Cloud printing, like any other kind of digital transformation, needs careful planning, otherwise you’re just trading one form of organized chaos for another. For medium-sized businesses, that generally means ensuring three things: scalability, security and integration with existing systems. Those are the points where a lot of cloud-migration projects come undone.
And what do we mean by ‘medium’ here? Well, according to Gartner , a ‘mid-sized enterprise’ is any company with between $50 and $1 billion in revenue, and/or 100 to 1000 employees. In other words, you’ve outgrown the startup phase, but you haven’t conquered the world – yet. Sound familiar?
In this article, we’re going to look at a few tips for implementing cloud printing in your business.
1. Choose the right cloud print solution
The tricky bit here is that medium-sized businesses often face a daunting mix of on-site and remote work, a potential multi-cloud setup, plus multiple operating systems and legacy devices. Yeah, bit of a nightmare. So the first step for cloud printing is picking the right cloud print provider. You need a device-agnostic platform that works with a wide range of devices and integrates with your existing infrastructure. Bonus points if it’s a cloud-native platform . So go out and do your research! Ask questions, get quotes, and figure out what are the important features for your business.
Setup robust user authentication
People think the cloud is unsafe, but that’s not really true. It’s only unsafe if you fail to make it safe. And when it comes to medium-sized business, with multiple offices and remote workers popping in and out, the first thing you should worry about is user access controls. Any cloud print migration worth its salt needs robust authentication methods such as single sign-on (SSO) through Active Directory or Microsoft Azure AD. We also recommend a strong multifactor approach using some combo of swipe cards , passwords, biometric logins and PIN codes.
Set up role-based access controls (RBAC)
As your business grows, and especially as you move critical print infrastructure to the cloud, it’s vital that your sysadmins manage who can print what. This is where role-based access controls (RBAC) come into play. Best practice for cloud print is to set permissions based on the user’s role or department. For example, marketing staff may need color printing, but finance probably doesn’t – so simply set the relevant permissions using your print management software. You can also limit access to certain MFDs and devices, which helps maintain document security. There’s no need for the whole company to have access to the printers that handle payroll, right?
Plan for scalable print deployment
Growth is obviously a good thing, but it can put a strain on your print environment. Especially for medium-sized businesses, which are always a few weeks away from a merge or a restructure. That’s why it’s important to choose a cloud print solution that can scale with your business. The things to watch out for are: how easy is it to onboard new users? What about adding or removing printers? Do you have a seamless BYOD installation process? Can you scale up the cloud servers without complex infrastructure changes? What about network speeds and performance issues? One of the perks of cloud print is its inherent scalability, so most providers should be pretty good on this score. But it’s still something to keep in the back of your mind.
Integrate with existing mobile device management (MDM)
Remote and hybrid employees need secure print access from their mobile devices, but that’s not always easy in a big company with multiple offices and hundreds of staff. Whatever cloud print solution you pick, it should integrate with your existing MDM solution. Look for platforms that allow admins to push print policies directly to users’ smartphones, tablets and laptops, or rollout print drivers from a central location. This ensures secure and consistent print access controls across devices, even when staff are outside the office network.
Optimise your costs with print analytics
Making printing easy for staff is great, but you know what it leads to, right? More printing. This is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, great, your cloud print environment is running smoothly and employees are buying in. On the other hand, cloud print costs do have a tendency to spiral out of control, at least if they’re not monitored. As always, this is where your print management solution comes in. Make sure you’re running live print analytics to track usage across departments, set print quotas and optimize print behaviors (automatic duplex is a good start). Run regular reports to track your system’s performance over time – and keep those costs under control.
