Chances are that you're very careful about the appearance of the documents that leave your office, knowing that they represent you and your firm to both clients and others who might be shown the document.
But you probably aren't nearly as careful about the appearance of optical discs - CDs and DVDs - that you send out. How many of these discs are labeled with a paper stick-on label or even a marking pen? Too many, I'd guess.
It might seem like nit-picking, but these discs, as with any other material that comes out of your firm or practice, do have some impact on how others view you. While a disc marked with a marking pen isn't going to make anyone think less of you, one that's professionally labeled, even if it's just with your firm's logo, is bound to make a positive impression, even if it just subliminal.
Creating a professional looking optical disc doesn't need to be overly time-consuming or expensive. It all depends on how fancy you want to get, and how many discs you need to produce.
One nice thing is that you already have the capability to create nicely labeled discs if the optical drive in your PC or Notebook PC is labeled as being LightScribe capable. This technology, developed by HP and adopted by several other major drive manufacturers, has quietly been incorporated into many PCs for the past few years. It uses the same laser in the drive that writes the data on the disc to "write" the label on the top side of special discs. These discs have a dye layer that reacts to the laser, and produces a dark mark where the laser "writes."
Blank LightScribe discs are readily available as CDs or DVDs, and come in several colors. The labels themselves, however, are monochrome on the color background. And a typical label takes almost a half-hour to "burn." which makes the LightScribe approach somewhat impractical if you have a number of discs to be labeled.
Fortunately, there's another "free" solution to this. Many of HP's more recent inkjet printers and All-in-One's can print a single CD or DVD at a time using a special tray that feeds the disc under the print head. This process requires printable discs which are also readily available in office and computer supply stores or on-line. It takes a minute or two to print each disc, and the results are terrific - the disc looks as if it was professionally produced.
Finally, if you generate dozens, or even hundreds of copies of the same disc, consider a disc duplicator. Starting at around $1,500, the Medley from Disk Makers and the Bravo SE from Primera Technologies have a robotic arm that feeds discs from a stack into a drive for recording, then into a printer for labeling. These devices can take as many as 50 discs at a time, and you don't necessarily need to record anything, you can use the unit to simply label discs en masse.
Rick Telberg is the most widely-followed commentator in the finance and accounting profession. He has helped launch and develop several industry-leading businesses, including the magazines Accounting Today, Accounting Technology and Practical Accountant magazines, and the websites WebCPA, SmartPros, and CPA2Biz. He serves as Editor At Large for the AICPA Insider family of e-newsletters and blogs at www.cpatrendlines.com.
Any views or comments expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and not necessarily those of any other organization. No person quoted or cited has any known connection to or interest in Hewlett Packard, and their appearance here should not be construed as an endorsement.
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