Printers have come a long way over the years. Today’s models are faster, more precise, and more fully-featured than those that came before. They have much better connectivity options, too. You can wireless send files for printing from various devices like your phone or laptop. And now, with the rise of cloud printing, you can even print documents without being in the same location as the printer.
Who does this benefit, and should your business invest in cloud printing? Let’s take a closer look at this tech to find out.
How Does Cloud Printing Work?
Cloud printing is quite simple – it allows users to send print jobs from almost any device to an internet-connected printer, via the cloud. All the necessary printing information is first sent to a remote cloud server, which then feeds it onto the relevant printer, which executes the print job.
What this means, in simpler terms, is that you don’t need to have a direct connection or even be anywhere close to the printer itself to print files with cloud computing. Instead, all you need is the cloud printing service or app you wish to use, which effectively does all of the hard work for you.
Reasons to Invest in Cloud Printing
Cloud printing is one of many examples of cloud technology, which is becoming increasingly valuable and prevalent in today’s business world. However, you might be unsure about whether or not it’s the right fit for your business. Here are some of its key benefits and reasons to invest:
It’s Ideal for Businesses With Remote Workers
These days, an increasingly large amount of businesses have workers who operate remotely, often from the comfort of their own homes. This trend was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic but has persisted ever since, and it has its benefits and drawbacks.
One of the downsides with remote workers is that they haven’t got access to the core pieces of office hardware they may need to get things done, like office printers and copiers. Cloud printing fixes that. It gives remote workers full access to printers to produce physical documents for future reference or to share with their colleagues in the office.
It Makes Life Much Easier for Workers
Printing is such an integral part of office life, but it’s not always easy. Many workers have to deal with print-related issues, especially connectivity problems. It can be frustratingly difficult to hook up phones and computers to printers, and the process often involves setting up third-party apps and drivers on each separate device before you can print a single file.
Cloud printing is much more convenient and accessible. Users simply need to set up their cloud printing app or platform access, and they’re good to go. Any time they want to print something, no matter what device they’re on, they can just select the file and send it off via the cloud printing platform.
It Eases the Burden on IT Teams
Another big benefit of cloud printing is how much easier it makes the lives of in-house IT staff. With traditional printing, a large part of IT support workers’ time and energy can be spent fixing printer connectivity issues or setting up new devices so that they’re ready to print on the office hardware.
As discussed above, cloud printing offers a much simpler and more fluid process. It’s much easier for individual workers to print documents this way, so there’s less of a reason for them to bother IT staff for assistance, and there are fewer chances of connectivity issues or other problems.
It Provides Greater Admin Controls for Cost-Cutting and Efficiency
Here’s another benefit for your IT team if you invest in cloud computing: they’ll have much more control over who can print and how they can print. This is because most leading cloud printing platforms provide a plethora of advanced admin controls that you can customize and configure to suit your exact business needs.
You can, for instance, set up the system so that all prints are automatically done in black and white. By establishing and enforcing print policies in this way, you may dramatically reduce the amount of wasted resources, such as paper, ink, and toner, to make your business’ entire printing process more cost-effective and efficient.
It Can Help With Cybersecurity
VPNs, firewalls, anti-malware packages – most businesses have several lines of defense against the increasingly numerous and dangerous cyber threats out there. However, what many business owners don’t know is that simple connected office devices, like printers and copiers, can present weaknesses for hackers and cyber-attackers to exploit.
Cloud printing can help with this. By supplanting the traditional print server environment with an encrypted cloud print one, the risk of malware spreading across a system or network is typically reduced. Thanks to that, there’s less chance of your sensitive work files falling into the wrong hands or prying eyes being able to see the data sent from your devices to your printers.
It Gives You a Clearer Picture of Your Business’ Printing
A large number of businesses struggle to keep track of how much printing they actually do. They find it hard to measure metrics and understand how many printing resources (paper, ink, and toner) they use up or how optimized (or inefficient) their business printing actually is.
A centralized cloud printing platform makes all of that much easier. All print jobs pass through this platform, and all of those jobs are logged, so your IT team can quickly and conveniently see how many pages each worker has been printing, their print habits (if they print in color or black and white, for instance), and more. And you can then use that data to improve your printing performance.
Take Your Business’ Printing to the Next Level With Cloud Technology
There’s no doubt about it – cloud printing is the way forward, and it’s likely to become the primary printing solution for many businesses, great and small, in the years to come. Get ahead of the game by investing in cloud printing today, with the help of a trusted provider, Docutrend. We help businesses in New York, Totowa, Cherry Hill, Edison, and Ft. Washington. Contact us today to learn more.