The Datamax Thinking Blog

According to the report, 1 in 5 SMBs report that they’ve fallen victim to a ransomware attack. 85 percent of MSPs report attacks against SMBs in the last two years

Cyberspace is overflowing with malicious activity. But among online criminal acts affecting businesses today, Ransomware remains the biggest offender.

Datto's "Global State of the Channel Ransomware Report" sheds light on the current state of this notorious online threat, pulling together perspectives from Managed Service Providers (MSPs), their partners, and their clients from around the world. It also eyes the perspectives from both the IT channel and the SMB clients it serves.

The bottom line? Ransomware is still the #1 villain.

Nearly a third of all healthcare employee respondents (32%) said that they had never received cybersecurity training from their workplace ... but should have.

Healthcare today has its share of gaps: Gaps in healthcare access, gaps in the treatment of chronic diseases, and gaps in communication between patient and provider.

But what about the existing gaps in a medical facility's IT security plan?

This is not a sophisticated scam. However, it is an effective and profitable one and it happens to an increasing number of companies across America each year around tax time.

Tax season is here. Are you safe? That seems like an odd question to ask; nevertheless, with the increasing sophistication of cybercriminals it must be considered and answered.

With a new year and new decade arriving, technology's only going to embed itself deeper into the workplace. It might be a great time to assess what your technology partner values deeply — in 2020 and beyond. 

Peter Drucker once wrote that “customer research may be more important than market research—but far more difficult.”

In other words, if it’s not relevant to the customer, it doesn’t matter. And if a partner can't figure that out, they're likely hurting for value.  The success of your partnership with a business technology vendor rests primarily on those differentiators that matter most to you. That’s not as easy for vendors – technology vendors being no exception – to uncover and deliver. It takes a particular mind-set by your provider to follow through with actual customer needs and wants.

Workflow efficiency, the evolution of production print, cloud migration – all topics covered in our January trends as well as the blogs seen below – continue to drive many business technology topics of interest.

When compiling the list of most read blogs of 2019, we were intrigued to discover that the top read post was a January blog predicting the top 5 business technology initiatives for the coming year.

What’s commonly perceived as “just another business expense” is an oft-overlooked opportunity for cost-cutting measures. Tighten your budget belt with these 20 ways to cut print costs.

Hoping to trim some fat in 2020?

The extra weight we carry in our operating budgets can certainly impact our budget belt size, but also overall business performance and results. As we approach a new year, with budgets and business plans freshly ingrained in our minds, many businesses are searching for ways to trim some of the fat out of the overall cost of conducting business.

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.

It’s the end of the year. Businesses are busily reviewing their bottom line and – perhaps – scanning every corner of their organization for any sort of competitive boost as 2020 looms around the corner.

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.

Do you own the modern collaboration tools that these young professionals will be expecting as they enter the workplace? Time to consider a Communications Platform that translates better with Gen Z's sixth sense - technology?

Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and even Millennials have adapted to and learned to utilize great technology advancements in the last 20 years. For the emerging generation in today's workforce, it just comes naturally.

Meet Generation Z. Raised on the Internet with a smart phone or tablet in hand, this generation has an ingrained connection to technology from their very beginning. The newest members of today’s professional workplace, GenZers were born between 1997 and 2010,  and make up 25.9 of the US Population.  Technology has often been described as Gen Z's sixth sense. 

Here’s a step-by-step (or stage-by-stage) approach to getting the most out of your new cloud communications system—with a fast roll-out and zero downtime.

Depending on the age of your business phones and current technology infrastructure, moving to a cloud-based communications system can seem like a daunting task. A complete uphill climb.

It doesn’t have to be.

The risks associated with traveling the vast cybersecurity landscape unprepared? It’s bound to be overwhelming. Achieving balance is essential. 

Traversing a national park bigger than the state of Rhode Island? It can be awe-inspiring, if not a bit overwhelming.

Rugged yet beautiful landscapes greeted us everywhere we turned, including, notably, Balanced Rock in Big Bend National Park. The trail leading to to the rock formation was filled with scarce,  dusty desert floor surrounded by piles of boulders; the path was difficult to follow if you weren’t paying attention. But the rewards are worth the careful navigation – a huge boulder balanced and suspended overhead by two others, but also, just underneath it, a beautifully framed window into the distant mountains.