencing life. How you respond to the emotion – how much energy you devote to reacting – can be managed. Mindfulness allows you to recognize the emotion and respond skillfully rather than getting indefinitely lost in the grip of an emotion.

Emotions are cyclical – they have a beginning and an end. The length of the cycle can be heavily influenced by the messages we send ourselves about the emotion. For example, when anger arises, you could think “I am angry” or you could think “There is anger”. Two completely different perspectives about the same circumstance.

6. More cognitive flexibility. We judge so much of what we experience in life and when we judge something, we have already formed an opinion about it. When an opinion is formed, we stop learning. When we stop learning, life begins to close down.

The more mindful we are, the more aware we are of our judgments and can use that awareness to take a more curious approach to the array of people and circumstances we encounter.

7. Greater relationship satisfaction. The quality of our relationships with others directly impacts the quality of our lives and the amount of happiness we experience. One of the simplest ways to improve the quality of our relationships is to be appropriately mindful when we are with someone. Listening mindfully sends an incredibly powerful message to another person.

As a place to start, check out this short piece on mindful breathing. Breathing is something available to everyone and a simple, personal yet exceptionally powerful foundation upon which to build a mindfulness practice.

If the potential for mindfulness appeals to you but you are stuck in getting a practice off the ground, your coach may be able to help you launch.

Security Breaches can be Costly for Businesses

Sensitive information leaked can equal a scandal for companies. Besides the obvious loss of customer trust, reputation, sales and lowered stock price, the non-compliance fines can spell real trouble for an unwitting business. Audit committees are voracious about protecting customer-related information and corporate sensitive data.

Companies are required to comply with data-privacy regulations, best practice requirements and industry guidelines regarding the usage and access to customer data. Privacy requirements for protecting non-public personal information include: selective encryption of stored data, separation of duties, proper access control and centralized independent audit functions.

Data security is not an option - it is mandatory according to government legislation and industry regulations. For example, the U.S. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) requires financial institutions and their partners to protect non-public personal data while in storage, while implementing a variety of access and security controls. Failure to comply with GLBA results in big regulatory fines for the financial institution. Equally damaging, the CEOs and directors can be held personally responsible and legally liable for any misuse of personally identifiable non-public information.

There are $4 million in losses quoted as the annual estimated loss from security breaches according to the Computer Security Institute (CSI) Computer Crime and Security Survey. Further it was revealed that over half of the databases have some kind of breach on a yearly basis. Being that these are only the security problems that companies are reporting, this percentage is staggeringly high. Organizations don't want to advertise the fact that their internal people have access to customer data and can cover up their tracks, take that data, give it to anybody, and stay undetected and employed while a crime is committed.

Download our document on How to Avoid Getting Ransomware. 

App Maker - Build Your Mobile App with Google

App Maker - a new service that people inside organizations can use to easily develop custom applications based on their business needs. Google is now taking applications for early access to the tool from organizations that pay for the G Suite (formerly known as Google Apps) Business service tier.

The service lets users drag and drop widgets around on a user interface that complies with Google’s Material design principles. But they can be customized further with scripts, as well as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery content. And once apps are live, it’s possible to monitor usage through Google Analytics.

In being easy to use by default, App Maker will be useful for people who are less technically savvy — people other than full-time developers, in other words. Having this sort of thing available means that IT teams can spend less time dealing with requests from these types of people, who might not otherwise see their ideas ever fleshed out.

“We’re really targeting enterprise developers who need to build line-of-business solutions for an entire company but need there to be less (sophistication) than developers who might build Snapchat or external-facing applications,” App Maker product manager Ajay Surie told VentureBeat in an interview.

That means App Maker will compete with existing “low-code” application development services. That includes Salesforce’s App Cloud, as well as tools from Appian, Mendix, and OutSystems, among others.

There’s no need to worry about maintaining the necessary infrastructure for running the apps. Apps built with App Maker run on the same data center infrastructure as Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive. This is different from the cloud computing and storage infrastructure that people can pay for through the Google Cloud Platform.

New data that’s generated inside Apps built with App Maker can be stored in a new service called Google Drive Tables, which is essentially a managed structured database that stores data in Google Drive. It’s simpler to set up and maintain than something like Google Cloud SQL from the Google Cloud Platform.

App Maker lets users integrate their apps with many services, including Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Forms, Gmail, Google Groups, Google Translate, Google Maps, Google Sites, Google Sheets, Google BigQuery, and Google Calendar.

Is Managed Print Right for Your Company?

Managed Print Services (MPS) is an extremely valuable solution that enables a third-party provider like Modern Office Methods (MOM) to effectively manage and maintain your organization’s print environment. This can offer benefits such as enhanced efficiency, increased productivity, and reduced costs. The right MPS solution from the right managed services provider can add significant value to a company. But is MPS right for your business?

