More often these days, print management isn’t so much about the devices themselves, but is much more about the analytics and what we can learn from the devices; who is printing what documents? Why are they printing emails in colour? Why do we have 1 device per 10 people when the MFD can support 30?
To many employees, the printing devices are exactly that, a device that prints - they send their document to the printer and they go and pick it up from the paper tray. They don’t see or think about the smart, connected functionality of it, and for the individual employee that only prints once a week, they would hardly notice if it was gone.
But the reality is document security and analytics are transforming the way businesses operate, and it all started with the humble device.
Scanners and printers have come a long way, and can now be found tightly integrated within many corporate initiatives, including:
- Customer experience
- Sustainability
- Compliance
- Innovation
- Productivity
- Security
The more you know about intelligent, multi-function devices, the more efficiently you can use them as part of the wider business strategy.
Why do your printers matter?
The hardware is where the story of a multi-functional device begins, but buried within are features that will enable it to play a significant role in the way information flows through the organisation.
Customers, branch offices, security and even digital transformation all benefit from their presence, and thanks to the continued innovation of intelligent and connected devices, documentation and data is able to move more efficiently through each stage of a project, sale or customer journey.
These devices rarely play the same role; depending on who’s accessing the device, they can serve as the start of a process or as an endpoint, but can also be simple ‘nodes’ within a workflow that aid the transformation from digital to physical (or vice-versa).
Put simply, if you care about customer experience, security and productivity and want to keep a solid grasp on costs, the intelligence of modern, smart printing devices matters a great deal.
How devices differ today
With so many devices on the market and plenty more on the horizon, what do best-in-class office printers offer today? In particular, how do they benefit productivity?
- They improve user experience
Installation wizards now guide non-technical users through the setup process, while the ability to quickly preview scans on the devices themselves provides a great user experience.
Modern print devices are also capable of turning scanned documents into searchable data, thanks to built-in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capability.
- They’re designed for connectivity and accessibility
Printers and scanners can also connect to cloud services in order to facilitate fast document sharing and access.
The same devices can usually accept direct print jobs from a whole host of devices, from traditional desktop PCs to smartphones and tablets, thanks to the ability to handle concurrent wired and wireless connections.
This makes printing much easier for all employees and creates less hassle for IT and Print Managers when something doesn’t seem quite right.
- They directly impact office and personal productivity
Most devices now offer some form of personalisation, enabling users to interact with on-board, tablet-based control panels via a user interface that is uniquely tuned to their requirements.
The data that can be gathered from these devices also tells a more in-depth story about how users print and where their processes could be deemed inefficient. This information can then be used to streamline and optimise processes and increase productivity.
Why Devices Matter
The new breed of output devices enable modern workforces to work in any way they choose, no matter the location of employees, their individual requirements or the types of computing devices they’re using.
There is a lot of choice and flexibility on the type of printing devices you choose for your company and there is a lot of similarity between them, but it’s important to consider some of the above points.
From a print management view, you might be considering which devices and systems give you the most visibility and from a user view, you need something that is connected, easy to use and flexible.
If you’re unsure which type of printing and scanning devices you require or how to invest in something that will deliver a tangible return, take a look at our device offerings and speak to a Xenith consultant about your needs.