Amanda Cathrin Bäckström
6 min read
You’ve probably heard about cloud print solutions multiple times before, but why move to the cloud? What’s so spectacular about it? And given that you likely don’t want to give your print infrastructure more attention than it’s already demanding, why should you?
The world is constantly evolving, and as technology changes, so do our expectations for the devices we include in our offices. As more and more Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions are at our fingerprints, IT teams are expecting everything from an improved customer experience to more efficient processes that bring significant cost savings and less work to their department.
The answer is simple. Make the one effort to move to the cloud, and you’ll cut away many tedious tasks for later. Decrease the user issues you have to troubleshoot, centralise your print fleet, and make your life a lot easier – while shrinking print costs and scaling the infrastructure up or down hassle-free.
Digital document filing storage and payroll and personnel software are vastly adopted in IT departments looking to simplify their office infrastructure. But one pesky element that remains on-premise is the print servers. Question is– Why has print been left behind? Why is it not been included in businesses' cloud-first strategy?
Some of the greatest advancements that we enjoy come from cloud-enabled technology. And it just so happens that cloud-based technology can be applied to our printers, too.
This article will dive into the main motivations for cloud adoption and what it means for your printing management.
Introducing Hybrid Cloud Platform (HCP)
HCP, Hybrid Cloud Platform, is the print cloud infrastructure service offered by EveryonePrint. The software offers private cloud and public cloud services, as well as hybrid cloud solutions, all with the help of a SaaS application.
Easy and quick to install, HCP makes it possible for companies to either outsource the management of their printing solutions or simplify the way they handle it internally – All dependent on whether they want public, private, or hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Cloud-empowering print technology means that employees can process print jobs from any device in the office (HCP allows for desktop as well as mobile printing). The solution enables organisations to migrate their print to the cloud without compromising security and, at the same time, simplify the entire print infrastructure.
Find everything there is to know about HCP in our Best Practice Guide.
Why Move to the Cloud: 7 Proven Reasons
The allure of cloud services will depend on individual needs, but there will likely be some commonly shared factors. Which of the following motivations do you think would be most relevant to your business?
1. Achieve Significant Cost Savings
Cost-cutting is an enticing motivational factor for any business decision, and the switch to cloud services is no different. Although it may not be the sole driving factor behind migration, the cloud can cut costs effectively because it enables businesses to cancel expensive and obsolete software subscriptions or driver hosting.
Plus, with cloud services, there is no need for an upfront investment for hardware or licensing. Companies also save on preparation methods—unlike relying on your server where you need to purchase backups in the case of system failure, you can count on the greater cloud to protect you.
With HCP, we offer an initial 30-day free trial, so, your team can first get comfortable with the software before making a huge investment in it. Further, since the print solution is based on a SaaS model, your business only needs to pay for the licenses it uses and can scale up or down as your business evolves.
2. Enjoy a Speedier Print Procedure
As we progress further and further along in the age of digital transformation, we all have increasingly less patience for slow speeds. This seems to be true no matter the task—it’s hard to believe that we were ever okay with a webpage taking a minute to load (like in the age of dial-up internet).
Speed is one of the absolute leading benefits of cloud computing. Cloud-hosted services like HCP have the advantage of running on massive secure data centres that are always benefitting from the latest and greatest hardware updates.
Also thinking in terms of IT admins’ day-to-day, the time spent on troubleshooting user issues with a cloud print setup is nothing compared to managing print on-premise.
HCP lets you trade in your old-fashioned physical drivers for a full-featured single driver that can handle any and all print jobs. Just imagine the reduction in tickets to the helpdesk. Almost too good to be true, but not quite.
3. Leverage Recognised Innovation
When working in technology, you know that the last thing that any company wants to be is left behind. In fact, we live in a world where being up-to-date on trends isn’t enough. Ideally, your company will be a few steps ahead of industry trends at all times. We don’t have a crystal ball, but we would hazard a guess that the cloud is the way to go if you want to keep ahead of trends.
The people behind HCP work tirelessly to maintain a future-proof, solid software that follows the latest security trends and remains ahead of the curve on the latest cloud tech and features. That way, our customers not only get to be pacesetters in their industry, but they can also be confident that the software is always getting better and better.