Here are some questions you should ask yourself when considering an MPS solution:

Will an MPS solution provide your business with a return on your investment? 

MPS can reduce print-related costs by up to 30 percent and reduces capital expenditures by optimizing your fleet — maximizing your ROI and your immediate savings. 

Is your current print environment adequately handling your office’s needs? 

Many offices are cluttered with wasteful and inefficient devices that aren't ideal for handling your workload and document needs. An MPS program maximizes the efficiency and productivity of each imaging device.

Is your current print strategy flexible enough to adapt to inevitable changes in technology? 

MPS provides the flexibility for your business to keep up with your competitors and evolve as technology advances.

Is the security of your data and documents critical to your business’ survival, and are you confident that this information is adequately protected? 

Nothing is more important than data security. That's why MPS includes security safeguards to protect your printed and digital documents.

Is your team wasting valuable time managing imaging devices, or are they constantly hamstrung by toner outages and out-of-service machines? 

MPS uses proactive monitoring and automatic ordering of consumables to keep your printer fleet operating at peak performance as often as possible, so your staff has more time to work on critical projects.

Contact MOM today at info@momnet.com and take the first step toward implementing an MPS solution that's right for your business needs.

Do You Know How Much Your Company Is Spending on Printing?

Most business owners are shocked when they learn exactly how much they spend on printing each year! It comes as quite a surprise that mismanaged print fleets can cost your company up to 3 percent of their total revenue. This means that a company with annual revenue of $5 million will spend about $150,000 on document output each year.

According to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the average employee: 
• Makes 10,000 copies or prints each year 
• Costs your company up to $1,200 in printing annually 
• Wastes 17 percent of all printed documents 

End users rarely have knowledge of the true cost of their printing activities, and employers rarely monitor or control employee printing output. But, without controls and measures, waste can be substantial. FleetCare Managed Print Services from Modern Office Methods can help your business achieve immediate and long-term cost savings. MPS essentially takes over the management of a company's printers to increase efficiency and consolidate printing costs. 

MPS clients enjoy the benefits of working with one trusted provider like MOM for all their printing needs. Clients receive remote monitoring of printers, supplies, and service on-demand, as well as tailored management reports regarding the company's printers. Service costs are summarized in convenient invoices that include all print-related costs for a given period of time (usually quarterly). 

Clients experience a second wave of cost savings when account managers provide expert recommendations based on reports of the printer fleet. Suggestions are made for printer placement based on utilization and strategic hardware purchases, especially when the technology in multifunction printers can improve workflow, increase productivity, save costs, and replace expensive copiers and legacy printers. This is all part of the customer-centric objective of MPS. 

All these measures can add up to as much as 30 percent savings in printer-related costs, often amounting to thousands of dollars in savings for a single client. 

Contact MOM today at info@momnet.com and take the first step toward implementing an MPS solution that saves your company money.

CLICK HERE to test out our PRINT SAVINGS ESTIMATOR and see how much you can save with our FleetCare MPS program.

Protect privacy starting with email

Encrypted Email Signups Skyrocketed After Trump Victory.

Donald Trump said US has to get better when it comes to “the cyber,” and it’s clear that many Americans are taking that advice to heart. They’re signing up for secure, encrypted email accounts like never before. ProtonMail is one of the providers of free and low-cost tools that anyone can use to boost their digital privacy.

ProtonMail's scientists, engineers, and developers drawn together by a shared vision of protecting civil liberties online. This is why they created ProtonMail, an easy to use secure email service with built-in end-to-end encryption and state of the art security features. The goal is to build an internet that respects privacy and is secure against cyberattacks.

They are committed to developing and widely distributing the tools necessary to protect your data online. The team combines deep mathematical and technical knowledge from the world's top research institutions with expertise in building easy to use user interfaces. Together, they are building the encrypted communication technologies of the future.

End-to-End Encryption

Messages are encrypted at all times

Messages are stored on ProtonMail (PM) servers in encrypted format. They are also transmitted in encrypted format between PM servers and user devices. Messages between PM users are also transmitted in encrypted form within PM secure server network. Because data is encrypted at all steps, the risk of message interception is largely eliminated.

Zero Access to User Data

Your encrypted data is not accessible to ProtonMail

ProtonMail’s segregated authentication and decryption system means logging into a ProtonMail private email account requires two passwords. The first password is used to verify the identity of the user. After that, encrypted data can be retrieved. The second password is a decryption password which is never sent to ProtonMail. It is used to decrypt data on your device so PM do not have access to the decrypted data, or the decryption password. This means PM cannot hand over your data to third parties. For this reason, PM are also unable to do decryption password recovery. If you forget your decryption password, PM cannot recover your data.

