In the world of corporate IT, there’s a tendency to overlook the end user as a valuable resource. Nowhere is this more apparent than in corporate print management. Almost all corporate printing solutions fail to leverage end users as a means of assisting IT professionals in their job. Instead they treat end users like obstacles or inconveniences.
Take print servers, for instance. Like most traditional corporate printing solutions, they force server admins to constantly monitor and limit end user interaction for fear of them installing the wrong printer or driver (or worse). And it’s hard to blame the server admins for doing so. How many times have they had to troubleshoot an incorrect installation or deal with print spooler crashes as a result of driver issues? And how many times have service desk reps had to spend valuable time walking users through printer installation processes that are supposed to be easy and routine?
The same applies to general printer usage. In an effort to clamp down on runaway corporate print costs, many admins try to control end users’ printing behavior assigning them specific printers or restricting their available printing options. In some cases, it makes sense to do this, but the management options offered by corporate printing solutions are lacking. Usually it requires complex group policy objects (GPOs) or custom scripts to set the printing parameters for a given end user, and this can slow logon times or cause rights issues that are difficult to troubleshoot without methodical, time-consuming examination of the entire GPO hierarchy.
At PrinterLogic, we’ve long considered end users to be an organization’s most under-leveraged asset. This sets our next-generation print management solutions apart from other corporate printing solutions, and our real-world results speak for themselves. Like the 77% of organizations surveyed by the independent research firm TechValidate that reported reductions in service desk calls of 30% or more after installing PrinterLogic (TVID: AC0-21B-DC5). Or RPC, Inc. specifically, which used PrinterLogic to reduce service desk calls by more than 90% (TVID: 138-6AB-436). They’re able to do this in part because PrinterLogic empowers end users in a way that benefits corporate print management.
The clearest example is our self-service installation portal, which enables end users to identify and install nearby printers with a single click. No guesswork, no call to the service desk. Your organization even has the ability to upload floor plan maps that show the location of printing devices, so the user has an additional visual aid when identifying nearby printers. And as simple and intuitive as that process is for the end user, your admins can be confident that those users are consistently getting the right printers and drivers. This is because PrinterLogic’s centralized print management lets admins deploy and assign printers in a targeted way anywhere in the organization – all from a single pane of glass and without the need for GPOs or scripts.
In the same way, PrinterLogic also enables you to stay on top of corporate print costs. You can easily limit end users to certain printing options such as duplexing, black and white, paper trays and more, most of which can be selected by simply checking a box in the centralized management console. Our optional Pull Printing module goes one step further and unites printing security with corporate print cost savings. By dividing printing into two deliberate but convenient steps for your end users, it can protect confidential documents while curbing the number of wasted print jobs that are left abandoned in output trays.
Corporate printing solutions that don’t empower your end users just can’t come close to fully optimizing your print environment. By integrating your end users into your overall corporate print management strategy, PrinterLogic is able to realize incredible efficiency gains, security, and ROI.