Cloud Print Management vs. Cloud Printing

Written by

When you hear folks talking about cloud printing, it’s hard not to get a little excited. The key benefits, such as access to select printers from almost anywhere and simplified printing from mobile devices, are impressive—particularly in light of today’s dynamic, mobile, and ever-changing workplace.

But there’s a big difference between cloud print management software and cloud printing. This can get especially confusing when you’re researching cloud print solutions because many companies claim to offer true cloud printing while still using outdated print technology. 

 

New Cloud Technology vs. Legacy Infrastructure

No one will argue that a cloud printing service comes with some wonderful advantages, yet it continues to be hampered by the traditional print management solutions that most organizations still have in place. This legacy infrastructure—usually in the form of print servers—can make cloud print setup much more difficult than it should be (if it’s even possible).

Furthermore, many cloud print solutions have fundamental limitations that take some of the shine off cloud print setup and cloud printing in general. For instance, most of the popular cloud print solutions require that you use special printers, which restricts your options, or they want your existing printers to be connected to an always-on PC running special software, which drives up the cost and complexity of your infrastructure. They also can’t always promise universal print compatibility with different printer drivers and operating systems.

 

So What Is Cloud Print Management?

Cloud print management has the ability to deliver all the benefits of cloud printing along with next-generation print management that makes print servers seem like 19th-century technology by comparison. That’s because cloud print management—when it’s done right—truly breaks free from the conventional model of on-premises infrastructure and puts all aspects of enterprise printing into the cloud, where it’s always accessible, always manageable, always available.

However, you’ll note that I made a point to include the caveat when it’s done right in the previous sentence. 

As more and more organizations look to cloud print services to address their enterprise printing needs, an increasing number of cloud printing providers have naturally sought to fill that expanding niche. However, cloud print management is not an easy thing to get right, and lesser cloud print solutions can quickly leave you wishing that you’d never ventured into cloud printing in the first place.

 

Using Cloud Printing with Managed Print Services?

Managed Print Services take a more comprehensive approach to print management, encompassing not only the hardware and software but also the strategic oversight of an organization’s entire print environment. MPS providers typically offer:

  • Print Fleet Management: MPS includes the management of all printers, copiers, and multifunction devices within an organization, ensuring optimal performance and minimizing downtime.
  • Cost Control: By analyzing printing habits and implementing cost-saving measures, MPS helps organizations reduce their overall printing expenses.
  • Security: Enhanced security measures are often part of MPS, protecting sensitive documents and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
  • Sustainability: MPS can help organizations implement more environmentally friendly printing practices, reducing waste and promoting sustainability.
  • Strategic Planning: MPS providers work with organizations to develop long-term strategies for improving efficiency and reducing costs, offering regular assessments and updates.

While cloud printing focuses on enabling flexible, remote printing capabilities, Managed Print Services provide a holistic approach to managing an organization’s entire print infrastructure. Both solutions have their place in the modern business environment. By leveraging the right mix of cloud printing and MPS, businesses can achieve a more efficient, cost-effective, and secure printing environment, tailored to their unique operational requirements.

 

Cloud Print Management with PrinterLogic

PrinterLogic has a proven pedigree as a cloud-native solution. It leverages PrinterLogic’s acclaimed on-premises print management solution and essentially transfers it to a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, thereby allowing you to enjoy the benefits of both effortless cloud printing and effortless cloud print management.

With PrinterLogic SaaS, cloud print setup is easy. From the moment you start, you can simply migrate all of your printers—including profiles, drivers, settings, you name it—from your print server using an easy migration tool. After that, you can add new printers, deploy printer drivers, manage queues, and edit print profiles across your entire organization from a single Admin Console.

Plus, PrinterLogic makes it possible for you to shrink your traditional print infrastructure down to its most efficient, cost-effective state. Our many features allow you to consolidate network printers and even completely eliminate your print servers while enjoying more robust cloud printing capabilities than other cloud print solutions are able to deliver—and all in a secure environment.

So remember, cloud printing is only half of the story. The right cloud print management will migrate your organization’s printing to the cloud with maximum benefit and offer a seamless experience that’s more efficient, more secure, and easier to use.

