Trees are resources, and so are print technology specialists.

Print volumes may change over time, but the need for solid print habits hasn’t. Datamax Print Management Specialists help foster not only cost and waste reduction related to printing, but also empower organizations to Think “Green.” We recently called on our three Print Management Resources (Robert Baker, Trish Williams, and Rachel Rhodes) - on the state of print and the state of customer printing habits. 

The bottom line? Understanding print management has to be a core competency. It is the best way to ensure our clients are maximizing their investment with Datamax. Just like a tree with strong, deep roots, we glean wisdom from Robert, Trish, and Rachel, all deeply rooted in our advanced print solutions.

Below is a 7-question response from our three experts.

1. In 2022, security is a hotbed issue. “Workplace” is a moving target. Business owners are budget conscious and perhaps weary of big, long-term investments. Staffing and supply chain are ongoing challenges. With all that said, how would you begin a conversation about Print Management with a business owner looking to work smarter, more secure, and more budget conscious?

Robert Baker: When meeting with a business owner or decision maker, discussing the benefits of a Print Management Solution should be in the forefront of the discussion. 

• BUDGET CONSCIOUS” Device Access Control – This prevents unauthorized access and logs end user walk-up activity. Many times, it reduces the overall volume of printing, thus reducing the operational cost of that device. Employing a subscription-based Print Management solution reduces the initial expense of implementing the solution.
• “SECURE” Document Confidentiality – Print jobs are secured via transit across the network which eliminates the threat of interception by using AES-256 RSA encryption until it reaches the device and can be securely retrieved.
• “SMART” Ability to retrieve print jobs at any device within the Print Management environment if a machine is down or busy with another job by the end-user securely retrieving from a different device.

Rachel Rhodes: Print management can mean many things, and identifying what a customer is actually asking is extremely important. Often, paid print management solutions are proposed and purchased, but never fully implemented. 

Print management comes standard with every Canon device we sell. Clearly understanding a client’s needs is the first step. Next, understanding what features a Canon offers natively to support securing the device, tracking usage, and guest and/or mobile printing is of equal importance. Often times a paid solution is not necessary. Doing a good job of matching a client’s needs with Canon’s capabilities should set us apart.

Trish Williams: What are your top priorities regarding security and is printing a part of that plan today or future?

It seems like our job roles are getting broader and dealing with printing should not be the bulk of it. What print management can do is cut down on the print frustration, unnecessary printing waste by uncollected jobs, or error in not choosing the job properties so needing to reprint. Also, offering a simple way to recoup the cost from departments, projects, or clients will help the bottom line for the organization.

2. Hybrid work is a reality that we can all agree doesn’t seem to be going anywhere…. pandemic or not. What does this mean for print and IT? How do offices and responsible IT parties need to revise and recheck their policies and print accessibility options?

RB: According to Quocirca Research, three-quarters of organizations expect to see greater use of cloud-based print management solutions by 2025. https://www.uniflow.global/en/home/benefits/

Cloud-based Print Management solutions extend the organization’s ability to secure documents, enable usage reporting, and assist in safeguarding that portion of their network infrastructure and associated connectivity.

RR: In hybrid work environments, providing end users the ability to securely print from anywhere is often the first need. The second need I have seen is to improve driver management amongst all end users. Uniflow Online can solve both of these issues.

TW: Does your organization have a process for hybrid employees in terms of managing their printing? If we could show you another way that would address security, reliability, and easy-to-use for employees, would that be beneficial? Based on your organization's hybrid or work-from-home environment, we feel confident Datamax has the solution to address those concerns.

3. If we were to throw out 3 “Ss” of Print Management, we’d start with “Secure, Supervise, and Save.” But you’re the experts. What are a few of the high-level benefits that businesses can realize through a Print Management engagement?

RB: As most businesses are carefully watching their bottom line, savings are an important part of implementing a Print Management solution following the benefits of document security and end-user accountability for their print volumes.

RR: A print management solution can provide network administrators with print statistics about what is being printed, how jobs are printed, and who are the top end users that print. This information can be used for education to help with change management of end-user print habits. Educating end users on the cost of printing could reduce print costs.

