How do you know if your business is suited to cloud print management?

If you’re a smaller business, whether you want to track and manage or enable your printing, you have more options than running a print server on-premise.

You can now manage your printing in the public cloud. But how do you know you’re suited to serverless printing? What’s the checklist?

Oh you better believe that’s a hackneyed set-up for a listicle!

4 signs you’re ready for print management in the cloud

1. You’re already in the public cloud 

More specifically, you’re already using the public cloud for most of your organization’s work.

Many SMB workplaces don’t start up with server racks for their data storage. They outsource to Google Drive or Dropbox. Likewise with the various software-as-a-service (SaaS) business applications found in the likes of Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. 

For these workplaces, it makes sense to also utilize cloud print management solutions. No point in just having a print server if all the rest of your work needs are satisfied by cloud-based software.

2. You’re new to print management

For years you’ve had one MFP or a couple of small A4 printers used by a handful of employees in a modestly sized office. 

You know who’s coming and going, you know who’s printing what, you’re not printing anything more confidential than regular office documents. You’ve never felt the need for print tracking and monitoring. Especially when considering it means you have to shell out more cash for a print server and ongoing IT maintenance.

Well, now is your time to dip your toe in the water. COVID-19 has accelerated adoption of cloud services for a variety of business worktools and print management is no exception. 

With cloud print management, you’re not purchasing any additional equipment or budgeting for resources – it removes the print server from the equation. That means no ongoing maintenance costs – that’s all-inclusive in the cloud print management SaaS model. 

Once upon a time, there was a barrier to print management for businesses that couldn’t justify the expenditure on infrastructure. That’s no longer the case with cloud print management solutions.

3. You’re embracing hybrid/remote working

Covid-19 forced a change to professional life that was well overdue: you can be just as productive (if not more) working from home. 

Since undertaking remote working out of necessity during the pandemic, many businesses worldwide are adopting hybrid working models with a split between office and home working.

With workers now coming and going from the office, this redefines many a workplace’s approach to printing. For end-users, sometimes they’ll need to press print in one location and collect their job at another. For IT teams and sysadmins, they require the ability to manage and track printing remotely and on location. 

With cloud print management and enablement, end-users can juggle between printing at home or the office. Similarly, sysadmins and IT staff can manage printing flexibly.

4. You’re an early tech adopter

Print management in the public cloud isn’t new, but it’s still a maturing technology. It will take some time before cloud-native solutions reach the same feature-set and embedded functionality as on-prem and private hosted print management solutions. 

But for those futurists out there who love getting their hands on new technologies, cloud-native print management is your moment. Remember how smug your Gen Z coworker was when they were early on the TikTok hype train? That could be you!

Interested in learning more about our Document Management solutions? Give us a call or shoot us a message here: https://boring.com/contact/

Source: Papercut Blog