Modern Multi-tenant Print Management for Managed Service Providers (MSPs)

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Managing printers across multiple customers and diverse IT infrastructures can be one of the most challenging problems modern MSPs face.  Something seemingly as simple as printing can cause countless hours of headaches with endless helpdesk calls and tickets resulting in frustrated customers and wasted time.  Traditional print management solutions have changed little in the last 20 years and provide little solace in the face of modern IT environments.  More organizations than ever are looking to make the move to the cloud and supporting printing is usually the last thing on their mind.  Recent and continuing print spooler vulnerabilities bring to light major security concerns and highlight the weaknesses of traditional print solutions.  PrinterLogic addresses these concerns and more, simultaneously solving problems, providing an opportunity to add to an MSPs existing solutions stack, and even increasing recurring revenue sources.

Supporting movement to the cloud

As customers look to reduce costs and increase reliability by moving to the cloud, few think to ask how it will affect printing.  Oftentimes print servers are the last vestitures of outdated on-prem infrastructure that IT professionals struggle to eliminate.  The obvious alternatives are grim and often result in increased work for technicians who are forced to remote into each device to manually install and configure print queues and drivers or send print jobs across the network to the cloud for processing.  These result in more time spent on print for techs and users than what is reasonable for something that could be simple.

PrinterLogic easily addresses these issues by providing an easy-to-use cloud-managed direct IP Print infrastructure.  The multi-tenant MSP portal allows for central management of all customer instances where printers are easily configured, deployed, and managed from a single pane of glass.  Integrations with other cloud services like Azure, Okta, Google, and many more make supporting a full cloud environment simple and easy.  The direct IP nature of the software ensures a reliable print experience for the end user, less headache for technicians, and a more secure print environment due to decentralized print spooling and other advanced features.

Providing better security and advanced functionality

             Traditional print infrastructure has a lot of shortcomings when it comes to security.  Print servers present a single point of failure and attack vector.  Combined with the recent PrintNightmare issues and botched fixes they have become too risky and difficult to manage for them to be worth the cost and effort.  A decentralized direct IP environment solves many of these issues but creates other management problems.  It requires techs frequently remoting into devices to add or adjust printers and drivers which takes too much time and introduces other vulnerabilities as they have to manage multiple remote sessions on a regular basis.

             PrinterLogic is the best of both worlds, combining the benefits of central management like you would get from print servers with the advantages of decentralized spooling and direct IP printing.   Allowing MSPs to not only better secure customer environments but also save time and reduce help desk overhead.  PrinterLogic also offers more advanced functionality to better support compliance and further secure infrastructure with modern techniques like Zero Trust Architecture.  These include features like Off-Network Printing and Secure Release Printing options.  Off-network is the ability to securely send jobs through the cloud so users don’t need a direct IP connection to the printers.  Secure release requires users to be authenticated before a job is released via a badge scan, pin code, or mobile app available on IOs and Android.  All form a program that is designed to not just solve these issues but also provide an additional revenue stream in an MSPs service stack.

A money-making and saving solution

             Licensing for MSPs is based on the number of printers being supported and is designed for easy resell.  Margins are typically 50-100%, depending on the volume discounts that can be taken advantage of.  The additional features are also broken out into optional bundles, so customers only pay for what they need.  Relative to traditional print management, most customers will see a return on investment after the first year, and MSPs will see not only a decrease in time spent managing print but an additional source of monthly recurring revenue.

 

             PrinterLogic is a modern Print Management solution for MSPs.  The multi-tenant management and partner program makes centralizing and standardizing simple and easy.  As more customers move to the cloud, it provides an easy answer to the problems with printing as on-prem infrastructure is deprecated.  It is a more secure way to print and offers feature-rich options to ensure that customer needs are met for compliance and other industry standards.  On top of solving these issues and more, it is also a solution that MSPs can expect to make money with.  If you are interested in learning more, you can request a demo or email msp@printerlogic.com for more information.

Advantages of Centralized Printing

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We often get asked what we see as the primary benefit of PrinterLogic. This can be a difficult question for us because most of the time the better question is, “Why wouldn’t you switch?” In fact, PrinterLogic has been consistently proven to bring so many benefits that it’s hard to narrow it down to just one. 

