The Datamax Thinking Blog

Educating, collaborating, and sparking ideas for maximizing the technology that matters.


Cloud Document Management or On-Premise: Find The Right Path For You

For organizations aware of the power that comes with digitally accessing, tracking, and securing a multitude of documents in one system, the next choice becomes a tougher one: Cloud or on-premise? What's the right path for you? 

It’s been said before that The 3 C’s of life are choices, chances, and changes.

When it comes to document workflow, the chance to improve slow, ineffective, and error-prone manual document workflow processes necessitates change. Changing to a digitized business process via a Document Management System (DMS) can impact productivity and your customer's overall experience. For a growing number of organizations today, DMS is undoubtedly the right path for the road ahead.

Topics: Document Management Document Workflow Cloud Technology

5 Signs It's Time to Reorganize Workflows and Consider Document Management

Workplaces perform at their best when operations are efficient, and all business-critical files are easily accessible (to the appropriate people) and fully secured.

Our hallway closet was in shambles.

Embracing the out-of-sight, out-of-mind methodology, the space had become mostly avoided all together, serving more as a receptacle for any miscellaneous item that desperately needed a home. Books. A mismatch of clothes. Retired running shoes. Old laptops. Mementos from the early 90s. The collection of junk stacked up on one another, dangled from shelves or absorbed dust on the closet floor. 

Topics: Document Management Document Workflow Content Management

What's Your SMB's Document & Network Strategy Heading into Spring Training?

As your SMB heads into Spring Training, and you analyze your current technology roster - from document workflow to network infrastructure - what are some fundamental moves you can make to better your 2019 season forecast? 

The first glimpse of spring has arrived.

As my beloved Texas Rangers report to Surprise, Ariz. for Spring Training this week, it’s a time when baseball enthusiasts’ minds drift from the bone-chilling winter months and begin romanticized forecasts for their favorite team and the sunny April days ahead.

Topics: Document Management Network Management Document Workflow IT Consulting Productivity Tips and Tools

5 Technology Trends that Will Help Your Organization Soar Ahead in 2019

Those who embrace change in the way they conduct business every day, across an evolving digital landscape - from automating tasks to taking a firm stance on data and network security – will produce measurable business value and soar ahead of the flock. 

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch once said, “change before you have to.”

Innovative leaders understand well the idea of change as the rule rather than the exception. In mid-flight, they do not hesitate to travel beyond the flock of the industry companions around them, even if it means flying solo.

Technology plays an intimate role in the potential innovation of businesses, particularly in seeking a competitive edge and a notable advantage in productivity. Those who embrace change in the way they conduct business every day, across an evolving digital landscape - from automating tasks to taking a firm stance on data and network security – will produce measurable business value and soar ahead of the flock. Assuming, of course, they do so strategically and with a partner that understands and thoughtfully considers their core business objectives.

Topics: Document Management Network Management Office Equipment Content Management Production Print Network Security Cloud Technology Managed Services Provider

Overcoming Technology Challenges through Collaboration: Top Blog Posts of 2018

The dedicated team of scribes here feel that through collaboration, we can strategically identify technology challenges and properly disseminate our carefully crafted ideas on overcoming them. 

Perhaps without coincidence, our top read blog for 2018 was on the topic of “effective collaboration.”

Collaboration:  It’s a key word in defining how the Datamax Thinking Blog operates. We remain committed in our pursuit of  “educating, collaborating, and sparking ideas for maximizing the technology that matters” - be it office equipment, document workflow, network security and many business technology initiatives in between.

The dedicated team of scribes here feel that through collaboration, we can strategically identify technology challenges and properly disseminate our carefully crafted ideas on overcoming them. 

Topics: Document Management Office Equipment Document Workflow Creating Raving Fans Network Security Productivity Tips and Tools Education Tips and Tools Net Promoter Score

The 'Paperless Office' Prophecy: How Printing Remains far from Passè in Today's Workforce

The MFP, in many ways a centerpiece in our workflow place-setting, continues to have an evolving role in how paper and digital files co-exist in the workplace.

The “Paperless Office:” It’s been a corporate prophecy scripted upon blogs much like this for years, as offices of all sizes gather tools and solutions necessary to tackle the digital transformation. Without a doubt, workflow is increasingly digital in nature.

However, according to numbers complied in Canon’s recent “Office Insights 2018” release, paper itself isn’t going anywhere anytime soon – quite the opposite. It seems that the paperless office is a gradual, steady process of automation that enables best printing and workflow practices for the foreseeable future.

Topics: Document Management Office Equipment Document Workflow Print Management Canon PrintView

Drowning in Documents? 5 Scenarios that Calm Workflow to a Gentle Current

The central objective of utilizing Document Management is to make your overall business processes more efficient, and specifically to accelerate and properly secure the way you move documents across your office.

Do a simple Google search for "Document Management," and you’ll see the cliché images with limited search time. The piles of paper stacked on the boss’ desk.  Documents swirling across an office. Even business people swimming in paper documents.

It’s true. Many offices are overwhelmed by paper documents. Also, when compared to a Document Management solution,  it is inefficient and costly. Estimates are that 11% of your paper files will be either lost or misplaced. Organizations often find that by digitizing their workflow, their documents begin working for them, rather than the opposite.

But digital conversion is only one component – and hardly the overarching intention – behind utilizing Document Management.

Topics: Document Management Document Workflow Creating Raving Fans Net Promoter Score

Must Read Blogs of 2017: Get the Most Out of Your Copier

It's no wonder that organizations are more active than ever in pursuing solutions to streamline traditional methods of managing documents. 

Every year, I learn more about copiers, document management, workflow, and, increasingly, managed IT topics than I did they year before.

I do my best to pass on what I learn to you.

Here are the 10 most popular posts in 2017. How to get the best service. Tips for HIPAA compliance. Scanning tips. How to track printing to keep costs down.

Read on for insights into those topics – and more – to get yourself ready for 2018!

Topics: Document Management Office Equipment Document Workflow Print Management Managed Services Technology Support Scanning Did You Know? Network Security Security Productivity Tips and Tools Data Back-Up

HIPAA Compliance, Copiers, and Document Management – What Healthcare Providers Need to Know

HIPAA compliance isn't optional. The ideas in the resources below will help you meet your compliance obligations.

All of you in the healthcare industry know better than I how important HIPAA compliance is. The regulation ensures patient confidentiality and compliance ensures you avoid penalties, fines, and public embarrassment.

Compliance with any regulation is a tedious, detail-oriented task in which the smallest mistake can land you in big trouble.

Don't make compliance harder than it has to be.

Topics: Document Management Security Healthcare Tips and Tools

Digital Copiers Plus Scanning Equals Less Paper, Happy Customers, and ROI

Paper slows you down. Use your copier to speed up your work.

How many times in a week do you look for a document on your desk thinking “I just put it over here . . . “?

You might think that's only a few minutes each time, no big deal. Those minutes can add up to hours looking for paper-based files. As busy as you are, can you afford to spend your time looking for information that you could have at your fingertips?

Topics: Document Management Document Workflow Scanning