Guest Printing Made Easy

Written by

You know that familiar saying that goes “Guests, like fish, smell after three days?” The inventive guy who coined it—Benjamin Franklin, as it happens—clearly had the unrelenting demands of hospitality in mind, but the sentiment behind it could just as easily apply to enterprise print environments.

No, guest printing has never been particularly pleasant for anyone. Guests either have to go through the long, complicated, and often frustrating process of installing printers and their related drivers on their personal machines while the IT staff scrambles to make sure they have the necessary access, or they have to find some way to transfer their files to an authorized workstation for someone else to print. Mobile devices add even more difficulties to the mix. All these roadblocks demonstrate why guest printing problems are widespread.

PrinterLogic changes all that with two options for guests:

  1. Email Printing — enables an end user to forward an email (from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop) to a printer that has been explicitly designated for printing from email.
  2. Off-Network Printing — a secure, Zero Trust solution for guests that allows them to send print jobs to a printer located behind the company firewall without a VPN or special firewall rules.

 

Guest Printing Is Simple and Secure

Here’s what makes guest printing with PrinterLogic simple:

  • Guests, contractors, and freelancers can print from any mobile device, anywhere, anytime via email-to-print functionality.
  • It integrates rapidly and seamlessly into any print environment running PrinterLogic.
  • Thanks to PrinterLogic’s built-in capabilities, any network printer can handle guest print jobs.
  • It’s secure. You retain complete control over which users, printers, and jobs are authorized.

With a guest printing solution like PrinterLogic, all your guests—among them contractors, freelancers, consultants, and even remote or BYOD employees—can print any file type with the same simplicity as sending an email. From any device—on- or off-network. 

It doesn’t matter whether your organization employs 10 or 10,000 employees, whether it’s distributed over two cities or two continents, or whether you’re running legacy devices or cutting-edge hardware. Plus, there are no print servers or proprietary third-party software or printers to install or add.

Does that sound far too simple to eliminate guest printing problems? The strength of guest printing with PrinterLogic actually lies in its simplicity. To print, all guests have to do is follow three easy steps:

  1. Obtain the dedicated email address for their desired printer.
  2. Email their files. These immediately enter the print queue like any other job.
  3. Pick up the printed documents at the printer.

It’s so straightforward, in fact, that it’s been repeatedly shown to cut down on the number of print-related service desk calls in real-world scenarios. That saves your guests time and energy, boosting their satisfaction and productivity, and it also saves your IT staff from having to field calls about installation woes and other guest printing problems.

Yet there isn’t a trade-off when it comes to oversight. Guest jobs can be audited according to criteria such as user, file type, and printer—just like jobs initiated from a workstation. Plus, you can set any number of limitations: monochrome-only printing, for example, or restricted access to certain paper trays.

 

Off-Network Printing Makes Hybrid Work Easy

Zero Trust Network Architecture (ZTNA) has become necessary in these days of hybrid work. While many companies may be looking at returning to offices, we all know hybrid and remote work is here to stay. And that means ZTNA needs to be in place now; it isn’t something IT teams can continue to push down the road.

Because of that, PrinterLogic created its Off-Network Printing feature. Here’s what you need to know about it:

  • Print jobs are encrypted end-to-end so sensitive data is never exposed or at risk.
  • Security is further enhanced with confidential data never at rest in the cloud, limiting risk factors common with traditional print solutions.
  • It mimics regular printing—which means you don’t have to train guests or employees on how to use it.
  • It’s supported on iOS and Android devices without the need to install client-side software.

What does all of that mean for you? Well first, it means fewer costs. Off-Network Printing reduces infrastructure and lessens the need for home printers. Second, it’s far more secure and gives your company more visibility into when confidential data is exposed. And third, it’s easy. No more dealing with workarounds or VPNs for printing.

So how does it work? Well, for your employees and guests, they basically get to print like normal. They can even utilize Secure Release Printing to hold the print job until they release it, keeping the printed information protected as well. On the back end, two components make it work:

  1. The External Gateway receives incoming print jobs from remote workstations, their user identity, and a trusted certificate over a safe TLS connection. 
  2. The Internal Routing Service resides behind your firewall and maintains a constant outbound connection with the External Gateway to watch for print jobs.

When the External Gateway receives a print job, the Internal Routing Service opens a new connection for that job. It then downloads and delivers it to the designated printer. If the Secure Release Printing feature is used, the job then waits for the user to release it at the printer using credentials, a QR code, or a badge.

