Originally published on Mar 15, 2016
In a competitive world where companies are fighting to stay one step ahead of the other by making everyday processes smoother and more efficient, it’s surprising that companies still find it difficult to gain control of their print environment. Ignorance probably isn’t to blame; however, if enterprises put as much diligence into rounding up their print environments as they do streamlining other core processes, the results could bring new life to the work atmosphere.
Common (But Fixable) Print Management Mistakes
Print management, freedom, and oversight are achievable by going serverless with PrinterLogic SaaS. But, if this is your first time hearing the term “print management,” it could suggest that you haven’t found an opportunity to upgrade and are searching for answers to the following common print management mistakes.
1. Print Servers Are Slowing Overall Production
Holding the modern-day relevance of a VCR, print servers take up space and routinely turn print jobs into a 5-10 minute exercise. Additionally, the single point of failure that comes with employing a centralized print server creates a myriad of issues if something goes wrong. For companies frequently deploying high-volume print jobs, print servers are the root cause of delays when large print jobs are attempted simultaneously.
Turning to PrinterLogic’s serverless printing solution, companies experience faster print speeds, uninterrupted printing, and increased productivity. Not only that, but IT professionals gain clarity into their print environment through PrinterLogic’s Admin Console. This enables them to catch potential printer malfunctions before they occur, making complex troubleshooting a thing of the past.
2. Money-Guzzling Printing Practices
According to Consumer Reports, printer ink and toner cause a lot of financial frustration for companies. Truth be told, for every cartridge of ink you purchase, you are most likely using only half of what you print. The other unused half is wasted in the form of overprinting, grammatical mistakes, or unnecessary color printing. Excess waste that amasses from unmanaged printing practices isn’t economically friendly and rubs extra ink in the wound when purchasing ink cartridges for your printer fleet.
Quota Management makes it effortless to stay within your allotted budget and eliminate wasted paper and ink throughout an enterprise. After setting your company quota based on the criteria of volume or price, quotas can then be assigned to individuals or groups. Once an individual or group reaches their assigned quota, they’re prompted to contact an administrator or designated user for assistance.
While PrinterLogic’s Quota Management feature limits printing volume, it actually enhances a user’s overall experience. Users can track their quota and connect to their desired printer using PrinterLogic’s Self-Service Portal, reducing IT help desk calls.
3. Remote Workers Printing From Unsecure Networks
The remote workforce has exploded following the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey conducted by Upwork predicts that the number of remote workers will reach 36 million by 2025, signaling that companies need a solution to keep their workers’ printing secure while using a company-managed workstation or laptop at their home office. As for organizations hiring contractors with limited or no access to the company network, they risk exposing confidential data by allowing printing through an unsecured network from outside of the company firewall.
The expanding remote workforce paired with an uptick in cyberthreats have prompted organizations to adopt a Zero Trust network infrastructure. Adopting a Zero Trust Architecture requires every user to verify their identity using reliable techniques such as multifactor authentication.
Features like Off-Network Printing bridge the gap between the demands for better network security and the disconnects that occur for remote workers trying to print securely. Any employee working from a remote location can print using any ISP and send print jobs to a secure network printer without paying a steep price for a VPN. Off-Network Printing keeps data encrypted until it reaches the company’s firewall where it is unencrypted and sent to the desired printer making it the perfect addition for companies adopting a Zero Trust infrastructure.
4. Exposing Critical Information
Anytime an employee clicks “Print,” there are risks to the document’s confidentiality. Leaving documents in the print tray for extended periods of time leaves sensitive information open to people who shouldn’t see it. Unless you’re an advocate of in-house gossip and rumors spreading like wildfire, this situation is less than ideal. A scenario like this is especially concerning for healthcare, legal, financial, and government entities that live and die on maintaining peoples’ privacy.
Using Secure Release Printing, print jobs aren’t pending on a print server. Instead, they are held on the user’s workstation until the user is ready to release the job. Once the job is released by the user, it’s sent straight to the desired printer. The flexibility of PrinterLogic’s serverless printing enables all legacy printers in a company’s network to become a secure release printer.
5. Not Making Use of Your Company Devices’ Printing Capabilities
All devices in an enterprise should have printing capabilities in some way, shape, or form. Nevertheless, companies don’t make full use of certain devices in the workplace. Chromebooks, for example, have been a thorn in the side of many organizations following the discontinuance of Google Cloud Print. This had companies using unconventional methods like buying compatible printers, using a shared network printer, or doing away with their Chromebooks in general. Mobile devices fall under the same category. Not known for their printing prowess, it’s important to remember that it’s not 2013 anymore. Mobile devices CAN print.
PrinterLogic’s enterprise Chromebook printing solution makes it simple for an organization to integrate Chromebooks into their serverless printing environment. The extension is part of PrinterLogic’s Core Bundle, which has all the features to keep your print environment secure and supplies IT with oversight of all print jobs in the company from a single pane of glass.
As for companies looking to leverage enterprise mobile printing, there’s a feature for that too. PrinterLogic’s Mobile Printing feature doesn’t require special apps and works with any network printer. With no client-side software to install, it’s as simple as clicking “Print.”
Tired Of Making Mistakes?
I’m sure by now you’ve recognized the recurring theme: PrinterLogic has the fix for all printing mistakes. What you’ll notice, though, is that many common print management issues—slow print speeds, unsafe printing, lack of printing oversight, and excessive waste—can be avoided by eliminating the biggest mistake of all: print servers.