Top 5 Frequently Asked Questions About Output Management

Output management solutions spiked in popularity during the COVID pandemic, and they’re becoming increasingly common. By 2032, the market for output management software will likely hit USD $9.9 billion. If you haven’t jumped on board yet and still need clarity, we’re here to give you a foundational understanding of output management by answering the most commonly asked questions about output management software. 

 

Output Management FAQs

1. What is output management?

Output management is a type of software that manages the creation, distribution, formatting, storage, security, and archiving of documents. All these functions are managed from a centralized platform. Because output management solutions can handle both physical and digital documents, companies can unify print management and document management systems in a single solution. 

Output management is often confused with print management. While there’s a lot of overlap, there are some critical differences. Print management deals with documents that are physically printed. From sending the print job to the printer and managing printing devices to managing print workflows and tracking printing quotas, print management software is certainly valuable. However, output management does all that and more. In addition to all of the capabilities that print management has, output management software also manages digital documents and offers additional features for security, visibility, workflow simplification, and device-neutral delivery.

 

 

2. What are the benefits of output management? 

Companies reap many benefits from investing in an output management system. One of the most immediate benefits is more efficient workflows. Output management systems automate and streamline document delivery options to digital storage and email. Automation helps reduce document mishandling while optimizing printing processes. Also, when installing output management software, companies can connect processes from legacy applications, which helps streamline workflows and keep projects organized. 

Another benefit of output management is visibility. Dynamic print reports allow companies to track and monitor user-level print activity on both back- and front-end printing. These reports offer visibility into cost-reduction opportunities, user behavior, problems with documents reaching their destination, and delivery methods. When companies understand this data, they can keep documents safe while making them more easily accessible. 

Security is another major advantage of output management software. These systems enforce security policies and protect sensitive information by implementing access controls, encryption, off-network printing, and secure release printing. For companies in heavily regulated industries, output management systems also help keep your company safe with compliance features. Ranging from manufacturing and healthcare regulations like Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), to general data protection such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), output management’s traceability ensures compliance across your organization.

 

 

3. Can an output management system integrate with our existing ERP, CRM, and other business systems?

Yes, absolutely! One of the strengths of output management systems is that they centralize all printing operations. This includes connecting to many other systems, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), electronic medical records (EMR), electronic health records (EHR), document management systems (DMS), and more. PrinterLogic’s Output Management integrates well with Epic, Oracle Health, and SAP systems.

 

4. How does the output management system ensure secure and uninterrupted printing, especially in SAP environments?

Output management systems are great for ensuring secure and uninterrupted printing. Output management systems ensure print jobs are received and delivered by using automated failover scenarios to protect critical operations. 

In SAP environments specifically, output management helps ensure smooth and secure printing by integrating with SAP products. When output management systems integrate with SAP products, the two solutions can work together to deliver documents securely in a device-neutral environment. PrinterLogic’s Output Management solution works with SAP to route print jobs, spin up multiple Service Clients to achieve redundancy and high availability, and store and analyze the print job metadata. For more details, read our blog post that goes more in-depth about how PrinterLogic’s Output Management system provides failsafes to make sure your SAP print jobs are secure and uninterrupted.

 

5. Can the output management system provide a unified platform for managing both administrative and clinical printing, especially in specialized industries like healthcare?

Yes, output management systems are perfect for providing a unified platform for managing administrative and clinical printing, especially in industries such as healthcare. Output management systems can manage both administrative and clinical printing because they have both on-premises and cloud-based capabilities. Companies can integrate their output management software with Epic or other healthcare document software to unify all forms of healthcare print management, including Epic clinical and general office printing. This centralized print management approach eliminates the need to deploy drivers and queues to print servers altogether.

 

Want to Learn More About Output Management?

PrinterLogic’s Output Management system is here to help propel your business processes forward. Centralized control, enhanced efficiency, and strengthened security are just a few of the benefits of our Output Management software. To learn more about how PrinterLogic’s Output Management can centralize and protect your documents, schedule a free demo today

Direct IP Printing vs. Print Servers: Pros and Cons of Each

All IT managers and system administrators who manage print environments must eventually choose between print servers and configuring direct IP printers on their endpoints. Either approach has trade-offs, and several factors come into play when deciding which method is best.

