Traditional printing management at the enterprise level faces a myriad of challenges. Setting up and maintaining printers on a local network can be complex and time-consuming, especially with multiple devices or offices. Missed system updates or incompatibilities can lead to workflow bottlenecks, which can be frustrating for staff.
IT departments often get bogged down with troubleshooting printer issues and having to ensure consistent access to printing resources across diverse devices and locations, flooding the help desk with support requests. Then there is also the need for security measures to safeguard sensitive documents and prevent unauthorised access.
With so many challenges to tackle, cloud-based print management comes in as a potential solution. By leveraging cloud technology, it centralises cloud-based print and scan management processes, reduces reliance on local infrastructure, enables seamless integration across various devices and cloud locations, and offers encryption and user authentication features.
By moving printing to the cloud, businesses can streamline their operations and free up IT resources. Statistics show that 44% of traditional small businesses have since adopted cloud infrastructure or hosting services, compared to 66% of smart tech companies and 74% of enterprises.
Cloud-based print and scan management is a transformative approach to traditional print management, empowering organisations to overcome traditional challenges and embrace a better secure printing environment.
Understanding Cloud-Based Print Management
Imagine not having to allocate extra space for print servers on site! Cloud printing and scanning lets you do away with in-house print servers. It works by sending your print jobs to the cloud instead of directly to a printer. This allows you to initiate jobs from any device, be it your laptop, mobile phone or tablet, without the constraint of a local network.
Here's where cloud-based print management systems come in. These systems help facilitate communication between the user’s device, the cloud server and the designated multi-functional devices (MFD), pulling print jobs from the cloud service to the MFD back in the office.
Cloud-based print management systems help manage cloud print and scan environments by centralising administration from a single dashboard, allowing you to manage user permissions, track printing activity and even set up quotas to control printing costs based on business needs. With everything in the cloud, there's no need for complex server setups or managing of individual printers to thrive in today's mobile world.
Benefits of Cloud-Based Print Management
For IT departments, managing a network of printers can be a time-consuming black hole for resources. Cloud-based print management offers a modern solution that streamlines printing processes and frees up valuable IT staff for more strategic tasks.
1. Centralised Administration
Want to add, remove or configure printers remotely from a single user-friendly interface? Cloud-based print management makes this a reality. Ditch the time-consuming process of physically dealing with each printer to configure settings. This centralised administration system saves IT staff valuable time and allows you to scale your print environment according to your business needs.
2. Easy Accessibility
Cloud-based print management allows users to access and print from anywhere with just an internet connection, enabling self-service for users to add or search for devices available to them across any network or location.
3. Compatibility
Modern cloud-based print management systems are designed to work across all major operating systems, enabling consistent print performance across your MFDs & multiple ways to print and scan to different sources, such as via mobile apps, web browsers, email and cloud storage services.
4. Remote Management
No need for physical access to MFDs or print servers to troubleshoot issues or configure printer settings. With a cloud-based print management system, print and scan management is done centrally over the internet, including tracking usage, monitoring device status and receiving real-time alerts for issues such as low toner or paper jams.
5. Enhanced Security
Cloud-based print management offers features like secure printing, which adds an extra layer of security to your printing infrastructure. Features such as user authentication before a print job is released, encryption of print data or audit trails to track print activities help prevent unauthorised access to sensitive documents. This is particularly important for businesses that handle confidential information.
6. Reduced Hardware and Maintenance Costs
Say goodbye to the days of managing and maintaining on-premise print servers. Cloud-based print management eliminates the need for this physical hardware altogether. The cloud service provider takes on the responsibility of maintaining their servers, including software updates and hardware troubleshooting. This cuts down the need for servers and frees up IT overheads needed to maintain infrastructure, enabling them to focus on core business projects.
7. Data-Driven Insights
Cloud-based print management goes beyond just printing documents. It provides valuable insights into printing habits through the ability to monitor print and scan usage. This data can be used to identify areas for improvement, such as reducing unnecessary printing or optimising printer placement. This data-driven approach allows IT departments to make informed decisions that can lead to significant cost savings.
8. Reduce IT Helpdesk requests
Print problems often clog up the helpdesk system. A single print driver approach requires less IT maintenance, so frustrated employees needing help with printer driver compatibility or complex printing setups become a thing of the past.
Future-Proof Your Print Management with SMART Workplace
The future of printing is expected to incorporate advanced technologies like cloud-based print management, greater integration with IoT devices and machine learning algorithms to analyse historical print data and anticipate print and scan trends.
Stay ahead of the curve with a future-proof print management solution. Canon's Smart Workplace solutions offer comprehensive cloud-based print management platforms that empower businesses to streamline printing workflows, reduce costs and ensure maximum uptime.
Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX
The Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX portfolio is a range of intelligent MFDs designed to support your workplace. Building on an award-winning platform, it offers advanced document capture and processing capabilities for seamless integration of physical and digital workflows. Offering a wide range of security features, it ensures the confidentiality, accessibility, and availability of your information. It also seamlessly integrates with cloud-based print management platforms, enabling organisations to leverage IoT data to optimise print management.
Cloud Connector
Connect seamlessly to your favourite cloud storages on Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE and imagePRESS models with the Cloud Connector option. It connects users, allowing printing and scanning from emails and 7 different cloud storages, including Box®, Dropbox, Google Drive TM, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive/OneDrive for Business and Sharepoint Online without the need for a computer or printer driver.
uniFLOW Online
uniFLOW Online is a secure cloud print-and-scan solution that provides centralised user authentication and management over print-and-scan workflows, regardless of location. It has the ability to work with Zero Trust Environments, ensuring no unauthorised access will be granted to the system. With end-to-end encryption and multi-level privileged access, users can only access the parts applicable to their role.
With Canon as your partner, you can embrace the future of printing and help your business stay relevant in today's ever-changing landscape.
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