Cloud-based content management systems like Box unify all people, information and applications together in the cloud to transform the way they work, giving IT departments the tools they need to match the tightness of security with the speed of collaboration.

As humans, we are suspicious by nature.

Anything that’s not visually identifiable – or right in front of our eyes - can often be difficult to trust. We trust the local Italian restaurant because we know the owners. We trust local government because we’re neighbors with an elected official, and we see direct results from his or her public service in our own city. Excruciatingly cliché TV ad campaigns mention ad nauseam being “locally trusted.”

Paired with a barrage of potential threats, yet brimming with productive potential, technology plays an intimate role in the routines of today’s business workday. When well harnessed, it can unlock unforeseen competitive advantages.

Henry Ford once said, "I don't read history. That's in the past. I'm thinking of the future."

Ford, of course, was the Michigan-born engineer who developed a petrol-driven quadricycle into a small car; this proved the basis for the famous Model T motor car introduced in 1908. Just as Ford’s ingenuity forever transformed the auto industry, technology has been a driving force in business transformation for years.

As we look at the state of technology as it relates to business in 2019, Ford’s quote has a profound foreshadowing effect.

From document workflow, network security to print management and many things in between, our intent is to serve as a vehicle for helping YOU maximize YOUR technology investment.

Technology, much like life, moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

We, the dedicated scribes of the Datamax Thinking Blog, certainly don’t want our readers to miss it. We work hard each year to contemplate, to evaluate and, ultimately, educate on many of the moving parts of an ever-changing business technology landscape. From document workflow, network security to print management and many things in between, our intent is to serve as a vehicle for helping YOU maximize YOUR technology investment.

In-course obstacles exist daily. The right skills, training and the right gear are paramount for a more streamlined and capable production process for the entire run — from pre-flight all the way to fulfillment.

When it comes to Double Black Diamond runs, experts only dare exit the ski lift.

These heart-racing, often terrifying runs are characterized by exceptionally steep slopes, and other hazards such as narrow trails, high winds, and obstacles like steep drop-offs, rocks, moguls or trees. You may contemplate such slopes with hope, but you'll likely retreat with "nope."

Cloud-based content management solutions like Box bridge the gap between a scattered, yet somehow still collaborative, workforce. 

The Wright Brothers are the quintessential example of old-school collaboration. Collectively, Wilbur and Orville accomplished something on Dec. 17, 1903 that no individual engineer or inventor could on his or her own: Achieve manned and controlled flight.

Essentially, Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software purchased or financed during the tax year. That means that if you buy (or lease) a piece of qualifying equipment, you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE from your gross income.

As the clock winds down in 2018, businesses are scanning the field for ways to close out the year on a winning note.

Small business owners or managers may not be aware of an incentive that could forge a huge technology and productivity boost in their immediate future: Section 179 Deduction of the IRS Tax Code.

Managed Network Services (MNS), more than anything else, offers freedom. Freedom to focus on your business. Freedom to become strategic and forward thinking about technology – how it can actually become performance enhancing.

Small to medium-sized businesses, in rising numbers, have heeded the call to make cybersecurity a top priority for their organization.

After years of preaching/pleading from Managed Service Providers, coupled with thousands (millions?) of blog posts devoted to the topic, most SMBs today recognize that when it comes to data breaches, “it can happen to me.”

Web-2-Workflow introduces a new standard for streamlining and automating the production process from end to end.

It's anything but just another day on the slopes for today's print operators and managers.

This time last year, a Forrester Insights article predicted that 2018 would be “a tipping point in automation.” Despite previous years of “doomsdaying” that automation would eliminate millions of jobs (predictions that proved ultimately wrong), the research firm concluded that “while reticence over workforce impact will remain, the age of the customer requires dramatically speeding up the revolution.”

Organizations today need an IT strategy that acts as a belayer, a trusted entity of support to prevent malicious attack. 

Rock climbing is an endeavor built entirely around trust: Trust in your belayer.  Trust in your equipment.  Trust in the terrain surrounding you. And, of course, trust in yourself.

Likewise, your organization’s online security often comes down to a matter of trust. But trust in this manner should never be earned without scrutiny, verification and due diligence.

With capable production print systems and the right technology partner, in-house production offers you complete control over your price, your processes and your final product.

In the Indy Car racing circuit, road courses require superior braking systems that are able to handle intense, repetitive braking as cars approach sharp, hairpin turns.

Often times, outsourcing your production print is a lot like racing behind the wheel of a 700-horse power,  2.2-liter twin turbo Indy Car with inferior brakes: It runs like clockwork until the unexpected happens (deadline change, color issue, mark-up fee) and you completely lose control.