TW: Significantly reduce IT burden and frustration, for example, support tickets related to printing, deploying printers to the right persons or groups, and integrated scanning for scan to email (myself) and cloud services

4. According to MPS Monitor, 34% of all organizations use the cloud for all their IT needs, with 70% of them planning to increase their budgets in the future. Cloud-based Print Management is certainly part of that conversation. How is Datamax equipped to handle these needs? Please explain.

RB: Datamax has two top-tier Print Management solutions that we deliver to our customers; uniFLOW and Papercut. These solutions have the flexibility of being implemented in the Cloud, On-premise, or a Hybrid of both depending on the needs and infrastructure of the customer’s networked environment.

RR: Most print management solutions now offer a cloud offering, but often these solutions have limited functionality and only work with limited manufacturers. NT Ware was one of the first to offer a cloud-based solution; it was launched five years ago. They have the most robust functionality and work seamlessly with Canon devices.

TW: Datamax offers solutions to address the need to move to the cloud and decommission print servers. We offer two options, based on your current and future goals we can work together to recommend your best solution. We have uniFLOW Online and PaperCut Hive in our Print Management portfolio. Both of these solutions are great print serverless options that offer many features and functions like secure print release, etc.

5. In your opinion… How important are “Green”-spirited engagements to our arsenal of services, and how does Print Management fit into that conversation?

RB: All environmentally conscious companies are adding a sustainability report to their resume to demonstrate their commitment to the environment. By utilizing a Print Management solution, the company’s environmental strategy now includes:

• Reduction, or elimination of paper waste.
• The enforcement of print policies such as printing in black and white, and printing documents duplexed.
• \Automated deletion of documents never released.

RR: Now that most of our machines are energy-star compliant, Green-spirited engagements have become less prevalent. The focus seems to have shifted to security. A print management solution does still provide green-spirited benefits. End users are only printing what they need and abandoned prints are no longer an issue.

TW: Honestly, “Green” is not ever been a talking point in our market so other than PaperCut offers some really cool Reports that center around how many trees were saved, for example, that is about it.

6. What does the future of Print Management for our customers look like beyond 2022? Paint a picture of what you believe lies ahead.

RB: It is my belief that as technology continues to evolve, we will realize tighter integration of hardware/software via new standards that have yet to be developed. This will provide further benefits/features and improved return on investment for our customers.

RR: Print management no longer has to be a complex, expensive solution. A company can start basic, and upgrade to a full version as a natural progression.

TW: We are definitely moving into the cloud-based service. And after the Print Nightmare situation, we are seeing organizations looking for serverless alternatives. Fortunately, uniFLOW Online has been in full production since I think 2017. They have a solid product that checks the boxes. PaperCut is making strong progress too. Also, can’t forget security and printing vulnerability so our print management solutions will become more of a need.

7. Here at Datamax, how important is Print Management as a core competency in the spirit of our organization to be “Green and Growing?” How so?

RB: Datamax is proud to partner with manufacturers/vendors that hold the same values regarding environmental sustainability. For Datamax customers, they can have the confidence that we are doing our part to protect the environment by delivering Print Management solutions that support that effort. Technologies will only continue to improve as time goes by and Datamax will be there to evaluate and onboard solutions that address customer needs while remaining environmentally sound.

RR: Understanding print management has to be a core competency. It is the best way to ensure our clients are maximizing their investment with Datamax, which will ensure that our end users are Raving Fans. As a sales consultant, understanding print management sets you apart from the competition and it builds trust with your client. As a service engineer, understanding print management will ensure once a device is in the field and for the long term that our clients are using all the features that will improve their print workflows.

TW: Print Management allows the organization to have a 360-degree view of its output environment. This can be used any many ways depending upon the organization’s goals. All companies need to address concerns of waste to keep costs down. As organizations grow with people and locations print management becomes more of an integral part of their business processes. They will integrate with so many backend systems for seamless handshake to gather output costs to be invoices, for example. The list of EHR, ECM, DMS, etc. continuously grows as the industries grow. Both of our Print Management solutions are R&D heavy. We can count on them to listen to our customer’s needs and recommendations for product improvement.