Open Source Cryptography

Time-tested and trusted encryption algorithms

PM use only secure implementations of AES, RSA, along with OpenPGP. Furthermore, all of the cryptographic libraries PM use are open source. By using open source libraries, PM can guarantee that the encryption algorithms PM are using do not have clandestinely built in back doors. ProtonMail's open source software has been thoroughly vetted by security experts from around the world to ensure the highest levels of protection.

Why Switzerland?

A question often get asked is, Why is ProtonMail based in Switzerland and are there any real advantages?
PM believes there are. The first thing that comes to mind is that Switzerland is outside of US and EU jurisdiction. Unless you host your servers on a boat in international waters, you will need to be under some legal jurisdiction and in the post-Lavabit environment, this choice is particularly important. A common misconception is that the EU offers more legal protection than the US, but many of the same surveillance directives that exist in US law also have EU counterparts, in particular, German law may actually offer less legal protection than American law.

Switzerland however, is NOT part of the EU, and Switzerland applies a very different set of privacy laws. In the US and EU, gag orders can be issued to prevent an individual from knowing they are being investigated or under surveillance. While these type of orders also exist in Switzerland, the prosecutors have an obligation to notify the target of surveillance as soon as possible, and the target has an opportunity to appeal in court. There are no such things as National Security Letters and all surveillance requests MUST go through the courts (this is not the case in Germany). Furthermore, while Switzerland is party to international assistance treaties, such requests for information must hold up under Swiss law which has much stricter privacy provisions.

Nearly every country in the world has laws governing lawful interception of electronic communications. In Switzerland, these regulations are set out in the Swiss Federal Act on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (SPTT) last revised in 2012. In the SPTT, the obligation to provide the technical means for lawful interception is imposed only on Internet access providers, so ProtonMail, as a mere Internet application provider, is completely exempt from the SPTT’s scope of application. This means that under Swiss law, ProtonMail cannot be compelled to backdoor PM secure email system. As a Swiss company, ProtonMail also cannot be compelled to engage in bulk surveillance on behalf of US intelligence agencies.

This combination of factors means that a Lavabit like situation cannot occur with ProtonMail. However, ProtonMail has taken the Lavabit concept one step further and actually does not even possess the keys required to decrypt user data. As a result, even if ProtonMail was forced to turn over all PM computer systems, email contents will continue to be encrypted.

PM believe that comprehensive security can only be achieved through a combination of technology and legal protections and Switzerland provides the optimal combination of both. By coupling Switzerland advanced IT infrastructure with its unique legal environment, ProtonMail can deliver a service that is both reliable and secure.

For more information about internet surveillance in Switzerland and requests for information made to ProtonMail, please view PM Transparency Report.

Modern Office Methods has been recognized as a Ricoh Circle of Excellence Award Winner

Modern Office Methods (MOM) is the recipient of the 2017 RFG Circle of Excellence award from Ricoh for our commitment to customer service. The MOM service team, under the direction of Ken Staubitz, Vice President of Service, has worked hard to perfect their skills and we are thrilled that this extra effort has paid off. 

Ricoh recognizes that it has partnered with the best Dealer Network in the industry and they reward the “Best of the Best”. MOM has been recognized as a 2017 RFG Circle of Excellence authorized service dealership. This program is designed to recognize dealers who provide outstanding service and support in accordance with Ricoh's guidelines.

MOM has met or exceeded the requirements of the RFG Circle of Excellence Program in the following areas:

Phase 1 - Service Engineer Skills Assessment (Prestige)
Phase 2 - Service Operations Assessment which includes the following:
   • Use of Genuine Ricoh Parts and Supplies
   • Hardware & Solutions Training
   • Relevant Industry Certifications
   • Service Organization Structure
   • Field Staff & Help Desk Productivity & Efficiency Measures
   • Customer Satisfaction Measurement Process & System
   • Effective Utilization of Ricoh Resources
   • Business Plan Management & Process Improvement

Outstanding Service: Award-Winning Legacy
Excellent client support has always been a tradition at MOM and our efforts have been rewarded many times in the past. We are a 2-Time imageSource Magazine's Perfect Image Award Winner for Outstanding Service Program. Out of 3,743 independent dealers across the nation, MOM has been recognized multiple times for our commitment to service excellence.

| About Ricoh | 

Ricoh is a global technology company that has been transforming the way people work for more than 80 years. Under its corporate tagline – imagine. change. – Ricoh continues to empower companies and individuals with services and technologies that inspire innovation, enhance sustainability and boost business growth. These include document management systems, IT services, production print solutions, visual communications systems, digital cameras, and industrial systems. 

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ending March 2016, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,209 billion yen (approx. 19.6 billion USD). 

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com.