Seeking a Productivity Boost? It’s Time to Leverage Your Office Printer

The humble printer is a staple of the typical office environment, tirelessly and faithfully serving the needs of your workforce. This also makes office printers one of the most overlooked aspects of office productivity. Nearly every employee in your business will come into contact with a printer at some point, so understanding how its usage impacts employees is essential for boosting productivity levels. Read more

Is Your IT Team Keeping Up with Network Monitoring Best Practices?

Hacks and data breaches are all over the news. If your business handles or retains customer information, you probably shudder inside when you hear of yet another major company disclosing a data breach. Practically every week a new network exploit is discovered. Staying on top of the ever-changing landscape of IT best practices takes serious effort and unflagging attention to detail. Consider the following network monitoring best practices and evaluate whether your company is keeping up. Read more

How a Color Printer Benefits Business

The use of color can have a powerful effect upon your printed documents. Color draws in your audience, providing you with a better opportunity to get your message across. This is why it’s so important to utilize a reliable, high-quality color printer at your business. Read more

Shredding Best Practices

When it comes to your organization’s confidential documents, there’s one proven method of disposal: shredding. Most companies deal with sensitive data on a daily basis—everything from your customers’ credit card information to your employees’ social security numbers. The real issue arises when it’s time to dispose of these sensitive documents. This is where shredding must come into the play.

Shredding helps protect the sensitive information of both your employees and your customers. It also helps prevent identify theft, a continuously growing threat in our country where even children are being targeted! On top of that, today’s privacy laws continue to crack down on businesses and the handling of sensitive information. There are various penalties that can be quite severe for businesses that do not comply with regulations.

Now that we have covered the importance of shredding in the workplace, let’s focus in on some of the best practices of shredding to ensure the security of your documents. Read more

How Document Management Solutions Improve Workflow

Businesses rely on paper to accomplish daily tasks—there’s no question about that. However, when it comes to dealing with the physical paper format, challenges often arise with the storing, managing, editing, and retrieving of this information. Fortunately, a document management solution will allow your business to transition to a digital environment that will drastically improve your workflows.

Whether it’s a hybrid approach or a fully-digital approach, document management is the solution to help evolve the way your business operates on a daily basis. Let’s take a look at exactly how document management will streamline and improve the workflows at your office.

Documents are easy to access at anytime 

Think about the last time you had to track down a physical document from a coworker. It probably wasn’t the easiest task to accomplish. A document management solution puts all of your documents into a secure, central location where authorized employees can access them 24/7. You can even utilize search tools to quickly track down specific documents based on keywords or date ranges.

Review, edit, and approve — without any headaches 

The back-and-forth that takes place during a review process with paper documents can be a real headache. Document management makes it easier for changes to be made in real time. Employees can simultaneously access documents from any location. For remote employees, this is an excellent tool that will help build employee engagement. Date tracking capabilities also make life easier whenever you need to look back at the timeline of a document.

Eliminate redundant tasks 

Filing away physical paper documents is a process that is made up of some very tedious, time-consuming tasks. Document management will streamline your workflows with automated file routing, file prompts, and progress notifications that will make the entire process transpire much faster.

Stay organized 

Organization is the key to high-quality workflows. Document management ensures that your documents are properly named and well organized within a centralized system. There’s also a notification system that will ensure all tasks are completed on time. Notification reminders are sent out automatically via e-mail based on the timeline of each specific project.

For more information on a document management solution that can fit the specific needs of your business, contact Infomax Office Systems today.

Creating a Document Management System for Your Small Business

A document management system will track, manage, and store all of your documents in an effort to streamline your business processes and reduce the amount of paper in your office. Creating and implementing a document management system is essential to efficiency in the modern small business. Let’s take a look at how to best go about adopting a document management system that will fit the needs of your company and seamlessly integrating it into your workflows. Read more

On-Site IT vs. Cloud IT: Which Is Right for My Business?

No matter what type of business you run, one thing remains true for all: data is everything. For this reason, every business owner needs to make that key decision—should you utilize on-site IT or cloud IT? The answer to this question depends on several factors. Every business operates differently with unique data requirements.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of these two approaches to help direct you towards the method that will best fit the needs of your business.

 

On-site IT

Pros

  • Everything you need is physically there for you whenever you need it. There’s a sense of control by having your data stored on-site.
  • Your storage needs can be assessed easily when everything is on-site. This will help you properly monitor the kind of space that might need to be added in the future.
  • Choose your own hardware. You don’t need to rely on a specific software like you would with cloud IT.
  • You know exactly where your data is at all times. When it comes to sensitive data, you won’t have to worry about it ending up on another server or in some random data center.

 Cons

  • Theft can be an issue. If someone steals your equipment, your data is gone just like that.
  • The costs associated with on-site IT tend to be high. It takes a trained IT professional to maintain and manage these devices properly. Some of the equipment itself can be quite expensive as well, depending on how much data you need to store.
  • Human error comes into play more often. Backups need to be done manually, which can be costly if a backup does not occur.
  • If a disaster occurs, such as fire or flood, your equipment could get damaged. You could potentially lose all of your data in this type of situation.

