Things never stop changing. Businesses need to stay on the cutting edge to succeed and the same is also true of their internal processes. Printing is an integral part of any office setup and a big focus in terms of cost, frustration, and limitations. The mobile printing industry is seeing rapid and steady growth, with an annual rate of 9.3% forecast between 2024-2031. With most office equipment ditching the cables, it makes sense that printers should adapt to the change. While it may seem daunting, taking your printing mobile comes with a whole range of benefits, which we’ll be looking at in this article.
Mobile Printing Is the Future
There’s a lot to know about your office printer. You can rent or lease them, maintain them yourself, or via a managed print service, and connect them to your workforce in various ways. Mobile printing is merely another role that any modern multifunction copier or printer should be able to perform in addition to everything else.
Simply put, the term “mobile printing” can be understood in two ways:
- The ability of a printer to receive and execute print jobs from any number of devices not physically connected to it, either directly or through an office LAN network.
- Being able to print from any device you’re currently using while on the go. From the device side, this includes everything from laptops and notebooks to tablets, smartphones, and other devices. Some printers are even small enough to be portable.
Mobile printing can use several different methods to get the job done. These include:
- Wi-Fi – Ditching the cables for a wireless network is not only a viable solution but is frequently done. Some mobile printers can handle any request, provided they’re on the same network.
- Bluetooth – Smaller scale operations use this more limited signal. This is ideal for one-off print jobs.
- Near Field Communications (NFC) – Some mobile printers require a device to be tapped to transfer a printing job. It can make for a quick, intuitive printing method in certain cases.
Why the Rise in Popularity?
Despite smart devices being everywhere these days, they’ve yet to fully replace their predecessors. Plenty of office PCs require being plugged into the local network to print out their reports and many employees still prefer the familiar intuitiveness of a keyboard and mouse.
Technology seldom completely replaces that which came before, but rather borrows and integrates certain features to augment its own. Podcasts still use traits of radio and video streaming and adapt formats and adverts that TV once introduced. Mobile printing still uses the basic features of an office copier, but with extra elements and technology to reflect the changing trends.
In the post-pandemic landscape, there’s been an increasing need to adapt workflows to greater distances and to suit employees on the move, particularly in hybrid working scenarios. People aren’t always in the office and when they are, they often bring mobile work devices.
Cloud sharing and smart devices make working on and sharing information a breeze. Most programs are available in mobile form and most mobile devices can use mobile printing apps to get the job done.
A business on the move needs technology that can keep up and a supplier that can provide it.
The Key Advantages of Mobile Printing
Slides, notes, legal documents, and even birthday cards – mobile printing should be able to handle anything you throw at it. Let’s look at some of the major reasons this technology is taking off:
Location Doesn’t Matter
The first reason is also the most obvious. Your printing options are no longer bound to a desk. It doesn’t even necessarily need to be bound to the office either. As long as there’s a network to access and a decent connection, the job can be done.
Hello, Productivity
How much time is wasted on transferring files to a desktop device for printing? How many more are spent reformatting documents when the destination machine’s software version isn’t compatible with yours and reformats everything? With mobile printing, there’s no need to search for a network-connected computer, only to select a file and send it to the printer.
Mobile printing also lends itself well to cloud computing. Printing from the cloud can be done seamlessly and from any device. There’s no need to download files offline, and no need to bog down workflow ensuring that file formats match a machine’s software.
Versatility
Mobile printing is far less discriminating than its wired counterpart. From smart devices to the trustworthy desktop PC. There’s no need to constantly send emails with document attachments to your desktop’s email. Traditional printing methods are still possible, but now you at least have the freedom of choice.
What’s more, multiple printing options are also available, with support being provided for various formats (PDFs, JPEGs, Docx, etc.). There are also printing solutions that accommodate your particular make and model of printer, including double-sided printing, print quality, and paper size.
Software support is a key factor in this versatility. Cross-platform support ensures that multiple devices can speak the same language and offer users a familiar user experience (UX) every time. This is mostly thanks to printing apps.
Security
While mobile printing sounds risky in terms of cybersecurity, most utilize well-established apps, usually developed by the printer’s parent company. Apple and Android also come with apps of their own to get the job done. Combine this with network permissions that can be easily established, and you’ve got quite a secure way to print that’s still convenient.
It’s All Quite Friendly
These same apps are a lot more intuitive than the confusing labyrinthine menus of word processors and photo editing software. Apps tend to make things a lot less complicated, and having them on a familiar device goes a long way to making printing a report a lot less intimidating.
Make It Mobile, Make It Move
Mobile printing is the workspace’s answer to a world increasingly on the move. As on-the-go becomes more and more the norm, you need printing technology (and printers) that can keep up. There’s plenty to recommend adding mobile-printing machines to your business.
And if you’re looking for the right professionals to get the job done for you, then look no further than Docutrend. We’re the leading modern office and workforce technology company across the Northeast, offering flexible technology and over 20 years of in-depth experience.
If you’re in New York, Totowa, Cherry Hill, Edison, or Ft. Washington and are looking to make smarter choices for your printing workflow, then don’t hesitate to contact us today.