It’s that easy.

 

Guest Printing Should Not Be Hard

In today’s world, being able to keep business moving forward without unnecessary complications is vital to success. And printing is often something that IT teams hate dealing with. PrinterLogic makes it easy for your team to stop worrying about print and instead focus on keeping your company on the cutting edge of the next big thing. Check out PrinterLogic’s full serverless platform for additional capabilities that can help your business now and in the future.

 

Print Management Solutions for Managed Service Providers

Written by

**Originally published July 22, 2016**

If you’re a managed service provider (MSP), you want to deliver the best experience to your customers at the best possible price. That seems pretty self-explanatory.

And when your specialty is print management, you leverage the most efficient, cost-effective, flexible, feature-rich, and robust print management solutions to accomplish that goal. Which is why PrinterLogic’s print management software should be at the top of your list. 

Our leading print management platform surpasses conventional solutions like print servers by combining proven direct IP technology with the kind of forward-thinking functionality that supports modern, dynamic enterprise environments. Our core strengths include centralized administration from a single pane of glass, effortless printer and driver management, and end-user empowerment through an intuitive self-service portal—capabilities that have the potential to transform enterprise printing in any organization. 

And as a bonus, they can also streamline your own print management services by placing far fewer demands on administrative support and the service desk.

Discover Next-Gen Print Management

Unlike many third-party print management solutions, PrinterLogic isn’t a clunky and time-consuming new infrastructure to set up. Our serverless print management platform integrates quickly and seamlessly with print environments of all kinds, including those that rely on virtual solutions like Citrix and VMware. PrinterLogic enhances the native printing functionality of these environments through sought-after features like improved location-based printing while addressing their persistent flaws, such as oversized print jobs and heavy print-related WAN traffic.

We also offer robust supplemental features that you can use to boost your customers’ competitive edge while adding value to your own print management services. Just a few of these options include:

  • Advanced Reporting: Gain detailed insight into device usage, use of consumables, and printing trends across the enterprise. By gathering hard, up-to-the-minute data on all aspects of the print environment, you can curb excesses and zero in on printing costs with pinpoint precision. Our Advanced Reporting even provides valuable printer consolidation guidance.
  • Mobile Printing: Enterprises are still struggling in their search for reliable print management solutions that will enable them to embrace the ever-growing numbers of mobile and BYOD users. PrinterLogic’s Mobile Printing delivers mobile printing capabilities to any device and any printer without requiring mobile users to install extra software. Not only is it incredibly simple for end users, but it also gives admins complete control over who is authorized to print.
  • Secure Release Printing: Some print management solutions might promise ease of use, but does that have to come at the expense of security? Not with PrinterLogic. Our Secure Release Printing options keep sensitive documents away from prying eyes by enabling users to release print jobs to select printers only when they are ready. Users can release jobs online, with a badge, using a QR code, or at the printer with the control panel. With Secure Release, users keep their confidential documents protected every step of the way.
  • Off-Network Printing: With both a cloud and direct IP option, your customers can take one more step toward a complete Zero Trust Architecture by using our Off-Network Printing options. As more companies need support for remote, hybrid, and contract workers, keeping a network locked down is increasingly difficult. This is especially true for print. But our solution makes it easy for any user to print no matter what network they are on.
  • Multi-tenant Functionality: A necessary component to managing multiple customers, our platform makes it easy to manage everything from a single Admin Console. Make administrative changes, deploy updates, and more in just minutes.

This killer suite of functionality and flexibility is why print management MSPs who are looking to provide best-in-class service with less overhead are adopting PrinterLogic as their recommended print management solution. The MSPs who don’t might soon find themselves at a severe disadvantage.

Advantages of Centralized Printing

Written by

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.

Enterprise Cloud Printing Solutions

Written by

**Originally published May 3, 2017**

Enterprise cloud printing has become a popular choice for organizations that want to stay on the cutting edge. And not without good reason. Cloud printing, like cloud services in general, makes us more mobile and is more flexible for hybrid and remote workforces. In fact, it frees us from the traditional constraints of the fixed workspace. In many cases, it also means big savings on print infrastructure and an increase in basic print manageability and oversight.

