Like it or not, we live in the era of Big Data. Technology has given us the ability to gather information on almost every aspect of our lives. We can then use that info to do things like improve our health, figure out what new TV shows we might like, become better drivers or optimize processes in the workplace.

Of all the areas where data gathering comes in handy, printing probably isn’t the first one that springs to mind. But when you think about it, printing is as integral to our daily working lives as email or telephones. A few optimizations to the print environment, especially a large one, could have a big impact. That’s where print-tracking software comes in.

The role of print-tracking software is pretty much what it sounds like. It monitors print activity across your company or organization, collecting the details of who, what, when, where and how for individual print jobs. Some printers or print-management tools have basic functionality along these lines, but dedicated print-tracking software usually offers more scope in how it collects and presents this data.

Making data-driven decisions, taking data-driven action
For those unfamiliar with data analysis, think of data like the words that make up a book. If you were to just print out all those words alphabetically, it would just be a long list. But when those words are arranged in the right way, they tell a descriptive story.

That’s why simply collecting data doesn’t do much good. It’s what you do with that data that counts. When you can use print-tracking software to organize that data in a way that makes sense, you can make informed decisions. Those decisions, in turn, lead to practical actions that save money and time.

With the right tools, here’s what the data from print-tracking software can enable your organization to do:

• Control printing: Let’s say one department is constantly printing large volumes. Good print-tracking software would enable you to spot that behavior by indicating high page counts. You could then follow up with the department head or even individual users to encourage more economical printing habits.
• Reduce waste: High page counts aren’t some abstract number in a report. Every one of those pages represents a physical sheet of paper plus the toner or ink required for printing. With color pages, you’re talking even more consumables. By controlling printing, you’re also reducing waste.
• Cut costs: Addressing the previous two issues ultimately translates to saving money. Printing less means using fewer consumables, which means reduced spending on paper and ink. In an enterprise organization, the large scale can add up to major cost savings.
• Promote future growth: Money not spent on printing is money you can spend on other things—like better infrastructure or additional employees. The sky’s the limit on how you redirect that money, really. All of that amounts to opportunities for future growth.

Maximize your print tracking with PrinterLogic
PrinterLogic’s centrally managed direct-IP printing platform takes print tracking to the next level. Our serverless enterprise printing solution:

• Deploys quickly and seamlessly in pretty much every organization, regardless of the existing IT setup.
• Provides you with a clear window onto the entire print environment.
• Collects more detailed and more comprehensive printing data.
• Gives you the tools to figure out exactly what the data is telling you.
• And it allows you to share that analysis automatically with decision-makers.

Some of those features are provided through our optional print auditing module. Some of them are there by design.

When I say by design, I’m talking about our centrally managed direct-IP printing platform itself. This takes the reliability and simplicity of direct-IP printing and combines it with the ability to manage every aspect of the print environment from a single pane of glass. All without print servers. End users get network printers that behave like they’re directly connected to their workstations. Admins get the convenience, control and oversight that comes with one print-management console for the whole organization.

PrinterLogic’s print-auditing capabilities tie into that foundation. Rather than being layered on top of an existing solution, our print-auditing feature is an extension of our centrally managed direct-IP printing platform. So, unlike aftermarket print-tracking software, ours has the ability to reach into every nook and cranny of your print environment. Any PrinterLogic connected printer—including USB printers—becomes a potential source of valuable data.

The big (cost-saving) reveal
Once you’ve got all this data, PrinterLogic’s print-auditing functionality helps turn it into something actionable. Who are your top ten users with the highest print volumes? Our print-tracking software can determine that and even automatically send reports to their department heads. Are some printers underused? PrinterLogic can tell you that, too, and provide IT with cost-saving consolidation guidance.

Or, like AAA Carolinas did (read the case study here), you can figure out who’s printing in color and enforce default black-and-white printer settings using PrinterLogic’s admin console. That saved the company “a pretty good stack of dollars.”

If that sounds like the sort of print-tracking software you’re looking for, you don’t have to make an investment on the strength of a blog post. We offer a free, full-featured demo of our centrally managed direct-IP printing platform so you can try it out as a proof of concept. Take a second or two to sign up today and test drive it without obligation for 30 days.

There are currently two IT trends that are ready to intersect in enterprise printing. And when they do, they’ll unlock an incredible amount of potential in terms of productivity and flexibility.

