Jim Wieser, Product Director
5 min read
Today, IT departments have more business-critical tasks to worry about than print management and troubleshooting user issues. Ironically, this still takes up most of their time. Cloud printing can not only eliminate the tedium of help desk calls but also improve efficiency and cut costs significantly.
Among the benefits of cloud printing are ease of use, access to portable printing (mobile print), workflow automation, remote access, centralization (a single, integrated system), and minimized overhead.
One of the most stand-out benefits is that cloud printing frees your IT department from managing the company's print services. This includes supporting employees, devices, and mobile employees, as well as ensuring print infrastructure security and regular updating.
In this article, we will explore how cloud printing can improve your overall productivity, raise profitability, and help your business grow.
What are Innovative Print Solutions?
The benefits of cloud printing boil down to the convenience that comes with innovative print solutions. Embedded with cloud technology, modern IT infrastructures offer secure printing capabilities that are remotely available, portable, and brand-agnostic.
Innovative printing capabilities include direct digital printing, pull printing, task automation, AI enhancements, smart scanning, and more. Using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model lets users access print services without needing on-premises infrastructure.
With innovative solutions, IT departments won’t have to worry about print driver installment, deployment, or maintenance.
Innovative print solutions accelerate the low-touch software trend by using next-gen cloud technology managed, hosted, and maintained by developers. This makes interactions between IT teams and printing platforms simpler and more efficient.
7 Productivity Benefits of Cloud Printing
Among the many benefits of cloud printing on businesses and IT teams are:
#1. SaaS & Immediate Fulfilment
Cloud printing makes good on the promise of immediate fulfillment because of its SaaS base. The drastically reduced time to benefit comes from the already-installed and ready-to-go software application. The pre-installation reduces, if not eliminates, the time normally spent on software deployment.
What’s more, the solution provider handles all platform upgrades in a SaaS print environment. This lowers costs and efforts associated with upgrades. With SaaS, there’s no need to buy an upgrade package or pay for specialized services to get an upgrade.
The SaaS model also enables the consumerization of IT. With it, users can consume print the same way as Wi-Fi or power in a socket. This fulfills the need for flexibility and hybridity among modern employees and evolving workplaces undergoing IT transformation.
SaaS-based cloud print solutions come with the following benefits:
- Automated administrations and auto-updates
- Instant fulfillment for users and customers
- Solutions available when and where you need them
- Ongoing value, including frequent product enhancements
- Proactive security (always securely monitored)
#2. Portable Printing
Leveraging cloud print means you can take advantage of portable printing. To increase productivity in modern, distributed workforces, cloud print software allows all authorized users to access their print services from anywhere. Users can print from any device, at any location, to any printer—in a matter of seconds. Mobile users and guests can also seamlessly and securely connect to the print platform from their portable devices.
Portable printing allows employees to release print jobs at any printer. And all they need is their mobile device. Also, location-aware printing automatically allows users to access printers within a given network. That way, IT departments can easily manage printers across multiple locations and users can easily get their print jobs through.
#3. Access on the Go
Cloud printing offers secure remote access and troubleshooting, minimizing costly on-site presence. This makes it an ideal setup for hybrid and remote workforces. With always-accessible infrastructure in the cloud (infrastructure-less), it's never been easier to be an employee on the go.
With solutions like SAFEQ Cloud, users can access an easy-to-use web UI, no matter which devices they use (see: Pure Cloud Solutions). As long as you have an internet connection, teams working remotely can transport their print needs without any fuss. This brings out a new level of efficiency and availability where physical location is not a constraint.
#4. Print Automation
Your provider can program repetitive, tedious tasks for automation and enable automatic installs for your monthly product upgrades. Meanwhile, administrators can still retain control of everything via a simple, intuitive web-based user interface.
Print automation software like SAFEQ Cloud empowers IT teams to automate a bunch of workflows and IT tasks. Print automation makes it easier for IT to keep track of everything without delving into the mechanics of their infrastructure.
Other automated services include document scanning. With SAFEQ Cloud, users can digitize their documents and have them delivered to email, cloud repositories, or networked folders. This eliminates the need to manually scan, name, and file documents, which can be both labor-intensive and time-consuming.