Company Size Matters

If your company only has a handful of employees, the differences between using a print server and managing printing via direct IP are not that obvious. However, as the organization grows, the pain points stemming from IT’s print management choices become evident. 

 

Why Use Print Servers?

A print server can alleviate growth-related pain points because admins get centralized management for drivers, profiles, and print job auditing. You can set printer permissions and use Group Policy to map printers to users or workstations. They integrate with backend applications like EMR, CRM, and ERP and provide one print environment for the entire company. They also haven’t changed in functionality for decades, so they are easy to maintain and manage with the proper experience.

 

Where Print Servers Miss The Mark

Despite the few positives of employing print servers, it’s hard to keep up with them in the modern-day workplace because they require more maintenance than ever before. Company data is at risk if you fail to stay up-to-date with print server patch installations. Print servers also thrive with homogeneous printer fleets, meaning a printer fleet of mixed manufacturers can cause serious issues. 

Additional negatives of print servers include:

Vulnerabilities: Print servers introduce many headaches and vulnerabilities. This means there is a single point of failure for everyone attached to that server. Organizations can expect performance and functionality issues when every printer driver lives, works, and spools on the same print device. 

Unreliable GPO Scripting: If there are multiple locations and only one print server, some of your print job traffic will traverse the WAN, often increasing the time it takes to print. On some WAN links, print job traffic can cause congestion and impact other communication across the link.

Price: You can install print servers at each location, but depending on how you deploy them, it can get expensive. Think of the hardware, licensing, and maintenance costs when using multiple print servers. 

Limited Support: Windows print servers are typically set up for Windows clients only. There are ways to support Mac clients, but they come with limitations.

 

Figure 1: The advantages and disadvantages of print servers

The Benefits of Direct IP Printing

With direct IP printing configurations, users are free to manage their printers and profile settings. You gain the advantage of local spooling and rendering print jobs which boosts security. And those jobs go directly from the workstation to the printer. 

Direct IP printing is the most efficient way of printing and reduces overall network traffic. A driver issue or a job stuck in the print queue will only affect one user instead of your entire organization. Direct IP is also cost-effective because there’s no additional print management hardware to buy or maintain.

 

Problems with Direct IP Printing

The decentralized nature of direct IP printing environments is often considered a pain point for IT teams. Admins can’t track costs or identify print job activity throughout the company without employing a third-party print management solution for assistance. Plus, direct print from IP isn’t ideal for hybrid or remote work environments that are constantly changing. 

Additional pain points of direct IP printer environments include:

Time-Consuming Configuration: IT teams have to add printer drivers and configure them by IP address on every workstation. Not to mention IT teams have to keep up with changes and driver updates. 

Difficult Printer Replacement: A simple task of changing out a printer could require IT staff to touch all affected workstations, which is time-consuming. In dynamic environments, these efforts will inevitably fall behind, hurting user productivity.

Less Oversight and Management: Employees set their own printing rules without centralized group policy management, making it hard to keep up with print environments. 

Not a Scalable Solution: When the number of printers in your fleet reaches the hundreds and thousands, the manual labor required becomes overbearing just to keep printing flowing. 

 

Figure 2: Direct IP printing benefits and disadvantages

PrinterLogic: The Best of Both Worlds

What if I told you there is a way to get the centralized management benefits of a print server while maintaining the stability and efficiency of direct IP printing? You know, have your cake and eat it too.

PrinterLogic eliminates the need for print servers while providing a way to manage and install direct IP printers centrally. With PrinterLogic, you can easily convert your existing Microsoft print server environment to our serverless direct IP printing solution. 

Have multiple print servers? We take care of that too. 

You can also manage all printers and drivers from a single web-based Admin Console. PrinterLogic gives you more visibility into printing activity with an Advanced Reporting feature, allowing for a detailed view of all print jobs by users, departments, printers, and more.

