Blue Technologies Blog

In our post-pandemic world, consumers have learned to live, work, and shop more locally. In fact, 56% of shoppers are looking to local stores for their needs, moving away from malls and toward more hyper-local choices. In the coming year, 75% of consumers plan to shop locally for their goods and services. For that reason, local marketing is a key component of any business strategy. Local marketing is a way for your business to target people who live within a specific range surrounding your business. It helps to improve sales and conversion rates by targeting nearby customers through digital marketing. 

Topics: Managed IT, In-house printer, MSP, managed service provider, local marketing

Even before the coronavirus pandemic caused widespread disruption through supply chains across the globe, manufacturers were targeting cost control as a prime way to increase competitiveness. Controlling costs can help reduce expenses in any of three areas — materials, labor, and overhead. For manufacturers, repairs to office equipment are considered selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) under current accounting guidelines, and printer supplies and purchases can be included in overhead.

Topics: print assessment, print environment, print cost

The last few years have been difficult for utilities, as they reacted to the challenges of changing weather patterns, higher fuel prices, and legacy equipment. As we move through the aftermath of the pandemic, customers and policymakers alike are taking a keen interest in utility operations. For utility owners and management, this scrutiny should encourage them to look toward creating actionable strategies aimed at increasing resiliency and reliability as well as customer trust. 

Topics: Cloud computing, cloud services, cloud storage

The last two years have been fraught with uncertainty for most businesses, regardless of industry. As the ongoing pandemic continues to contribute to supply chain woes and other disruptions, businesses are searching for ways to stay relevant — and get a jump on the competition. In fact, many companies tag greater competitiveness as one of their top goals for the coming year, making brand awareness a key objective. 

Topics: #Marketing, Wide Format printer, advertising, Print Marketing, print media

Social isolation is a serious problem for the well-being of older adults, especially those who are in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Nothing brought this into sharp relief more than the recent coronavirus pandemic, where lockdowns kept families from being able to visit their loved ones in care facilities. Social isolation increases risk for several psychiatric disorders and can increase the rate of cognitive decline, depression, and even suicide. 

Topics: Video conferencing, nursing homes

By the end of the century, the global population is expected to peak at nearly 11 billion individuals, causing many urban planners and politicians to rethink the way development is handled. With so many people, cities must be built with an eye toward environmental sustainability as well as scaled solutions regarding transportation, energy, and access to water.

Topics: #Engineering, bluebeam, engineers

Data collection and use are growing across all industries — and so is cybercrime, a trend that is driving the need for better enterprise data management and security. While malicious actors continue to develop increasingly sophisticated ways to access sensitive data, many companies are spending more on IT budgets to develop more protective strategies. However, protecting endpoints — those devices such as production printers, desktop printers or multifunction devices, copiers, scanners, and others — often gets overlooked. 

Topics: Managed IT, #cybersecurity, Data Management, Wide Format printer, productionprint

No business system has been hit harder by the ongoing pandemic than our supply chain. Challenges, including delays and further disruption, are continuing, especially as supply chain actors continue to adjust to a new way of doing business. And now that more workers are demanding remote or hybrid work environments, businesses are having to contend with new weaknesses and vulnerabilities in their security infrastructure — both digital and physical.

Topics: Managed IT, #SupplyChain, #cybersecurity, Cyberattacks, cybersecurity in supply chain, warshipping, phygital

Before the pandemic, many businesses were looking at digital transformations that included cloud migration. After the pandemic hit, 48% of businesses surveyed are fast-tracking their cloud migration and more than a third are looking at digitizing more processes using cloud-based technology. In general terms, the switch to cloud technology was predicated on the need for better security and collaboration to support remote and hybrid workplaces and to deal with disruptions in both business and consumer demands.

Topics: Managed IT, #cybersecurity, Hackers, Cyberattack, Cyberthreat, Entertainment

With the economy still reeling from the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, manufacturers are skeptical about being able to maintain a profit moving forward. In fact, 75% of manufacturers claim that inflation is worse now than six months ago and over half note that it is becoming even harder to stay competitive and continue to turn a profit. 

Topics: Managed IT, MSP, Manufacturers, Recession