If pressed, most of us would probably answer with eliminating print servers. However, centralized printing just may be the right answer—if only because it has so many inherent advantages of its own.

With a focus on centralized printing, PrinterLogic’s print management solution does away with the legendary complexities, inefficiencies, and incompatibilities of traditional print environments. It puts every printer in your organization—no matter how many printers or physical locations you might have—right at your fingertips with a powerful but intuitive administrator interface that’s accessible from a single Admin Console.

From that console, you can:

  • Effortlessly manage, update, and deploy printer drivers across your entire organization
  • Deploy printers automatically or manually without resorting to group policy objects (GPOs) or scripts
  • Monitor print queues across every location and purge stuck jobs
  • Customize printer profiles and have the changes pushed out individually or en masse
  • Easily create and deploy printers in virtual sessions, such as Citrix or VMware

But the benefits don’t stop there

Centralized printing doesn’t just streamline printer, driver, and queue management. It also consolidates oversight. PrinterLogic incorporates at-a-glance auditing and reporting features that allow you to track and quantify printing activity with parameters including printer, user, and print job. This lets you know which employees or departments print most often, where reductions can be put in place, and even where you can potentially use technology to reduce wasted paper.

And that’s just the admin side! Centralized printing has practical advantages that the end user can appreciate too. For example, employees have the ability to perform routine printer installs themselves using PrinterLogic’s Self-Service Installation Portal, saving them and you time with no need for a helpdesk ticket. Users in Citrix, VMware, or other VDI environment sessions can have nearby printers automatically installed and dynamically changed to more proximate printers should they roam during the session. Those using mobile and BYOD can print to any authorized printer anywhere, at any time, from any device whether employee or guest. And security-minded users can release specific print jobs at the physical printer, ensuring private documents stay private.

Better still, PrinterLogic’s centralized printing addresses problems of availability—because centralization doesn’t correspond to a lack of robustness. By allowing you to eliminate print servers altogether, PrinterLogic actually removes single points of failure, so every employee in the organization can keep printing as usual in the event of a WAN outage or if a host server should fail. And our cloud-native, SaaS solution is always being updated, offering you the best next-gen technology as soon as it’s available.

Interested in learning about even more benefits of centralized printing and switching to PrinterLogic? We’ve got you covered. You can get an in-depth, customized demo with one of our expert consultants or explore more about switching to our centralized serverless platform here.

Your Guide To Secure Printing in 2023

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2022 has come and gone, folks. And it was a doozy. Here’s a quick list of notable moments from this year:

I don’t know about you, but nothing caught my attention more than the last one. 

Companies certainly are taking notice of the rising costs of breaches with 70% of organizations planning to increase print security spending over the next 12 months. 

With a lot to prepare for in the coming year, we’ve put together a simple guide to help you avoid catastrophic financial loss and implement secure printing solutions that will protect your organization in the year 2023 and beyond.

1. Go serverless and move to cloud printing solutions (and do it fast).

Quocirca’s 2023 Print Industry Trends and Predictions says, “Cloud adoption will drive print modernization.” Besides the fact that going serverless reduces operational and maintenance costs, moving to cloud-based printing platforms lowers your company’s chances of experiencing a data breach.

Surely by now vulnerabilities like PrintNightmare have hit your newsfeed enough for you to at least consider moving to a serverless solution. PrintNightmare wasn’t just a simple “one and done” event either. Attacks are still happening due to spooler vulnerabilities within Windows print servers. 

You may think, “Well, patches are being released to fix it, right?”

True. But if you’re constantly patching for the same vulnerability, that means the doors are open to cyber attacks. Plus, if you’re always performing manual updates or falling behind on them, attackers will always have a window of opportunity to swipe your data. 

How To Get Serverless Printing

Eliminate server vulnerabilities and keep cyber attackers out of your network by partnering with a secure direct IP printing solution that’s constantly performing automatic updates in the background. Also, ensure that you can migrate over to a serverless solution without experiencing printer downtime and slowing productivity.

2. Give your hybrid workforce (and contractors) secure ways to print.

Since the global shift to remote work, employee productivity and flexibility have been on the rise. However, the change hasn’t been as great for IT teams who need to oversee print activity throughout their organization. 

