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mobile printing
Print.IT Reseller
30
Mobile printing: Easy does it
The importance of integration
Canon Partner Channel director
Matthew Searle advises resellers to
take mobile printing seriously not least
because evidence suggests that in the
future more tablet/smartphone users
will elect to print from their devices.
“An IDC study published in February
showed that the percentage of users who
printed from their mobile devices increased
dramatically in 2012, and the percentage of
those who either don’t or don’t want to print
will decline from almost 50% in 2012 to just
25% in 2015,” he said.
He points out that these findings
support the interim results of Canon’s own
pan-European survey of end users and
decision-makers, which show the importance
of integrating tablets and smartphones into
the workplace so that every employee can
print when they need to.
“The value placed on printed documents
nowadays is greater than ever. Our study
found that 83% of users still print every
single day while one in three respondents
would not be able to work without printers,
scanners or copiers. A whopping 95% of
workers would actually be greatly affected in
their work practices if they were taken away.
“As tablets infiltrate the workplace and
users move to creating and editing documents
on tablets rather than laptop or desktop
computers, demand for mobile printing
will increase. Dealers need to be prepared
to adapt to this change and be confident
enough to have these conversations with
customers. The challenge will be educating
customers on the benefits of mobile printing
solutions, such as improved productivity, ease
of use or enhanced security.”
Embracing mobile printing is not just
a question of capturing pages. According
to Searle, it enables resellers to provide
additional solutions and services that go
beyond hardware sales, such as network
management, enhanced device management
(both mobile and print) and data security.
As sales of tablets outstrip computers, the debate about their
impact on page volumes rages on. Will they reduce the need
for printing by making it easier for people to carry and access
documents in digital form? Or will mobile printing apps that
simplify printing from mobile devices cause mobile workers to fall
back in love with printing?
PrintIT Reseller
asks the experts.
“Protecting information is a different
challenge to the days when a firewall and
secure laptop was enough. Mobile devices
have changed the office security landscape
with data more readily accessible and
shareable by staff outside the confines
of the firewall. This places dealers in a
prime position to help their customers by
leveraging their expertise in managing and
securing traditional output and applying the
same approach to managing a wider range
of print and image capture devices outside
the firewall.”
No print reduction
Charles Stones, Professional Services
Consultant at Altodigital, is another
who thinks the link between tablets
and falling print volumes has been
overstated.
“Contrary to popular opinion, we’re
seeing that the increasing use of tablet and
smartphone technology is in some cases
actually increasing print volumes across a
company, as employees benefit from total
flexibility and are able to print remotely from
any device, rather than being tethered to a
desk-based computer. While it might not be
the case across the board, we’re certainly
not seeing any reduction in print volumes,
nor do we expect to.”
He adds that there is a big opportunity
for resellers to explain to customers the
importance of implementing secure mobile
print solutions instead of leaving it up to
employees to develop their own work-
arounds.
“The second big opportunity – and what
is set to become an increasingly major issue
in mobile print – is security. For businesses
handling sensitive data, it’s essential that
the opportunity for staff to use unproven
and untested mobile print software is
minimised and that any mobile print solution
is driven by the company, not the employee.
Widely used, and often operating under the
organisational radar, unsecured mobile print
apps can create significant security breaches,
as confidential information is sent across
company networks from device to printer.
“Adding to this problem is the fact that
many IT Departments still haven’t got a
handle on the more fundamental BYOD
issues, such as integrating mobile devices
with their network. That makes issues around
mobile print and BYOD very far down their
list of priorities.”
Rules and tracking
Nuance Director of MFP Product
Management Bill DeStefanis says it
is important to treat mobile devices
like any other ‘validated’ access point
to the print environment to ensure
that the integrity of an organisation’s
print management initiatives are
maintained and that mobile print jobs
are tracked and subject to the same
rules as traditional print jobs.
“Nuance does not see mobile printing
as a big driver of additional print volumes.
The restrictions of many devices (decreased
screen size, lack of print drivers etc.) limit
the practicality of these devices for creating
and reviewing business documents, such as
contracts, thereby minimising the demand for
many mobile print needs in the enterprise.
We may see a small up-tick in printing as
travelers take advantage of ‘convenient’
print offerings for one-off print jobs in hotels,
airport lounges etc., but the overall increase
in printing will be negligible.
“Rather, Nuance views mobile print as
an additional method for workers to access
an organisation’s print stream. In this way,
mobile print is mostly about convenience.
Office workers today are accustomed to using
more than one device (smartphone, tablet,
laptop) in the workplace and increasingly
expect those devices to provide an additional
means to access the print environment on
the fly. As support for mobile printing gains
greater traction in an organisation, some
print jobs traditionally sent to the printer
through a desktop computer will instead be
sent from a device. Again, we do not expect
this to increase the overall print volume
at an organisation, especially not in those
that have a print management process that
supports mobile devices.”
Nuance:
mobile printing
is all about
convenience.
Matthew Searle,
Partner Channel
Director, Canon