So what exactly is cloud printing? And what does it mean to have the equivalent of a cloud-based print server?

Cloud printing solutions generally take the “brains” of the print infrastructure and move it outside the organization. For the most part, this lifts the responsibility of maintaining that physical infrastructure because on-premises print servers are no longer taking up space in a server room, and you now have a cloud-based print server hosted offsite. 

Interoperability is a nice advantage, too, as you can sometimes get cloud print for Windows, Mac, and other operating systems through a single solution. Using this basic setup, off-network cloud print devices can then send jobs to a default local printer without constant reconfiguration. That’s a huge benefit to mobile employees.

But what does that mean for security and control?

The drawbacks of enterprise cloud printing are a little more subtle. And they can get lost in the excitement over all the imagined advantages of implementing cloud print. 

Some of them include:

  • Vulnerability: Just like a regular print server and its single point of failure, a cloud-based print server is subject to service outages. When that happens, all of the cloud print devices that rely on cloud printing are unable to print.
  • Lock-in: Once you’ve selected an enterprise cloud printing solution, it’s usually very difficult to migrate to a new one. The day-to-day flexibility provided by cloud printing is then offset by limiting your future choices to the same solution. Furthermore, many cloud printing solutions require proprietary cloud print devices, which could mean replacing some or all of your printer fleet.
  • Reduced control: Cloud printing is still evolving and its feature set is not always as rich as longstanding print management solutions. Depending on the cloud provider, it might be necessary to come up with workarounds for deployment protocols and functionality that have long been a part of traditional print solutions.
  • Potential loss of services: Because you’re relying on another solution to manage your infrastructure, it can be difficult to pivot when things change. Many companies were left in the lurch, scrambling for a new solution when Google Cloud Print was phased out in 2020.

So what other options are there?

With Mobile Printing from PrinterLogic, your organization can have all the benefits of both enterprise cloud printing and familiar print management solutions with none of the drawbacks. Our next-generation print management solution seamlessly integrates with any existing environment, including Citrix and VMware. And it does so with the smallest possible footprint. You also get features like powerful centralized management, Self-Service Printer Installation, and automated printer deployment—all in a solution that keeps print jobs local and secure. 

What does Mobile Printing do exactly?

Well first, it works with any device. Regardless of whether you’re using an iPhone, a Google Pixel, a Samsung, or a Chromebook, you can print to an authorized printer via PrinterLogic’s Mobile Printing. All devices with browsers are effectively cloud print devices.

It also works with any printer. Once again, you don’t need to spend extra money on proprietary functionality. Even legacy printers can become cloud print devices with Mobile Printing.

There’s no additional software to install. You don’t need to load special client-side apps to gain enterprise cloud printing functionality. Mobile Printing essentially turns a standard PrinterLogic implementation into a cloud-based print server. And you also don’t need to worry about sourcing cloud print for Windows or another OS because PrinterLogic’s Mobile Printing is platform agnostic.

Mobile Printing from PrinterLogic is the only enterprise cloud printing solution that gives you security, control, ease of use, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, reduced infrastructure, unprecedented uptime, and powerful printer and driver management in a single package.

Reducing Print Costs in a Hybrid Workforce

Written by

Hybrid workforces are now pretty common in a post-pandemic world. And with hybrid workforces come many challenges and costs. Printing can be expensive in general, but distributed teams can push print budgets to the breaking point, especially when dealing with security concerns.

Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to minimize overall print costs even with a hybrid workforce.

1. Centralize your print management. 

Print servers can be extremely expensive in a hybrid and distributed workforce because they must be maintained at every location and adjusted for team members moving between offices. That means your IT team is constantly bombarded with requests and upkeep, driving up both licensing and labor costs. Going serverless can diminish these costs by getting rid of server upkeep and centralizing administration, making it simpler and faster for your team to adjust user privileges, deploy updates, and add new devices. 

2. Utilize integrations to reduce infrastructure. 

Keeping hybrid teams connected can be very costly. This can be especially true in a traditional print environment using print servers. They often require VPN connections to keep things secure and allow printing from remote or new locations. With serverless printing, however, integrations with leading Identity Providers (IdPs) can cut down on these costs by allowing you to use a service you already have to keep printing simple and secure. That means you can avoid additional expenses and still allow users to print from all locations.

