The Datamax Thinking Blog

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.

Production printers, in short, need to make-ready for the long print run. But with a well-vetted partner, print operators and print executives alike can exhale a little deeper, breathe a little easier.

The air inside production print rooms continues to get thinner.

When the challenges arise that come with quicker turnarounds and increasing client demands, in-plants, quick print shops and commercial printers find it harder to breathe easy in the press room. Common scenarios...

The streamlined, cost-effective, and well-controlled in-house production landscape doesn’t exist without digging in and getting your hands dirty a little.

The colorful blooms blanketing neighborhood lawns and flowerbeds are a signature denotation of spring.

They’re also the result of a lot of hard-earned preparation.

Cultivation, or soil refinement, involves getting your hands dirty: digging into or cutting up an existing soil bed to better prepare it for planting. Cultivating the soil boosts its nourishment and plays an integral first step in the eventual beautiful springtime displays.

The right technology partner can ensure long-term wellness for your organization: From security/compliance peace of mind, to highly efficient workflow processes and optimal uptime on your fleet of equipment. 

An annual check-up is a routinely prescribed course of action for adults to ensure long-term wellness. But that’s not the end-game.

True wellness is not defined by any one current ailment or appointment; it’s an actively pursued goal of maintaining good health based on a myriad of ongoing good habits. To ensure overall wellness for their print fleet, a healthcare organization needs much more than an annual checkup.

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."

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.

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.”

Is your potential copier provider capable of going deeper with relevant questions? Will their level of service handle the technology burden for you, and enable you to focus on your forte?

Martial Arts expert and movie star Bruce Lee is an unequivocal legend for his physical feats on the big screen. But he also possessed a few philosophical nuggets that packed a real punch.

One example from the former philosophy major turned Hollywood icon? “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”

Does the IT staff at your school have the time to devote to forward-thinking technologies? Do you have a collaborative, meaningful partnership with your provider? 

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “We cannot build the future for our youth—but we can build our youth for the future.”

The 4 “Cs” in education have become a fundamental representation for the National Education Association’s vision for 21st Century Education. Critical thinking, Creativity, Collaboration and Communication are all key components from the NEA to helping students of today – and tomorrow – prepare for college, for work, and for life.

Intertwined within these timeless  4 "Cs” assets today, of course, is the development of and proficiency with technology as students forge ahead in today’s digital era. For example, students must be encouraged to use technology to communicate innovatively and effectively. Additionally, technology plays a key role in effective student collaboration inside the classroom and, in some instances, across the globe.

In the report, 36 percent of enterprises surveyed say they are printing MORE OFTEN than they were 12 months ago, while only 14 percent are printing less often. Similarly, 40 percent are scanning more often and 35 percent are copying more often.

By 2020, Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group predicts that 50 billion physical IoT devices will be connected to the Internet, consuming, generating, and communicating data. The office is no exception.

Crucial documents reside on our desks and file cabinets, but also in cloud servers and mobile devices. With such wide and easy access to the information we need, it’s tempting to think that printing may soon become a function of the past.

As ESPN analyst Lee Corso famously says on College Football Game Day, “Not so fast, my friend!”