The first of these trends involves large-scale migration to the cloud. As part of this migration, organizations are taking traditional on-premises server-based infrastructure and transferring that functionality to offsite data centers. These innovative cloud-based services then give those organizations the ability to eliminate their expensive onsite hardware while enjoying increased ease and ubiquity of access.

The second trend is support for secure mobile printing. As more and more employees are issued smartphones, Chromebooks and tablets, or they arrive with sanctioned BYOD mobile devices, they need to be able to print easily and securely. Organizations that haven’t already implemented some form of mobile printing are certainly starting to give it serious thought.

Where enterprise cloud printing and secure mobile printing converge
The crucial point where these two trends intersect is when your organization’s enterprise cloud printing solution also functions as your secure mobile printing solution, effectively combining the advantages of both. The term synergy often gets misapplied to things that aren’t synergistic at all. But it’s fitting here because of the way mobile and cloud printing deliver mutual benefits.

To give just one example: Secure mobile printing that can leverage the omnipresent nature of the cloud enables roaming employees to print to their desired printers no matter where they happen to be—and without the typical security risks that spring up with that kind of flexibility.

For most organizations, the primary sticking point in implementing this “killer combo” isn’t lack of vision. They see how mobile and cloud are an ideal pairing like peanut butter and jelly. The fundamental problem is that conventional print-management solutions simply don’t offer a truly cloud-optimized option, not to mention one that also comes with secure, convenient and native mobile-printing functionality.

PrinterLogic SaaS makes the killer combo possible
PrinterLogic SaaS (formerly PrinterCloud) is the best printing software to make this next-generation convergence a reality. Like our on-prem enterprise printing solution, PrinterLogic SaaS uses a unique direct-IP printing infrastructure that fully eliminates print servers while also delivering centralized print management.

As its name suggests, though, the natural advantage of PrinterLogic SaaS is that it’s a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution hosted on PrinterLogic’s secure servers. This puts full-featured enterprise cloud printing within reach of any organization—including managed service providers (MSPs) with multi-tenancy requirements. Yet PrinterLogic SaaS doesn’t place heavy demands on the WAN. In most cases, print jobs are sent directly from the client to the printer, bypassing the WAN entirely.

And migration to PrinterLogic SaaS’s enterprise cloud printing is easy too. Often it’s a matter of importing existing printer objects and print queues seamlessly into PrinterLogic SaaS, then shutting down your print servers for good. Because PrinterLogic SaaS is based on the same platform-agnostic software as PrinterLogic, it will work with any printer. Few print-management solutions—especially cloud-based ones—can claim the same scope of compatibility.

But along with its cloud platform, PrinterLogic SaaS also features mobile printing that’s as secure as it is convenient. With PrinterLogic SaaS, any mobile device with a browser has the ability to print to authorized printers. There’s absolutely zero need to install client-side software on any mobile device, which means that any authorized end user can print without having to call the helpdesk.

Beyond the security that comes from PrinterLogic SaaS keeping most print jobs local, there’s also the ability to release print jobs to select printers on demand. Using the Print Release App for iOS and Android, mobile users can hold print jobs and then execute them on their desired printers right from their smartphones.

Increasing printing speeds while reducing downtime
PrinterLogic SaaS’s direct-IP printing paradigm delivers further advantages that just aren’t possible with legacy print-management solutions, let alone WAN-dependent cloud solutions. Keeping the majority of print jobs on the LAN helps to accelerate routine printing, and the elimination of fragile shared spoolers significantly reduces print downtime.

The Northwest Area Education Agency is a perfect example of what the real-world results of these benefits look like (read the case study here). This large Iowa-based intermediate education agency found PrinterLogic SaaS to be the best printing software for its very demanding requirements, including secure mobile printing, print reporting and streamlining print management.

To determine if PrinterLogic SaaS is also the best choice for your organization when it comes to implementing enterprise cloud printing alongside secure mobile printing, there’s no need for you to guess. Simply sign up for a demo today and test drive our solution entirely free of charge for 30 days.

Print 2025, a global study focused on printing in the digital workplace, has found that two-thirds of the businesses it surveyed ranked print among their top five security concerns. And with good reason. In the 12-month period prior to the survey, 59% of the organizations had experienced one or more print-related data losses—a breach that the same study showed to cost an average of £313,000 ($395,500 USD) per year.