 

Cloud IT

Pros

  • Utilizing a cloud-based infrastructure is all about convenience. You don’t have to worry about maintaining the hardware or staying up-to-date with the latest security features. All of these things are taken care of by your cloud service provider.
  • Setting up the cloud is easy. You don’t need to set up all of your hardware and connections. Instead, just fill out a quick form and submit. You will be ready to start using the cloud in minutes.
  • Cloud-IT brings scalability and flexibility. You can add cloud resources with a few clicks of the mouse to scale with your data use. For example, if you know you need more space during a busy season, it’s easy to add on without the headaches of buying more hardware that comes with on-site IT.
  • Automated backups take away the chance of human error. Your data is always backed up and available in the event of a disaster.

Cons

  • You will always need an internet connection of some kind to access your data. If a disaster strikes and you have no internet access, you will not be able to access the cloud.
  • You will have less control over your cloud interface and infrastructure. The software that you use is designed by an outside company, therefore you need to choose a set up that works best for your needs.

 Whether you choose on-site IT or cloud IT depends on your company’s particular needs. Oftentimes, it’s best to find a balance of both worlds by mixing and matching various applications to be on-site and cloud-based. For more information on both of these options and help assessing your Iowa-based business’s unique data storage needs, contact Infomax today. We will help you find the right fit for your business.

Why More Businesses are Bringing Digital Production Printing In-house

When it comes to large print jobs for your business, you have two options: outsource your projects to a print shop or print them in-house. Many of today’s businesses are turning to an in-house approach with digital production printing due to a number of benefits that are difficult to pass up. The driving factor for doing it in-house is control; there’s no more need to rely on outside vendors to meet your quality standards or deadlines. The use of an in-house digital production printer puts the full control of your printing projects directly into your hands. Read more

How to Get Started On A Preventive Maintenance Schedule

Your organization relies heavily on its office equipment to carry out important tasks on a daily basis. You can’t afford to have unexpected breakdowns with these valuable devices. This is why a preventive maintenance schedule is so important to implement.

A preventive maintenance schedule will ensure that your devices receive regular maintenance to keep them up and running without any costly disturbances. Let’s take a look at a few tips to help you get your preventive maintenance schedule started today.

  • Make an inventory list. Take a walk through your office and make note of all of your equipment. Once you establish this list, you can decide which devices need to be included on your preventive maintenance schedule.
  • Read through your owner manuals. This will help you understand what kind of maintenance each individual piece of equipment will need. You will also get a good understanding of the timing that is relevant to checking up on each device. If this seems like a daunting task, ask your service provider to break down your devices’ maintenance needs for you.
  • Check the current status of each device. Now that you assigned devices to your preventive maintenance schedule, you need to know the current state of each device and how these devices match up to the manufacturers’ recommendations in the owner manuals. You should also get all of your equipment into decent shape before it goes on your schedule. This evaluation step will help you understand what will be needed to keep your equipment running smoothly as you move forward.
  • Plan out your schedule. You should first map out a long-term schedule for the year, followed up by the planning of a short-term schedule by week. The long-term plan will give you a good overview of everything that needs to be done to keep your devices up-to-date—this schedule will likely be revised along the way as you go. The short-term schedule will keep these tasks on track relevant to the most recent needs of each device.
  • Get the right people on board—and start training! It takes a lot of hard work to design a preventive maintenance schedule. For this reason, make sure that you utilize trained professionals to safely carry out these maintenance jobs. A thorough, effective training program is essential to the success of a preventive maintenance schedule.

 

A preventive maintenance schedule will save you from equipment downtime headaches in the future. To help get you started with your preventive maintenance schedule, contact Infomax today.

Why Your Business Needs a Disaster Recovery Strategy

Due to the multitude of cyberthreats we face today, businesses need to be ready for anything when it comes to data security. Whether it’s a natural disaster, a cyberattack, or just human error, there’s always the looming threat of a potential data disaster that could strike your company at anytime. This is why it is so important to have a disaster recovery strategy in place to avoid downtime—or worse, a complete shutdown.

Some eye-popping stats regarding data disasters
If you’re a small business, the following numbers are extremely unsettling. Again, this is a testament to the importance of a disaster recovery strategy. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette:
• Nearly 40 percent of small businesses close after a disaster—and only 25 percent of that group ever reopen
• 52 percent of small businesses say it would take at least three months to recover from a disaster
• 75 percent of small businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan in place

Mobile devices exacerbate the data security problem
Most likely, your employees utilize mobile devices to conduct business on a daily basis. Unfortunately, these devices increase your risk of a potential data breach. If a phone is left behind at a meeting or in a public space, it can easily fall into the wrong hands. A disaster recovery strategy will counter this issue by enabling remote lockdowns and device wipes on all authorized mobile devices in the event that one goes missing or stolen.

Your reputation is on the line
We know the kind of damage a disaster can cause your business when it comes to downtime and shutdowns—but don’t ignore the damage it will do to your reputation. It takes years of hard work to build trustworthy reputations amongst your clients. A data breach with no recovery plan in place will surely sour your relationships in no time. Potential clients will also be wary about going into business with your company after a data disaster.

A little preparation goes a long way
It’s essential for businesses to not downplay the seriousness of a disaster recovery strategy. Even with a temporary solution in place, you can keep your operations afloat following an emergency. Regular cloud backups and off-site backups are essential pieces to a disaster recovery strategy that require regular maintenance and management. This kind of diligence will show your clients just how much you value the vital data that makes up your company, and foster trust.

To learn more about data recovery strategies and how they can help your business in the event of a disaster, contact us today.