The Datamax Thinking Blog

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


Close Your Business Cybersecurity Gaps With These 9 Action Items

80% of organizations have seen an increase in email phishing attacks since remote working began.

The massive shift to remote and hybrid work environments didn't just open up new flexibilities for where employees spend their workday. It initiated an open season for cybercriminals. Security teams today face an uphill battle as the attack surface has increased.

Topics: Managed Network Services Network Management Microsoft Gold Partner Network Security Cybersecurity Managed Services Provider Managed IT Services

9 Defensive Tactics For Your Cybersecurity Game Plan

While 43% of cyber attacks are aimed at small businesses, only 14% are considered prepared, aware, and capable of defending their networks and data.

In football, a blitz is a tactic used by defenses to disrupt the quarterback by sending a higher than the usual number of players his way. It's called often out of a sense of urgency to proactively change the momentum of the offensive attack. 

Topics: Security Network Management IT Consulting Network Security Cybersecurity Managed IT Services

Secure Your Print Environment Before, During, and After You Hit Print

Securing your print comes down to understanding – and protecting – your jobs throughout the entire print lifecycle.

Cyber security is an ever-growing priority for businesses year after year. Nearly nine in 10 IT decision-makers in North America expect their organization’s cybersecurity budget to increase (by as much as 50 percent!) in the next 12 months, a recent Kaspersky survey found.

Topics: Print Management Managed Print Services Cybersecurity Secure Printing

Is Your Office Utilizing These 3 Enhanced Cyber Security Tools?

If you're using yesterday's tools for today's cyber security storm, you're frankly not prepared. 

Philosopher Marshall McLuhan once said, “Our Age of Anxiety is, in great part, the result of trying to do today's job with yesterday's tools and yesterday's concepts.”

Topics: Network Management Network Security Cybersecurity

6 Coaching Tips for Your 2022 IT Security Plan

These six coaching tips will help develop the peace of mind that comes with a solid IT security strategy.

Vince Lombardi once said “hope is not a strategy.”

From his relentless coverage of the fundamentals to implementing his infamous “Packers Sweep,” the legendary football coach relied on preparation, practice, and developing a proper game plan for his team. It worked. He won five NFL championships, including Super Bowls I and II, and compiled a remarkable 89-29-4 regular-season record.

Topics: Network Management IT Consulting Network Security Cybersecurity Secure Printing

Canon's Unified Firmware Platform: Keeping Pace With Security Updates

Canon’s Unified Firmware Platform (UFP) allows Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE models to be updated with cutting-edge features, new functionality, and enhanced security measures on an ongoing basis.

For a runner, the challenge of keeping a steady, fast pace only grows stronger the longer the race goes on.

Hackers and cyberattacks are evolving faster than ever before. In response, necessary security updates often move at a sprinter’s pace, with no finish line to speak of. Meanwhile, your documents, your networks, and your devices need to stay "fresh" to protect against security threats … and obsolescence.

Topics: Office Equipment Document Security Canon USA Cybersecurity Secure Printing

Covering COVID-19: Our 10 Most-Read Blogs of 2020

Over the last 9 months, we’ve worked hard to answer COVID-19-related questions, to provide resources, to deliver the content that mattered most to our customers, in an unprecedented time for businesses everywhere.

We'd love to shake your hand, but an elbow bump will do for now. Either way, we sincerely appreciate you reading in 2020! 

Our year at the Datamax Thinking Blog kicked off with a New Year's-themed article, “6 Resolutions Your Business Technology Partner Must Truly Value in 2020.” It detailed characteristics that businesses should seek in any technology vendor relationship they engage with: Traits like “the ability to respond – and resolve,” “the creativity to dig deeper,” and “the worthiness of your trust.” 

Topics: Partnering Cybersecurity Unified Communications Coronavirus Remote Workforce Planning Work From Home

An Old Copy Machine Could be a Cyber Security Risk for Your Business

Have you thought much about that old, familiar copier in the corner? Its obsolescence might be costing you more than just maintenance headaches.

That old workhorse in the hallway just keeps running.

The decade-plus-old copier is almost part of the workplace family: The staff is familiar with it, and its reliability (even with the uptick in maintenance) makes it harder to justify incurring new costs. Unfortunately, comfort can sometimes breed complacency. 

Topics: Security Office Equipment Print Management Cybersecurity Secure Printing

How Businesses Can Help Employees Securely Work From Home

With the likely increase in remote work, companies will have to prepare in various ways to avoid cybersecurity risks or interruptions to business.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread uncertainty regarding routine business operations, employee safety stands as a top concern for employers ... as does network management and IT security.

Topics: Managed Network Services Network Management IT Consulting Business Continuity Network Security Cybersecurity Coronavirus Remote Workforce Planning Managed Services Provider

Lessons from the Big Bend: Achieve Balance in Your Cybersecurity Approach

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.

Topics: Information Technology Managed Network Services IT Consulting Cybersecurity