Need more proof? In 2022, HCP won the HP Workpath innovation award.
4. Achieve Higher Scalability
With every company comes the possibility of growth. And while that’s something that every organisation certainly wishes for, one of the realities of business is that what comes up can also go down. Recognising the possibility of business fluctuation will take you much further than living in denial.
Fortunately, cloud-based services allow for easy scalability. Not only are you able to get more storage space, servers, and licenses at the touch of a button, but you also have the option of only paying for what you use. With HCP, you get to accelerate your digital transformation and cloud journey—at your pace, your way. Our SaaS model lets you scale up or down as your business matures.
5. Stay Protected with Cloud Security
Security is always top of mind, now more than ever. After all, it seems like we’re often hearing news stories about major companies experiencing data security breaches and data loss. Nobody wants it to happen to them—we’re not sure what’s worse, the PR or the disaster recovery itself.
There are many different ways to keep a business’s operations secure, but keeping up with the necessary security patches required for every application can be an overwhelming task. Companies dodge a lot of risk by choosing a cloud service that offers real-time reporting and security features (like pull printing) suitable for even a Zero-Trust environment.
With secure cloud services like HCP, your security tasks are always properly prioritised, and the reaction times are top-notch.
Security is a sensitive topic, so no hard feelings if you want to be sure about the legitimacy of our security claim. To give you the rest assured, take a look at the following customer story with Intracoastal Realty and find out how they used HCP to simplify their infrastructure management and protect their data from the strong elements of their hurricane-prone office location in North Carolina:
→ Intracoastal Realty Customer Story
6. Take Advantage of Cloud High Availability
Availability is one of the most significant advantages of cloud computing. In a nutshell, cloud services are available all day, any day, from anywhere. This means that, in most circumstances, employees can choose to work from any location with any device (smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.).
HCP is hosted on AWS in five different locations with three availability zones per location. Safe to say, your cloud print infrastructure is always available to you.
7. Amp up Integrations
Cloud computing software like HCP comes with well-defined APIs and is, in general, easy to integrate. APIs allow for simple, flexible, and transferable connections that can latch on to just about any application or platform within a business. APIs are easy to use and help with interoperability—one of the most important parts of modernising IT systems.
Print: An Overlooked Application
While most companies are aiming for a complete migration to the cloud, there is one element that they tend to overlook: print servers. To become fully cloud-first, make sure to get your cloud print journey started - And yes, it’s fully possible even without Google cloud print (which was discontinued in early 2021—RIP).
Although it’s often overlooked, moving your print to the cloud is a strategic decision. Not only does print represent a considerable cost for many organisations, but it has also been known to clog up the IT helpdesk, with a great number of service requests estimated to be due to printing.
So, why move to the cloud? So your IT team can let go of print management and enjoy an advanced cloud printing solution that gives you full control of the print environment – all from one pane of glass.
FAQs on Moving to the Cloud
Is Moving to the Cloud Safer?
With simplified end-to-end encryptions, zero-trust policies, and advanced data centres, moving your print environment to the cloud is safer than keeping it on-premise. Cloud software complies with strict protection and safety regulations, made to protect both users and data alike.
Discover more about cloud security here → Cloud Printing Security and Compliance
Which is the Most Significant Benefit of Cloud-Based Technology?
While there are many benefits to leveraging cloud-based technology, a chief advantage is its imminent degree of flexibility. Businesses can scale services to fit their needs and requirements, customise applications, and access cloud solutions from anywhere with a wifi connection.
Discover more benefits here → 5 Reasons to Move your Print Infrastructure to the Cloud
Final Points
So, there you go. If that’s not an advocacy speech for moving your print to the cloud, we don’t know what is. But if you need a closer look at the platform, that's cool, too! Get a free demo of Hybrid Cloud Platform today.
We’re firm believers that the best opinions to get inspired by come from the people using the product. To take your next step in your print journey, head over to our Podcast episode with Tom Luinstra from Ambiq, where he walks you through his experience when migrating his print environment to HCP:
