Protecting Yourself from Printing Pain: Moving Traditional Print Management to the Cloud

I sit at my desk the day after having my vaccines so that I can safely travel to the Cloud Expo Asia Event in Singapore in October, trying to take my mind away from the droning pain in my arms. Yes, I know I probably shouldn’t be able to type with the pain so bad, but that’s the point; yes, it hurts like hell, fortunately, I can just about type this blog… and then a simple analogy entered my mind…

It occurred to me that the ache in my arms is a lot like the ache of moving your traditional print management solution to the cloud – It’s doable but it hurts like hell!

So why is this analogy so right? I clearly see an analogy between my pain points struggling to type and the pain points of a business wanting to move its traditional print solution to the cloud.

EMF Based Printing

The traditional print solution is driven by one ultimate component: the EMF (Enhanced Meta File) based printer drivers. You see, EMF-based printing is the Achilles heel when moving a traditional print solution to the cloud. It’s in its very nature to counter the very benefits of using cloud services because:

– It’s dependent on ONLY Windows operating system being used. EMF is a Windows language so no Linux, Mac OSX, or Chromebook native print support.

– It generates massive amounts of data due to the Windows print process after hitting print.

– User session logon times are delayed due to the EMF-based mapping processes.

– When using a self-proclaimed universal EMF-based print driver, these issues are exacerbated!

…Writing this blog is really helping me to take my mind away from the pain…anyway…

Download the White Paper: Print File Formats: A Comparative Analysis of EMF, OpenXPS and PDF for Enterprise Printing

Movement of the Print Job

Another main pain point is the movement of the print job itself. This is related to EMF but it’s a very significant issue when using cloud-hosted services. The fact is that when a user hits PRINT in an application, that application isn’t necessarily running on the user’s machine. This means we have disparity in the printing process, now the print data must move across the connection from the application host to the user’s target printer. It’s even worse if the application is running on a client machine because now there is a yoyo effect taking place during the print process.

This Means:

We now have an issue in that the application or hosted print service needs to have a direct line of sight to the printer. Often the traditional print solution will require VPNs and holes in firewalls to enable this connection to the printer.

In the latest remote office architecture, the design and configuration used today are that every device just needs an internet connection to collaboratively work in the cloud, and thus vertical NAT’ing is often in place. This often means that the user’s client machine can’t see the printer directly. The print process then has to go out and back in again.

Due to the massive data generated by the traditional EMF print process, often a traditional print solution will try and keep the print data on the client machine rather than moving it to the cloud. However, this breeds a wealth of issues:

– You turn every PC into an unmanaged print server.

– You have no central workflow management or the opportunity for workflow integration and/or automation.

– Driver distribution and management are still bandwidth-intensive and problematic as the users roam.

– If using remote applications, the print job never exists on the client machine!

– Routing the print job via a client machine when using remote applications is a no go when the client machine is a Mac, Chromebook, or a thin client.

Using an Encrypted Print-Ready PDF

While that’s only two issues, the complete list is endless when moving these traditional print solutions to the cloud. With the UniPrint solution, you won’t have to face these issues!

Why! I hear you cry out. Nope, that was me as I just banged my arm on the bedpost! Arghhhh!

At UniPrint we use an Encrypted Print ready PDF methodology which simply means: You can print from ANYTHING, from ANYWHERE, to ANYTHING including digital workflows without a piece of paper printed!

From security to cost reduction, and from access to availability, UniPrint stands out as the Next Generation print solution for your IT strategy.

What are you waiting for? Download a free trial of UniPrint Infinity so you can manage your printing environment and avoid printing pain!