PrinterLogic offers an on-premise solution and PrinterLogic SaaS (our cloud printing platform), so you can choose which version works best for you without sacrificing features or functionality. We have plenty of technical documentation to help your set-up go smoothly, too.  

Figure 3: PrinterLogic offers centralized management plus the efficiencies of direct IP

 

 

Centralized Printing Management | The What, Why, and How of Centralized Printing

When you’re working toward streamlining your enterprise print environment, centralized printer management should be one of the highest priorities on your list. That’s because implementing centralized printer management addresses several key areas that are crucial to the process of simplifying and consolidating networked printers—and reducing IT burden. 

This is particularly true for retail, financial, healthcare, and government organizations with offices dispersed throughout regions or other countries. 

 

What is centralized print management?

Centralized printing management means instead of shifting between sites with different hardware and individuals with varied areas of oversight, you can administer all printing services from one terminal. That logistical integration alone makes your network printer management more efficient—saving time, money, and resources. It also eliminates the need for off-site visits just to address printer issues. 

 

Why choose a central print management solution?

Admins get “the four Cs” by moving to centralized print management:

Consolidation: Connect and manage all your users, devices, and locations from a simple interface—no matter where you are.

Convenience: Address printing issues immediately from a single pane of glass without having to make frequent off-site visits. 

Control: Easily set default printer preferences, add or delete printers in your printer fleet, and set up one-time or automatic deployments.

Cost-efficiency: Reduce operating and printing costs that impact your bottom line by gaining insight into print activity across your organization.

A solution like PrinterLogic offers these benefits and more. 

 

Centralized Print Management with PrinterLogic

PrinterLogic was developed around the concept of centralized printer management because it’s a sought-after feature in any scenario, regardless of whether you’ve got a highly distributed print infrastructure or just a single site. No matter where you or your IT staff are located, PrinterLogic’s intuitive web-based Admin Console allows you to monitor every networked printer in your organization—with or without domains or trusts—from a single pane of glass.

You can only imagine what this level of control offers you and your users’ printing needs.

Print-related requests can be taken care of instantaneously.

Printing disappears from your agenda during off-site visits. 

And user satisfaction increases since you can administer any network printer to them without a hitch. 

Using PrinterLogic’s Admin Console, you can easily create new printers and then deploy them to end users automatically without the hassle of having to use GPOs, scripts, or print servers. You can delete printers from workstations or entire departments, too, with just as much ease.

Plus, you can do everything in between regarding network printer management including maintenance activities like print queue management, print job troubleshooting and more–all from a central location. 

PrinterLogic lets you drill down to individual printers through hierarchies like country, building, department, and floor. Once you’ve selected a printer, you can modify individual settings such as the drivers, port, name, duplexing, color, paper type, and so on. Those changes are automatically pushed out to printers on the end user workstations. You can even set default printer preferences by simply checking a box.

Want to edit group properties quickly? Just use the find-and-replace function to adjust deployment assignments, print drivers, ports, comments, and other variables for hundreds or even thousands of printer objects at once.

This same approach to central printer management also applies to drivers. PrinterLogic also allows you to update drivers individually or en masse. And you can configure detailed parameters such as driver settings and profiles, giving you even more fine-grained control over printers throughout your entire organization. If you don’t want to deal with individual driver manufacturers, PrinterLogic empowers you to print to a universal driver for more flexibility. 

 

Start Managing Your Distributed Locations with Ease

Regardless of the size of your organization or the number of printers and locations you have, PrinterLogic simplifies how you manage print. We start with eliminating your print servers and moving you over to our cloud-native, direct IP printing platform. In return, you get increased productivity and a bird’s-eye view over “everything printing” in your organization.

So, if you’re considering a centralized print management solution as a means to cut printing costs and take back control of your distributed locations, what are you waiting for?

Here’s a free 30-day trial to get you started. 

Enterprise Secure Printing Systems: Why You Need Printer Security

Not to be confused with pull printing, secure printing has become a household name in the print management industry. Internal document theft is up. The financial damage caused by data breaches is getting harder to swallow. And companies are taking note.   

