The Datamax Thinking Blog

You rely on copiers to keep your law office’s document production moving. When they break, you need a service partner that can help you copy on.

You are the behind-the-scenes glue holding your law firm’s practice together. Most days, you don’t feel like an office manager but like a triage doctor, prioritizing what needs to be done first. Only you also have the fun task of handling (some) lawyer’s outsized egos as well.

You’re up early. You stay late. You don’t have time to handle everything – nor should you.

Looking to get more out of your day? These seven tips will help you check off at least most of the items on your to-do list.

1. Eat your frog.

Well, not literally (I mean, unless you like frog legs); but in the productivity sense - this is great advice from time management expert, Brian Tracy. Don’t “warm up” to work. Dive in. Begin your day by tackling your most important (which can be, but isn’t necessarily your most time-consuming) task. 

Want a smaller copier without compromising functionality or productivity? Multifunction copiers aren’t as big as they used to be…

As the saying goes, good things come in small packages. A multifunction copier is one of them. 

Big Productivity, Small Footprint

Most of the time when people imagine a multifunction copier, they still envision this clunky, gray, off-white or white, couch-sized (okay, at least a love seat) piece of equipment –

Scanning paper documents seems simple, but can turn into a pain very quickly. These tips ensure the process stays simple.

Time to scan the documents (and yes, since you can’t hear my inflection or in case you don’t remember this gem from the 80s, that was a reference to the Dunkin’ Donuts’ commercial).

When it comes to capturing paper documents, regardless of the type of device you’re using, there are a few tips on how to prep documents for scanning that can make the process as painless, efficient and fast as possible.

Play follow the leader with your print jobs on any of your office’s networked copiers.

Called pull, push, or follow me printing; this productivity functionality allows employees to roam the office and print from a convenient device.

Have a large print job, but don’t want to carry it from your desk up two floors to the big conference room? Hit print, select the device closest to your meeting,

When office equipment experiences downtime, so does your office. Accurate, fast service puts you and your equipment back to work.

“Ding.” 

Remember the simple ringer on the counter of a hotel desk or in a store? A quick press on the bell, a ringing “ding!” sound, and you’d almost always hear a “Be right with you” from somewhere in the store. Service was on the way and you were satisfied.

Use your office copier to scan documents directly to cloud storage for quick and simple access later.

Even if you don’t follow technology at all, you’ve heard of “the cloud.” Often mentioned with a touch of reverence and a hint that the cloud will solve your technology challenges, cloud services really can bring huge personal and business productivity improvements when used correctly. 

Any device that can access your network is a potential security loophole. Close it.

Look around your office. How many printers, scanners, copiers, computers, laptops, webcams, tablets, and smartphones do you see? Every one of them is a ripe target for hackers. 

Undertaking and trying to accomplish multiple tasks all at once is actually making all of us less effective.

“Focus, Daniel-San!” and “Look eye. Always look eye.” Remember Mr. Miyagi telling Daniel that in the Karate Kid? Bet nobody knew Mr. Miyagi was also offering great advice for business productivity!

You’re busy. And being as busy as you are, it’s important to focus. 

Multitasking, for some, is associated with a badge of honor. We like to say and feel like, “I can do it all.” And it’s a commendable skill – the ability to juggle multiple tasks and get them done.

Color means many things to different people. It can be a symbol of a culture and a play on our emotions. It also captures our attention when we need it to. 

Color has meaning. While traditional China sees white as the color of mourning, in Western culture white represents “cleanliness” and “purity” (or when taken to extremes, “sterility” or “coldness”). In Japan and most of England, black cats are a symbol of good luck; but are seen as a bad omen or bad luck in the West. Color has meaning (and, yes, the color scheme in McDonald’s is designed to get you to eat more!).