Not all corporate printing solutions have kept pace with this demand for increased security, which might explain why these data-loss events are occurring in the first place. Legacy enterprise print infrastructures like print servers are inherently vulnerable to single attack vectors, and in distributed environments with consolidated or centralized server configurations, print-job data risks exposure to malicious actors each time it crosses the WAN. That can undermine any attempt to establish secure remote printing in an organization.

Why secure remote printing is important
Hardening the print environment in an organization with a single location certainly is no cakewalk. But in distributed organizations, where centralized print management is often lacking, it becomes more difficult to oversee and enforce secure printing policies at remote sites. The same goes for organizations—distributed or not—with a large, dynamic workforce with mobile employees printing from home, job sites or satellite offices.

Despite all the typical challenges organizations face in implementing it, secure remote printing is an absolute must. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in healthcare or government. Every exploitable gap in the print infrastructure opens up the risk of losing money, trade secrets and face among both your customers and industry peers. Those monetary losses are sometimes easier to deal with than the long-lasting hit to your reputation.

When data breaches do occur, what can add insult to injury is knowing that those risks were preventable if only the organization had been using the right print solution.

Bolstering security through pull printing and centralized print management
PrinterLogic’s on-prem enterprise printing software and its SaaS counterpart, PrinterCloud, are the serverless corporate printing solutions for our security-conscious age. By their very design, they create a platform on which to build a culture of secure remote printing because they avoid the inherent vulnerabilities of print servers.

In a remote branch, for example, PrinterLogic allows end users to print without their jobs leaving the LAN. This is because PrinterLogic’s unique architecture establishes efficient (and secure) individual direct-IP connections between clients and printers. At the same time, admins enjoy centralized print management through PrinterLogic’s management console. This means that admins can monitor and manage the entire print environment, even in massively distributed organizations, from a single pane of glass.

In a nutshell, PrinterLogic decentralizes printing while centralizing oversight and control. This combination makes it ideal not only in terms of security but also in terms of efficiency.

Another way that PrinterLogic enhances secure remote printing initiatives is through pull printing. Unlike some corporate printing solutions, pull printing in PrinterLogic isn’t an afterthought. It works hand in hand with our software’s core feature set to create an intuitive, user-friendly and flexible secure printing protocol.

Basically, pull printing (also called secure release printing) splits printing into two clear steps. Instead of print jobs automatically printing out on the destination printer, which potentially leaves sensitive or even confidential documents sitting in the output tray, the job is held until the user issues the “release” command. This is incredibly handy—and far more secure than traditional methods—in situations where roaming employees travel to remote offices. Using PrinterLogic’s pull printing feature, they can print to a default queue and then release the job at a printer of their choosing.

Flexibility and security aren’t mutually exclusive
How the user releases the print job is just as important as the capability itself. PrinterLogic offers a variety of release options, giving organizations and users the choice of the most effective or convenient method.

Far from reducing security, this flexibility means that users are less likely to feel restricted or encumbered by secure printing protocols. That makes them more likely to actually use pull printing in practice than to try to find ways to circumvent it, as organizations like the Fulton County School System discovered after deploying PrinterLogic (read the case study here). To that end, pull printing from PrinterLogic supports the following release mechanisms:

• Badge/card reader: PrinterLogic can integrate with existing ID card and badging systems, allowing organizations to associate select printers with electronic readers. To release the job, users just swipe their badge on the reader.
• CAC/PIV: For high-security government agencies, PrinterLogic supports common access card (CAC) and personal identity verification (PIV) systems.
• Embedded control panel application: Using this method, employees can simply access the PrinterLogic application on their printer’s control panel and enter their password or PIN.
• Smartphone app: PrinterLogic’s Print Release App for iOS and Android makes it virtually effortless for end users to view pending pull-printing jobs and securely release them with a single tap.
• A web browser: Users can log into PrinterLogic’s web-based release portal to execute their print jobs. Some organizations have made this even easier by setting up inexpensive tablets in kiosk mode next to pull-printing-enabled printers.

With PrinterLogic’s serverless print infrastructure, centralized print management and flexible pull-printing functionality, organizations have been able to harden their print security and encourage secure remote printing by empowering end users rather than restricting them.