Here’s what happened. 

Remote and hybrid employees started using home office printers—not connected to the company network—to print. Some of these documents contain confidential information that can easily be swiped by cyber attackers who gain access to their unsecure network. 

Other potential concerns revolve around insider threats. Remote employees who work with highly confidential documents can store print jobs with private information at home without the company knowing about it. 

stat

A Tessian report found that 46% of IT leaders are concerned about employees practicing unsecure cybersecurity behaviors like home printing. Adding to the concern of IT leaders, 54% of employees said they would try to find workarounds if software or security policies prevented them from doing their job.

So how can you encourage employees to print securely without hampering employee performance?

How To Get Secure Printing for Hybrid Workers

Start by adopting strict home printing policies and encourage your hybrid users to print securely from any network using Off-Network Printing. Off-Network Printing enables users to print to any network printer within your organization—from anywhere in the world! 

Don’t believe me? There’s a whole other blog about it.  

All jobs are encrypted end-to-end and aren’t released until the user authenticates at the printer or collaborates with another trusted employee to pick up the job for them. 

3. Equip your users’ mobile devices with secure printing capabilities.

Many companies around the world have bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies in place. It’s a win-win situation for companies and employees. IT departments no longer have to buy mobile devices and employees can use the devices they’re most familiar with. 

If not managed properly however BYOD policies can create headaches for IT departments since they are having to wrestle with different devices and operating systems. Admins have to carry out painstaking configurations or specialized deployments for every device. It gets repetitive and takes precious time away from IT teams. 

Not to mention, money and resources are being burned on print-related helpdesk calls which account for a large percentage of IT’s workload.  

How To Print Securely With Mobile Device

Leverage the technology you have with a Mobile Printing solution that gives you control over your print environment and lets you determine which users are able to print to which network printers. To add an extra layer of security, make sure you choose a solution that integrates with the identity providers you are currently using. 

4. Start implementing pull and secure printing in your organization.

Unattended documents left in printer trays are one of the biggest reasons for data loss in many companies. A recent study by Formstack notes that 30% of print jobs never leave the printer tray! Imagine how many of those jobs hold personal information. 

Regardless of industry or company size, end users print documents that hold critical data. Think of all the times you printed a document and ran across the room just to make sure no one accidentally got their hands on it. What kind of information would cause you to perform a dead sprint in the middle of the office, you ask? 

sprint to printer graphic

Unfortunately, not all employees listed “glorified printer-sprinter” as a strength on their résumé. 

Why do employees struggle to grab their documents? A wide-range of external factors.

They may have been pulled into an important meeting, hopped on a call, went out to lunch, or just completely forgot they printed the document.

How To Make Sure Documents Stay Confidential

Empower users to hold print jobs on their workstations until they’re ready to release them at the printer using Secure Release Printing. Instead of your users constantly running themselves into heart attacks, they are required to authenticate at the printer before the print job is released using one of several convenient release methods. 

One of the more convenient release methods is Mobile App Release which allows users to release print jobs straight from an app or scanning a QR code. Mobile App Release is perfect for organizations who want to make use of their entire printer fleet without the burden of purchasing badge readers.  

5. Try before you buy.

Remember, you don’t have to splurge immediately. 

Plenty of secure printing solutions let you dip your toes in before you start investing. See what features they offer and decide if there is a potential fit. Here are a few things you might want to ask before you try:

steps to decide on a print management solution

Whatever you do, make sure they can provide you with the security you need to thrive in 2023.

Make 2023 your most secure year yet!

Unattended print jobs. Hybrid and remote workforces. Print server vulnerabilities. 

How can you possibly address them all with one solution?

It seems like a tall order. But it can be made simple with an all-in-one solution that protects all your print data with no effort required on your end. 

At its core, PrinterLogic’s direct IP printing solution eliminates your print servers and reduces your organization’s attack surface. We’re also a Zero Trust-compliant solution that authenticates all end users and devices via our integrations with major identity providers based on SAML 2.0 and JIT Provisioning.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  

PrinterLogic’s Advanced Security Bundle addresses all of today’s top print security concerns and helps you protect your print data in 2023 and beyond with the following features:

  • Off-Network Printing
  • Secure Release Printing
  • Offline Secure Release Printing
  • Mobile App Release
  • Concurrent IdP Support

Want more info? Check out our Advanced Security Bundle FAQ!

