Morten Sørensen, CSO
6 min read
How can secure pull printing strong-arm data security threats and supercharge print infrastructures’ resilience?
Is the promise of higher-level security and governance with pull printing genuine or an ill-disposed hoax? And what really is pull printing?
Pull printing is a mechanism put in place to increase print security. It enables users to print to a single print queue and collect their print job from any device. The job can only be printed after a user authenticates themselves. As such, the print workflow remains on hold until authentication occurs.
A nerve-racking part of everyday life in IT is standing guard in case a threat against the company’s security unveils itself. So, considering modernizing your print environment can come with a wave of fears of compromising any security protocols already sustained.
Without the right tools, maintaining data protection quickly becomes a headache for IT teams. This is where cloud technology and the features it easily enables come in handy.
A cloud print solution with pull printing (also called print roaming or follow me printing) works like a high-security digital document bank. Digital means of authentication and identity verification mechanics protect data within it.
A cloud-powered pull printing solution gives IT teams and their users secure printing over the internet; with no IT interference or human error—yes, no more racing to your print to collect your documents.
Pull Printing is a secure internet printing feature where print jobs are held in a queue until identity verification happens and a user delivers a print command. The feature omits risks of unattended documents on output trays, enforces authentication, and increases compliance for print architectures.
In this article, let’s delve into what pull printing is and how you can supercharge the protection of your company data with safeguarded, secure printing over the internet.
What is Secure Pull Printing?
Pull print (or print roaming or follow me printing) is a dual-step verification process for print jobs. First, a user instigates a print job from a workstation or a portable device. Second, the user gives the go-ahead to execute the job at the destination printer.
Secure cloud printing services allow print jobs to be submitted from anywhere, including a tablet, computer, or mobile app, to an internet-connected multifunction printer.
With the pull printing feature, each job is held in a secure queue until a final print command is delivered. That means that documents aren’t printed when the user initially sends them to the line—they’re printed when the user releases them.
This gives users the power to head to a printer of their choice when they’re ready to retrieve their print job. With a secure pull print setup, you can require that employees authenticate their identity while at the printing station with a card reader, pin code, or more.
Users are also required to prove their identity at the printer, so only they can access their print jobs (and the data they contain). These factors ensure that confidential documents never end up in the wrong hands.
Also, every user has their own private print queue, and they choose themselves when they have their documents pulled to the printer to be printed.
If print security is on your list of concerns, have a look at these trends to estimate how well your current print ecosystem is aligned with today’s print-related risks and possibilities:
📖 Read on → The Future of Print Security: 7 Trends to Know Today
The Secure Pull Print Difference
Secure printing is not only possible through traditional means. Contrarily, cloud providers can focus more on security than most enterprises will ever be able to, including traditional printer manufacturers. As such, cloud providers can work proactively with security systems.
Security is top of mind for many big and small companies. Even if the company you work for doesn’t deal with top-secret information, we bet you deal with sensitive data that is best kept to a minimal audience. Like employees’ personal information or financial records to name a few.
Data security is so crucial to many companies that they choose to go out of their way to latch on to traditional printing infrastructure and print servers, thinking that their sensitive data is better protected there. And while traditional print infrastructures are familiar, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re easier–or safer.
Cloud print infrastructures have proven to lower print expenses and amp up the infrastructure’s security, not to mention being much easier to manage.
The pull printing functionality comes with authentication workflows that automatically demand identity validation. The system allows you to take a step back and let go of unnecessary security upkeep, while guaranteeing the protection of users and data.
Not only does secure pull print help you embed modern security into your IT ecosystem, with a cloud print infrastructure you get to let go of print management and make print an invisible process working on the sidelines while you focus on on-mission critical IT tasks.
View the Print Queue
With serverless pull printing, your print job is sent to a pull print queue (with no physical printer ties). The workstation holds the print job, and you can release it at any printer with the pull print feature enabled.
Once a final print command is delivered (you’ve authenticated your identity by the print device), you can view your print queue, release the print jobs you need, and enjoy easy and secure internet printing.
🏳️ A quick sidenote on that: Viewing the print queue and selecting which documents you want to print after you swipe in is a feature exclusive to multi-function printers (MFPs). With single-function printers (SFPs), all documents in your queue will automatically print.
Pull Printing with YSoft SAFEQ Cloud
Y Soft’s SAFEQ Cloud gives you the same (even higher) level of security that you’re used to with traditional server-based printing. Among a host of features and capabilities, you find print roaming (Y Soft’s pull printing feature).
📖 Read on → SAFEQ’s High-Security Printing & Scanning
Print Roaming is available on any compatible device. It enables secure printing over the internet with inherently protective identity control fixtures that keep data safe. But that’s not all it does.
Secure pull print (our print roaming, follow me printing) creates more convenience and freedom for your users by giving them control of what devices they print on and when.
If you need reasons to start looking at cloud migration services for your print environment, this is it. Not only do cloud solutions like SAFEQ Cloud give you more security without putting more effort into it (actually, it’s the opposite), but companies also benefit from significantly lower printing costs, simplified workflows, and easier systems to navigate.
If a secure pull printing solution is what you’re after, SAFEQ Cloud can provide you with peace of mind. Our platform integrates with various authentication options and cloud-based authentication providers that on-premises alternatives typically do not offer.
As if that wasn’t enough, SAFEQ Cloud can work with a variety of devices and can easily scale up or down to match your business needs, thereby ensuring flexibility to grow and thrive alongside your business.
Pull Printing Safeguards Security and the Environment
One of the many benefits of SAFEQ Cloud is that it gives you easy-to-use secure internet printing features like pull printing. The feature gives your company greater security while reducing your office-material footprint.
By reducing the margin for printing errors, you save paper from the inevitable trip to the recycling bin. Did you know that the average UK office employee goes through around 10,000 sheets of paper every year, with more than three-quarters of this ending up as waste?
SAFEQ Cloud brings secure, selective printing to more environments than ever. Intuitive cloud printing allows modern print services to be adapted to unconventional environments like retail stores or warehouses, not just limited to office headquarters.
A secure pull print feature within a cloud print software solution means you get enterprise-level scalability and government-level security, no matter the size of your company.
FAQs on Secure Pull Print
What is the Benefit of a Pull Print Solution?
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Here’s a rundown of the benefits of taking advantage of secure pull print technology:
- Significantly improved security
- Improved end-user productivity
- Reduced office footprint with less print waste
- More reliable print solution
What are the Differences Between Push and Pull Printing?
Pull printing (print roaming or followme printing) differs from push printing based on when the printing release occurs. With push printing, the document will print immediately to a selected device, and you can authenticate your identity from the device. With pull printing, you need to authenticate at the printer.
The print job does not begin until you’ve authenticated yourself by the printing device, i.e., release station.
Final Points
While many features in SAFEQ Cloud are well worth their mentions, pull printing sticks out as it truly plays into the hand of security. As the world gets more digital, so do attacks on people, corporations, and more.
With serverless follow-me printing (pull print), you’re taking a large step towards maximizing security and getting your IT ecosystem in robust shape against attacks. This is something that still sets businesses apart in their markets—and your industry is no different.
Think of cloud infrastructures as a high-security digital bank that protects data with digital means of authentication. And the secure pull printing solution? Consider it a secured bank account.
The right printing management solution can revolutionize the way that your business handles print – simply by letting go of it.
If you’re ready to learn more, now is the time to book your guided demo of SAFEQ Cloud. After the demo, we can help you activate your personal free trial – 30 days, no payment, it’s a no-brainer. You won’t believe how easy it is to pull off secure and straightforward print jobs.