Sign up today for a free demo and test PrinterLogic’s secure, next-generation print solution in your own organization free of charge for 30 days.

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) adoption continues to pick up steam across multiple fields, including healthcare, legal, heavy industry and academia. We’re currently in a period where the combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of the global VDI industry is expected to increase by 27% by 2023, a trend that’s driven mainly by BYOD and cloud-computing initiatives alongside growing demand for workplace flexibility. One of our enterprise virtualization partners, IGEL, has even gone so far as to call 2019 the “Year of VDI” based on the results of a wide-ranging survey.

As the adoption of VDI solutions increases, so too does the need for compatible print-management solutions. The complexity of printing in a VDI environment and the limited efficacy of most virtual printing options are topics that we’ve covered extensively in the past, and so I won’t delve into too much detail on that here.

What I will say is that, while the goal of rolling out VDI is typically consistency of experience for the end user and ease of management for the admin, printing in the virtual environment can often counteract some of those intended gains.

Virtual printing software for VDI environments
PrinterLogic’s unique serverless print infrastructure integrates seamlessly with virtual environments like Citrix and VMware to eliminate print servers and enhance the native print functionality in the VDI solution.

This dual capability is how PrinterLogic avoids the issues that are all but inescapable with other virtual printing software and print-management solutions.

First of all, by eliminating print servers, PrinterLogic also removes print servers’ single points of failure, their WAN dependency and their frequent shared spooler problems. Second, by enhancing the native VDI print capabilities instead of trying to strip them away from the VDI solution, PrinterLogic plays well with practically any virtual deployment scenario and doesn’t force organizations into sacrificing existing print functionality.

Why choose PrinterLogic as a virtual printing option?
GH Metal Solutions, one of America’s leading manufacturers of metal parts, had an existing VMware-based environment that spanned 14 locations across the country. They were happy with VMware as a VDI solution, but excessive printing downtime and a high volume of support calls prompted them to look into other virtual printing options.

Installing PrinterLogic enabled the company to streamline its entire print environment and eliminate the print servers that had been the source of so many additional technical problems and support costs. It was a win–win.

The experience of GH Metal Solutions (read the case study here) is indicative of many VDI-reliant, enterprise-scale companies before and after implementing PrinterLogic. The reason for that is simple. Beyond its ability to eliminate print servers and enhance native VDI print capabilities, PrinterLogic’s centrally managed direct-IP printing architecture brings other benefits that truly capitalize on that foundation.

• Location-based printing: In a VDI environment with a fluid, highly mobile user base, location-based printing (also called proximity printing) is a sought-after feature. Many virtual printing software solutions promise this kind of functionality, but it falls short in practice. PrinterLogic’s ability to provision printers using specific Active Directory criteria plus MAC and IP address allow for true location-based printing even in dynamic environments.
• No GPOs or scripts: The Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and scripts that many other print-management solutions rely on to deploy printers can slow down logon times or result in failed deployments. PrinterLogic eliminates the need for GPOs and scripts while also providing the ability to configure precise, reliable deployments for individuals or whole user pools.
• Centralized management: Even though a big selling point of VDI is ease of administration, it’s not uncommon for virtual printing options to fragment the process of print management. PrinterLogic’s unique paradigm provides a single window onto the print environment, no matter how large or distributed, so admins can enjoy the effortless, enterprise-wide print management from a single pane of glass that they also expect from their VDI solution.
• Bandwidth conservation: VDI solutions, especially with thin or zero clients, are known for being heavily WAN-dependent. Bandwidth becomes a precious resource as a result. While PrinterLogic centralizes the management of the print environment, it also decentralizes printer­–client connections, enabling data-heavy print jobs to bypass the WAN altogether in many situations. In cases where WAN usage is necessary, PrinterLogic can leverage the native VDI print capabilities to compress data and conserve bandwidth.

There are additional features that set PrinterLogic apart from conventional virtual printing software, too—for example, its self-service printer installation portal and optional features such as print auditing and mobile printing.

One of the best ways to discover, explore and test all those features and benefits for yourself is to download PrinterLogic and try it out in your own VDI environment today. All you have to do is take a few seconds to sign up. That will give you the opportunity to demo our serverless print software completely free of charge for 30 days.