Without Proper Print Management, Printers Can Be a Security Risk

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Originally published on July 25, 2016

Have you ever heard of a little thing called PrintNightmare? Of course, you have—everyone has following the migraine of a breach that first reared its ugly face in June of 2020. The endless saga continues to shine a light on printer vulnerabilities, bringing us to the critical topic of proper print management.

Back in the day (no, not the 80’s, more like May of 2020), it was sufficient for organizations to have their networks locked down tight through firewalls, filtering, and strong authorization measures to guard against hackers. But there’s a ubiquitous weak spot that is frequently overlooked: securing your print infrastructure. Think of it this way—what good are cameras and locked doors on your home if the back door is wide open and no security precautions are in an intruder’s way?

This is where PrinterLogic soars in with a red cape to save the day. We realize these vulnerabilities aren’t solely digital, so we can offer a comprehensive print management solution to protect your organization from digital and in-person vulnerabilities.

The Most Common Printer Threat

Want us to let you in on a little secret? One of the biggest threats to printer security is physical documents—the ones that have been printed but marooned on the output tray, helpless and vulnerable to prying eyes. This happens more than you think.

For example, a common instance would be a manager sending a confidential employee file to a shared printer. But then he gets distracted and doesn’t retrieve it. How often have you thought, “I’ll quickly pop into the restroom, or grab a coffee” before moseying on over to retrieve your print job? We all do it and make the most of stepping away from our workstations! Unfortunately, trying to instill the fear of the printer gods in the average employee isn’t very effective—confidential documents remain visible to everyone, and all the encryption in the world can’t help you.

Combatting Unsupervised Documents

Secure printing solutions like PrinterLogic <insert dramatic hair flip> prevent this from happening by seamlessly integrating Secure Release Printing. This feature boosts printer security by essentially splitting printing into two deliberate steps: the initiation of the print job, followed by the execution (and retrieval) of the print job. 

PrinterLogic offers three different release options for this kind of security printing:

  1. Badge/Card Reader: In this scenario, the end user swipes a badge or I.D. card through a reader device, releasing the print job to a nearby printer (this can be done either through the printer’s embedded control panel or a networked reader device). Commercial printers often come equipped with secure printing solutions like an integrated card or badge reader, but even USB readers will work. This is ideal if your organization has an existing badge system.
  2. Embedded Control Panel: Here, the end user logs in and releases the desired print jobs using the printer’s integrated control panel coupled with the PrinterLogic Mobile App installed on the employee’s smart device. The app supports most printers and is available for download on The App Store and Google Play. As far as secure printing goes, this option is one of the easiest and most cost-effective methods because it requires no additional hardware.
  3. Browser: An incredibly flexible approach to print security, this deployment option allows any device that can run a browser—PC, Mac, Chromebook, or even a mobile device—to access PrinterLogic’s web-based control panel and release specific print jobs to any printer on the network. This is incredibly handy when printing to unfamiliar devices because it allows users to confirm the correct physical printer before printing. It also enables organizations to turn any network printer into a secure release printing-enabled machine because the release device can be placed in kiosk mode next to the associated printer.
  4. QR Code: QR codes are on the rise as a great way to release print jobs—and it’s a fully touchless process. Employees can use a QR code on their device of choice and simply scan it at the printer to release their print job.

Bonus: In addition to the convenience of these four secure deployment capabilities for end users, they also cut down on paper waste by ensuring documents are not abandoned or unnecessarily reprinted, and minimize the use of shared surfaces amidst the current pandemic.

Of course, PrinterLogic’s secure printing solutions don’t end with Secure Release Printing. Our Advanced Security Bundle offers multiple advanced features to keep your printed documents secure. Plus, our centralized print management gives you fine-grained control over every printer in your organization while maintaining a high level of printer security. By setting strict parameters dictating which users are able to print and where they are authorized to print, i.e. a combination of back-end oversight and front-end security, you’re implementing guards against sensitive documents being compromised and your print environment doesn’t risk becoming a liability.