3. Lock down your print security. 

Advanced printing features like Secure Release Printing can help avoid lost or misplaced documents. By requiring remote or hybrid users to utilize this feature, you can ensure that documents are not printed until the person is there to pick them up. This helps you control not only the costs associated with printing the document but also avoids any potential issues with breaches from confidential information being seen by unauthorized employees. That can lead to far bigger costs if a breach occurs.

4. Consider setting print quotas. 

Print quotas set limits on user printing. With Print Quota Management, you can create limits for how much users can print by volume or price within a certain time period. Quotas make budgeting easier and can help you cut down on unnecessary printing by making users consider how important printing a document really is. 

5. Establish processes and clarify rules.

Beyond using technology to lower costs, setting rules across the business for how and when to print can help cut down on additional expenses. There may be documents that require printing even in a distributed system, but often there are other secure ways of sharing and routing information that don’t require printing. Lay out your rules for when printing is necessary and how to print responsibly and make sure all your employees are clear on these processes.

PrinterLogic Makes Hybrid Printing Easy

Whether your team has five locations or 500, PrinterLogic allows you to easily manage your print environment from a single pane of glass. And with our advanced features and additional bundles, you can get the tools you need to keep your hybrid workforce printing and productive—all while saving on expenses.

Still Got Spooler Errors? Treat Yourself to a Better Way to Print

Written by

**Originally published January 27, 2017**

If you’re having problems with your print spooler, you are not alone. In fact, like many others, you may even be intimately familiar with that dialog window that says it’s no longer running (which of course means your print spooler has likely crashed). Sadly, print spooler crashing is a very common occurrence for many businesses, and figuring out the cause is often difficult. And no, it’s likely not ghosts—though that would be cool.

First Step, Troubleshooting

Thankfully, there are some general steps you can try to fix your print spooler even without knowing the cause. These should allow you to start printing again—for now anyway.

  1. Check if there were any changes to the local network before the print spooler crashed. 

Sometimes introducing a new printer or updating a driver can cause unexpected issues, and print spooler crashing is one of the earliest symptoms. To fix print spooler problems—at least temporarily—you can try taking the new printer offline or rolling back the driver to the previous version until you can determine how to re-implement the changes without the ill effects.

  1. Start digging into system logs to identify possible causes of the print spooler crashing. 

Provided you’ve already enabled diagnostic logging of print jobs, and depending on your version of Windows or Windows Server, you can examine the event log at the following path:

Applications and Services LogsMicrosoftWindowsKernel-PnPDevice Configuration

Examining those logs and Event Viewer entries at the time the print spooler crashed should provide you with some indication of what could have caused the problem. More often than not, these issues can be traced back to driver conflicts, so you’ll want to keep an eye peeled for one or more rogue .DLL files that you can associate with a particular printer. 

Unfortunately, some of these driver files have cryptic names that only hint at the manufacturer or model, which means you’ll have to conduct some Internet searches if it isn’t immediately apparent. (Just imagine they’ve decided to don a costume for the occasion.) On the bright side, because print spooler crashing is so common, there’s a good chance someone will have done the hard work of tracking down the driver for you! 

  1. Flush all print jobs from the queue and remove all stray or unnecessary printers from the pool. 

The steps for this can be long and detailed. They also vary from version to version of Windows, so after carrying out the basic troubleshooting above, it’s a good idea to consult Microsoft’s troubleshooting guides for your particular product. Trying to fix the print spooler incorrectly can actually result in even more print spooler crashing down the road. That’s a horror story you don’t want to see.

Second Step, Move On to Serverless Printing

Frequent spooler errors have prompted many organizations to abandon the temperamental print server structure and migrate to a serverless printing solution. With PrinterLogic’s direct IP printing infrastructure, the kinds of driver conflicts that often cause print spooler crashing are virtually nonexistent. That’s because of its stability and superior driver management. And unlike print servers, PrinterLogic is so robust that it enables your end users to continue printing as normal—even in the rare event of a server outage.

Plus, you get centralized management of printers across your enterprise. So you can deploy, alter, and remove printers anywhere in the organization from a single pane of glass. End users can identify and install nearby printers themselves with a single click and without having to call the service desk for assistance. Even better, PrinterLogic gives you the opportunity to add next-gen Mobile Printing, Secure Printing, and Off-Network Printing quickly and seamlessly.