#5. Single, Integrated System
Providers deliver cloud print platforms as a single, integrated system for print and document capture workflows. A single, converged infrastructure reduces complexity and supports brand-agnosticism, allowing users to print from anywhere–with any printer.
Converged infrastructures centralize devices and workflows, providing a hub for computing, storage, and networking components in one. These infrastructure types reduce deployment risk by offering vendor-validated solutions that eliminate guesswork and speed up application deployment.
Such a system is also flexible and scalable, making print easy to oversee and use. It’s easy to scale up and down as needed as an organization changes shape, size, and location, all while the platform remains user-friendly and quick to deploy.
#6. Centralized Reporting
A cloud printing service makes monitoring usage and troubleshooting issues much easier for your IT team. This is made possible with centralized, fact-based reports that can be accessed by authorized individuals and groups.
Cloud platforms can provide easy access to in-depth analysis of print activities with a rich set of default reports, so you keep track of everything. This allows your team to effectively track and monitor your company’s print activities.
IT teams no longer need to manually generate weekly or monthly reports on statistics and usage. They can send these reports automatically to managers and department heads.
#7. No Print Management
Traditional installations require companies to have the right server, operating system, network setup, and service packs. Their IT teams also need to closely monitor their databases to make sure they run smoothly. These tasks fall on the shoulders of IT teams, overloading them and leaving little time for innovative work.
No Print Management refers to a new era of customer-centric print. In this era, we help IT teams simplify print and converge solutions through an easily accessible, flexible print infrastructure.
Cloud printing frees up time for IT teams to focus on meaningful, strategic work. It helps them become business enablers instead of firefighting and troubleshooting tasks such as:
- Supporting guests and employees who need to print in different locations
- Helping guests use different devices to access multi-functional devices
- Helping employees with their access cards, drivers, and other concerns
- Fixing recurring connection issues or handling Wi-Fi and VPNs
No Print Management hands off platform and infrastructure management and security to the solution provider. That way, IT teams can focus on digitalizing and future-proofing the company.
FAQs on Cloud Print Management
Q1) How Does the Cloud Minimize IT Overhead?
Cloud print infrastructures allow IT teams to automate repetitive tasks and workflows, reducing time spent on tedious tasks. IT teams can also relegate overhead tasks to the solution provider. This saves resources while ensuring everything is up-to-date and running smoothly.
Q2) What are the Benefits of Cloud Printing?
Cloud printing offers several benefits, including:
- Increased productivity and convenience: Employees can print from anywhere across locations. It supports hybrid and remote, as well as multi-location work setups.
- Lowered hardware and maintenance costs: There’s no need to purchase expensive hardware and on-premises infrastructure or spend money regularly on costly updates and new equipment.
- Modern and future-proof systems: Through a SaaS model, organizations can always rest assured that they have upgraded, modern systems that can keep up with the times.
- Centralization: Computing, storage, and network needs converge with cloud printing, offering IT administrators control without needing to micromanage everything.
- Scalability and flexibility: It’s easy to scale up and down as needed, as today’s customer-centric print solutions are focused on what an organization needs as it grows and changes over time.
- Security and compliance: Providers take care of ensuring security and complying with regulations, taking the burden off IT and management.
- Accessibility anywhere, anytime: Employees can securely access print services anytime, anywhere, from any device, and using any printer brand.
- Ongoing value: Providers will always offer the best and most updated solutions to ensure that organizations remain secure and well-provisioned.
Final Points
Cloud adoption is steadily on the rise, making innovative print solutions like cloud printing imperative in maintaining a competitive business edge. That’s especially true now that organizations are racing to make digitalization the norm across all business units.
Print has always been a customer-centric industry and one that has always risen to the demands of the times. From the Gutenberg press to the 3D printer, the world of print has seen many incredible feats.
Today, the same industry helps boost productivity in offices by transforming solutions into print automation software. This software makes portable printing, print automation, proactive security, and centralization possible. As a result, IT teams can loosen their hold on traditional print management.
Cloud print management solutions offer organizations efficient, valuable, and scalable platforms that help them future-proof their business and increase profitability. The benefits of cloud printing are many and reach beyond tasks themselves. It allows ITs to let go of print management, drive future business growth, and build an effective digital enterprise.
