How will you be sending your print job? From your laptop? Tablet? Mobile phone? Your preference might be influenced by your job function, where you are working or the project you are printing.
Whichever the case, today’s employees need (and often expect) flexibility in printing. Because more than ever before, office employees need access to a variety of different devices within a print fleet. And increasing numbers of businesses are implementing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies into their workplace cultures to promote hybrid work schedules and allow employees the convenience of choosing their own devices and related operating systems.
Secure printing should be an integral part of your workplace strategy, no matter if your employees work a hybrid schedule, are in the office or work remotely.
RELATED ARTICLE: The Expert’s Guide to End-to-End Print Security
Networked printer fleets are a known target for hackers. That’s because an unsecured printer could be an easy entry point for a hacker to slip into the network of an unsuspecting business. Once inside, the hacker could surf around to gain greater access to your data – potentially causing chaos within your system and/or holding your data for ransom. Don’t take that chance.
Secure printing software enables organizations to better protect their devices from unauthorized users, while allowing employees selected access to the printer fleet. Employee user settings can be adjusted to allow access to only the printers needed for their position. Administrators also have the ability to grant additional access if an employee’s needs change, such as if they are scheduled to travel to other branches of the organization.
Secure printing is part of the zero trust printing trend, which assists to keep sensitive information safe. This is accomplished by requiring a user to verify their identity through the use of a preprogrammed card or a personal identification number (PIN) entered at the output device where the print job will be released and picked up. Every print job contains some level of security risk, that’s why secure printing software tracks all print jobs. Security administrators are able to use data from past jobs to drive threat detection and improve future defenses.
MANAGED PRINT CASE STUDY: Marquette University
Organizations can enable secure BYOD printing through cross-platform, mobile-enabled software. While there are different brand names of software that will accomplish this, the Gordon Flesch Company (GFC) offers two market-tested, reliable and secure options: PaperCut and uniFLOW. Both are popular with our customers and have satisfied their needs for secure mobile printing.
Mobile-enabled secure printing software allows organizations to better control their print environments. Common functionalities typically include print job tracking, routing, placing print jobs in a queue, enhancing organizational secure print policies, user authenticated “follow-me printing” and cost analysis features.
For print fleets supporting BYOD workplace cultures, we also recommend selecting software that supports a variety of personal devices, including laptops, tablets and mobile phones. In addition, check to make sure that your software will support the breadth of operating systems that will be used (e.g. iOS and Android phones).
PaperCut is an independent print management software, developed for use on multiple print devices. Due to its independent origins, PaperCut supports a variety of printing device brands, including:
Organizations with a mixed print fleet consisting of a wide variety of branded print devices, often choose PaperCut for their print security solution.
UniFLOW is a secure print management software developed by Canon. If you are considering Canon devices for your print fleet, it makes sense to also leverage the native integration of uniFLOW output management software.
However, besides Canon, this software also works with other major printer brands, such as:
If uniFLOW is used with a Canon device, it will document the final output of a print job, not the number of pages sent to the printer. This feature increases your print fleet security in the event that a printer jams during a print run. Therefore, if the jam occurs while printing a document containing sensitive information, you’ll know exactly how many pages printed and how many did not print. This feature allows the user to know if they picked up all of the pages that printed – enhancing print security when it’s needed most.
Learn about GFC's Print Security
Even though we’re one of the top Canon dealers in the nation, GFC is a provider of both uniFLOW and PaperCut software solutions. You have options to select what best fits the needs of your print fleet.
Learn more about how to keep your print fleet secure by controlling who’s printing what, when they’re printing and how much it’s costing you. Contact the Gordon Flesch Company to schedule a free Business Technology Needs Assessment for a fresh, outside perspective that could help you identify gaps and opportunities. It might be the most productive 30-minute meeting you’ll have all week! Click the link below to send a request.