PrinterLogic is a permanent fix for print spooler crashing. And it’s easy to use for both you and everyone else in your organization. It’s time to stop getting tricked by your print spoolers and treat yourself to a better way to manage print.

3 Terrifying Print Spooler Stats That Will Haunt Your Dreams

Written by

Between PrintDemon, PrintNightmare, and SpoolFool, print spooler vulnerabilities have been a significant problem for many companies in recent years. But it may be even worse than you thought. The truth is print spoolers have been a constant source of vulnerabilities in recent years, and things appear to be getting even worse. While you may think you have everything under control, it’s important to remember that just a single data breach can cost you time, money, and especially your reputation.

With that in mind, we’ve gathered 3 statistics that will make you think twice about your print server infrastructure—and may even keep you up at night.

Terrifying Truth #1: 

The Windows Print Spooler is over 20 years old and continues to be patched, rather than overhauled.

We all know technology ages quickly. Especially computer and internet technology. You’d be laughed out of the building if you still used a phone from 20 years ago… or worse, a Palm Pilot. And yet, so many companies continue to rely on print servers and spoolers that have been around since before Gen Z. That seems crazy, right?

It’s even crazier when you consider that 12 years ago (a lifetime in technology terms), the Stuxnet virus was launched. It took advantage of a Windows Spooler vulnerability to hack into an Iranian facility handling uranium. Yikes. And while that particular vulnerability has since been patched, new ones get discovered every year—if not more often. Instead of investing resources in overhauling that system (or creating a better one), companies just keep patching their systems. 

While patches may work to stem the risk, they often involve workarounds or cause other problems for users. For example, the PrintNightmare patch no longer allows end users to update drivers or print permissions on their own. Admin credentials are now needed every time, leading to a significant rise in helpdesk tickets last year. 

Unfortunately, patches aren’t the only problem. 

Terrifying Truth #2: 

According to Kaspersky, there were about 65,000 attacks on print spoolers between July 2021 and April 2022.

Think about it. As companies have moved to hybrid and remote work environments, the move toward Zero Trust and more secure networks has been significantly accelerated. That means hackers have fewer chances to gain valuable business information through traditional methods. Not that those have stopped: Phishing attacks are also on the rise with companies stuck in these interim periods between their legacy infrastructure and adopting more secure systems and processes.

But with all the renewed focus on security, one often overlooked vulnerability continues to exist for many companies: print servers. Despite knowing that there have been vulnerabilities for years and that patches continue to roll out year after year, many companies simply haven’t made the time or budget to change out old infrastructure. Some organizations we meet at trade shows don’t even know there are other options out there. 

So hackers have made it their new hobby to test spoolers. IT teams are trying to keep up, but with so much change occurring, it can be hard to get the resources needed to constantly keep a network protected. And with these attacks on the rise, it’s time to start considering your options.

Terrifying Truth #3: 

According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach in 2022 is $4.35 million globally and $9.44 million in the US.

Those are big numbers. And they don’t even account for potential lost business when customers see your network as risky. Even worse, compromised credentials (one of the leading causes of data breaches) are often not discovered immediately. So your data could be leaking for months before you figure out there’s a problem, which can then lead to bigger concerns with regulators.

While most companies by now know to take network security and data protection very seriously, too many consider print to be far down the list of potential threats. And as we’ve seen from our other data, it should really be at the top. So why aren’t people more concerned?

The last terrifying truth is that many executives feel like print works well enough and are content to maintain the status quo until it becomes a problem.

Happy Truth # 1:

You can do better than the status quo.

You don’t have to keep allowing the same cycle to play out over and over. Moving to a serverless printing infrastructure like PrinterLogic can save you from the headaches and problems associated with print spoolers. With direct IP printing, data is segmented and secured at all points in the printing process. And integrations with Identity Providers (IdPs) allow end users to access features like Secure Release Printing and Mobile Printing. Plus, the PrinterLogic platform is SaaS-based, so it stays up-to-date with any security releases without you having to worry.

The best part? It’s more cost-effective than a print server infrastructure too!

Without the threat of print spoolers being exposed and at risk, your team can focus on other big security initiatives as technology continues to advance. Isn’t it time you stopped living in the past and started investing in your future?