The Datamax Thinking Blog

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


Finding Your Audience of One: Personalization With Variable Data Printing

Also known as one-to-one marketing, VDP allows you to use rules and pieces of content in a database to create marketing individualized to a group of customers down to a single customer.

“Hey. You there, here's a product you might be interested in. Maybe.”

That's not really a line that's going to inspire anyone to buy from you, much less customer loyalty. Yet that's what a lot marketing looks like – dull, uninspired, careless, and often so broad that no one knows it's for them.

Who wants to be on the receiving end of that? As a business, is that the kind of marketing you want to be sending to your customers and prospects?

Topics: Printing Technology Solutions Production Print

Customer Service: The Strategic Partnership Review

The partnership review is a long-term strategy that goes beyond a traditional account review.

Ongoing customer relationship management takes on many forms, from a simple account review to a one-on-one meeting at a swanky lunch spot. These activities improve client loyalty and build long-lasting connections, but they often go on the back burner. Many companies consider post-sale account management to be a once-and-done process involving a single follow-up, or they wash their hands completely after the sale. When companies stand to gain so many benefits, why do they skip out on this part? In many cases, there's too much focus on sales quota attainment, and the customer (and company) suffers for it.

Topics: Partnering Creating Raving Fans

4 Ways Document Management Transforms Your Medical Practice

How many times have you searched the practice from top to bottom, looking for patient records, wasting precious time?

When you work in the medical field and you're helping patients, it's easy to forget that your medical practice is also a business. Your back-office processes are just as important as what you're doing on the front-line. If you struggle with paperwork filling everyone's desks, it's time to look into the four key benefits of document management software.

Topics: Healthcare Solutions Document Management

You Don't Call a Penguin a Dodo, Why Call Your Copier a Photocopier?

These devices open up new possibilities for your company, whether you need to streamline document sharing or need to consolidate your equipment in the office.

Photocopiers are on the edge of extinction, only found tucked in the back corners of libraries and colleges. Multifunctional devices, digital copiers, and all-in-one devices have edged it out of the technology world. However, you still see "photocopier" applied as a catch-all term when people and businesses talk about the tools they need to support daily operations.

Many industries require print and copying functionality, but when they use the wrong terminology to say what they need, they may end up limiting their choices. You can't realize the productivity benefits of a machine when you make assumptions about what it can do.

All photocopiers could do was create copies of papers with heat and light. They served a useful purpose in their time, but modern technology brings an expanded feature set to the table.

Topics: Multifunction Copier

The Difference Between Electronic Medical and Health Records

If your practice is trying to decide whether to use an EMR or EHR system, it's important to know about these differences and to understand how an EHR system can be more beneficial to your practice.

As a healthcare provider – whether you work at a doctor's office, medical/critical care clinic, hospital, or any other type of care facility – you have to deal with mountains of paperwork, from insurance forms to patient records. You also know the value of technology platforms such as electronic medical records (EMR) and electronic health records (EHR). Both are valuable tools in managing patient information. However, although many staff members use the terms interchangeably, they're not the same thing. Here are the differences between the two and what you need to know about each technology.

Topics: Healthcare Solutions Document Management

You Need These 7 Features in Your EHR System

Your staff works hard every day to keep patients happy and healthy. Get them a EHR system capable of making the most out of their time and efforts every day, and streamline your medical record keeping at the same time.

You have countless options for electronic health record (EHR) systems, and every vendor wants to claim that they have the best solution for your needs. This technology moves you away from endless paper files and keeps patients' health information in digital form. Authorized medical professionals have an easier time accessing this information quickly rather than waiting for your office to mail or fax documents. When you evaluate EHR systems, keep an eye out for these seven features.

Topics: Healthcare Solutions Document Management

MEAP MEAP! Next-Gen Document Scanning from Canon and Worldox

The goal of MEAP (Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform) is to better leverage imageRunner Advance devices to improve document access and integration tasks for law firms of all sizes.

In any law practice, the billable hour is sacred. To maximize those hours you need an efficient workflow, and that requires using the right technology. If the right technology is used correctly, your firm can save time and money by automating a sizable portion of your legal processes.

Canon is a leader in digital imaging solutions and has the hardware and software that can help you achieve an efficient workflow. One of the key technologies Canon offers is its MEAP software, which runs on the imageRunner Advance platform and certain imageRunner MFPs.

But before you can take advantage of MEAP, you have to understand what it is. Knowing that can help your practice take its next steps in optimized case management.

Topics: Multifunction Copier Legal Solutions Document Workflow

6 Ways a Multifunction Copier Improves Your Office Efficiency

Before you start to panic thinking about an additional line item on your capital expenditures budget, consider the economic and functional benefits of getting a 4-in-1 machine.

If you've ever moved offices (or just needed to redo your current office), you know what a hassle it is to pack equipment. You might have even questioned the necessity of carting around a scanner, fax machine, copier, and printer. Turns out that it's not necessary: you can move into the modern age with a multifunction copier. Before you start to panic thinking about an additional line item on your capital expenditures budget, consider the economic and functional benefits of getting a 4-in-1 machine.

Topics: Multifunction Copier Productivity Tips and Tools Office Equipment

Advantages of Buying Your Copier From a Local Dealer

When you buy or lease your copier locally, you'll get faster, immediately-accessible support for any technical or administrative questions. No one likes being bounced around!

Did you ever stop to think that buying a copier locally is like buying from your local farmer's market?

At a farmer's market, you get friendly service from people you know and fresh, locally-grown produce -- plus, you're helping local business.

The same can be said for buying a copier locally. You're not only contributing to local business; you're also getting a quality product with an instantly-accessible support team.

Topics: Office Equipment Legal Solutions

Securing Digital Copiers to Protect Patient Privacy

Physicians who fail to protect patient privacy face serious consequences. Security breaches bring bad press, and related fines range from $100 - $50,000 for each violation.

Office equipment has been transformed in recent decades. Today, state-of-the-art technology is available at affordable prices, and many physicians are taking advantage of the convenience and efficiency of digital copiers, scanners, and printers.

However, the new technology is not without risk. Digital equipment, such aa multifunction copiers, stores patient health information that is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Users must take steps to protect patient privacy from the hackers who wish to exploit it.

Topics: Healthcare Solutions HIPAA Managed Compliance Services