Once you’ve tried it, you’ll see how PrinterLogic as well as our SaaS solution, PrinterCloud, can eliminate print servers from your VDI print environment while also providing you with more virtual printing options, more print availability and more efficient print management than ever before.

Of all the eye-opening stats on employee productivity and how it impacts corporate success, one in particular stands out: Once an interruption distracts you from your current task, it takes an average of 23 minutes, 15 seconds to get back on track.

Firsthand experience can attest to that. We can all relate to losing ourselves down the rabbit hole of social media when all we wanted was a quick status check. Or being sidetracked by a barrage of emails when we’re in the middle of something more urgent. Or suddenly getting called into an unplanned meeting, completely knocking us out of our groove.

The familiar productivity-sapping scenario I’d like to focus on, though, is trying to print a document only to find that the printer isn’t responding. And so the troubleshooting begins: Is it out of paper? Is there a jam? Did the job print somewhere else? Is the correct printer even installed? Maybe something’s wrong with the print server? Has the spooler crashed?

Add those instances up for every employee over an entire year, and it quickly becomes clear how your choice of corporate printing solution has a direct and profound effect on employee productivity.

PrinterLogic = fewer servers = more productivity
Common corporate printing solutions—print servers, for example—address one problem by creating several others. Sure, they help to consolidate enterprise print management, but they also add infrastructure that creates single points of failure. That additional infrastructure gives admins more to oversee, manage and maintain, and the single points of failure cause downtime that limits print availability for end users.

PrinterLogic’s serverless printing infrastructure eliminates print servers completely from the print environment. With print servers gone, admins no longer have to spend time keeping tabs on that added (and unnecessary) hardware and software. There’s also no need for future server migrations. That equates to less time spent on enterprise print management—both on a day-to-day basis as well as in the long run.

For the end user, the elimination of print servers through a serverless printing infrastructure means increased print availability. There are no more spooler crashes preventing whole groups of users from printing. With PrinterLogic, a self-service installation portal also allows end users to install authorized printers themselves with a single click, which avoids complex printer-mapping procedures and helps to prevent incorrect printers from being installed.

You can take all of these benefits and draw a direct line to increased productivity. End users can print when and where they need to, so they aren’t wasting their time making help-desk calls to solve printing issues. Likewise, IT support staff aren’t having to field those calls, and in turn, admins no longer have to take time away from more pressing tasks to deal with print-related support tickets.

PrinterLogic streamlines enterprise print management
PrinterLogic achieves a serverless printing infrastructure through its next-generation approach to direct-IP printing. In stark contrast to print servers and similar legacy corporate printing solutions, this approach makes client-to-printer connections far more straightforward and stable while also allowing for centralized management. Instead of having to hop from one print server to the next, admins in distributed organizations have a single window onto their entire print environment with PrinterLogic.

In environments with one or more remote sites, the time- and cost-saving advantages of that single pane of glass is obvious. But what about deployments? Does seamlessly migrating to PrinterLogic’s serverless printing infrastructure mean having to sacrifice the tools and the advanced functionality of enterprise print management?

Not at all. PrinterLogic actually offers increased ease of administration and greater control compared to conventional corporate printing solutions. Thanks to its highly configurable advanced deployments without any need for scripts or GPOs, PrinterLogic gives admins the ability to provision printers to individual users or entire groups based on extensive Active Directory criteria, including IP addresses. That leads to reliable deployments and reliable printing, which translates to fewer interruptions and more productivity.

Remove the roadblocks to productivity
Right now, your corporate printing solutions are sources of non-stop interruptions. At an average of more than 23 minutes apiece, those interruptions are putting serious limits on productivity across your organization—from end users all the way up to IT admin staff.

PrinterLogic’s serverless printing infrastructure coupled with its centralized, full-featured enterprise print management removes those roadblocks to productivity. That’s exactly what organizations like Georgia System Operations Corporation (GSOC) discovered after implementing PrinterLogic and making use of its self-service installation portal, print-server elimination capabilities and effortless remote management (read the case study here).

To better appreciate how easy it is to migrate to PrinterLogic and start reversing the manifold effects of lost productivity, sign up today for a free demo of our next-gen enterprise printing solution. You’ll be able to set it up and test its features in your own environment for 30 days. If print servers have driven you and your end users to distraction, you’ll welcome the reliability, simplicity and ease of use that PrinterLogic brings to enterprise print management.