So what are secure printing solutions, and why do you need them? 

What is secure printing?

Secure printing is the process of releasing a print job at a designated printer using one of several authentication methods. Documents are held in a queue until the user is physically present at the printer. Authentication methods vary—from entering an employee PIN to scanning an ID badge or using a mobile application—and can be released only when the user is physically present at the printer. 

This is slightly different than its pull printing counterpart. Pull printing allows jobs to be released at any pull printing-enabled network printer. Regardless, secure printing and pull printing offer an additional layer of security that protect confidential documents. But secure printing solutions provide benefits that extend to the remote workforce and help future-proof your print environment. 

 

Enterprise Secure Printing Systems

Enterprise secure printing systems provide robust security and control over your organization’s printing environment. With features like secure release printing, documents are only released after user authentication at the printer. This prevents sensitive information from sitting exposed in output trays. 

Comprehensive auditing and tracking capabilities allow you to monitor printing activity across your large organization for compliance purposes. Advanced encryption and secure printing protocols safeguard data as it traverses your network. 

Centralized printer management streamlines configuration, enables print policy enforcement, and saves IT staff time versus managing individual devices. With the high-volume centralized print centers enterprises require, you maximize printer uptime and reduce costs.

Enterprise secure printing mitigates risk, bolsters compliance, and enhances operational efficiency–key priorities for any large business that can’t afford data breaches or operational disruptions.

 

How can secure printing solutions benefit you?

Whether you’re an enterprise looking for a secure printing system or an SMB needing a more secure solution to protect your data, the following advice is relevant to both business environments.

They help you reduce legacy infrastructure.

Secure printing solutions aren’t exactly “secure” if you can’t reduce legacy infrastructure. In this case, I’m not talking about your grandfather’s printers. 

I’m talking about your print servers. 

After the whole PrintNightmare fiasco, it became clear that print servers needed to be wiped from the picture. Secure printing solutions take print servers out of the equation and don’t hold print jobs in a spooler queue. Instead, print jobs are held on the workstation or the printer and remain on the local network until a user is ready to release it.

They allow remote workers to print securely.

Remote workers need a way to print securely without having to resort to printing on an unmanaged, off-network home printer. Secure printing solutions can give contractors, remote workers, and roaming employees the ability to print to an in-network printer while being on an outside network. 

This type of functionality enables end users moving between their home and the office to print freely and release their documents at the office at their convenience, encouraging employees to stop using home office printers which are a huge security liability and impossible for admins to track. 

Furthermore, secure Off-Network Printing capabilities offer employees a flexible way to deliver confidential documents to someone in the office instead of sending personal or customer information to them via email.  

They adhere to Zero Trust standards.

Secure printing is a crucial aspect of complying with Zero Trust standards. The additional layer of security means confidential information stays in the hands of those who printed it. That level of authentication is a step in the right direction. But to be considered a Zero Trust-caliber secure printing solution, it has to integrate with the identity providers (IdPs) you use in your environment. 

IdPs provide your company with a double layer of security your end users must go through before they can print. They also restrict users to the necessary applications they need to do their job. Adding secure printing functionality on top of that dramatically reduces the risk of identity and document theft, helping you achieve Zero Trust Printing

They give users mobile printing capabilities.

Secure printing capabilities can extend to your end users’ mobile devices. If you’re managing a BYOD environment, leveraging phones, tablets, and laptops to print securely is a great way to cut down on costs and boost productivity simultaneously. Users can send a print job to a designated printer on the company network and release it later—without having to hop on specific company computers just to print a few documents.  

There is a caveat to this one. 

Not all secure printing solutions offer 100% compatibility with all printer models and operating systems (this one does). So make sure to choose a solution that checks all the boxes for the devices and printers in your environment. 

They future-proof your business.

Theft isn’t going away. But it’s possible to mitigate it. 

Secure printing solutions set you up for future success and reduce the chances of information being exploited for personal gain or a competitive advantage. They’re able to meet the demands of a hybrid workforce and offer a consistent end-user experience that doesn’t hamper productivity. They enable printing from an array of mobile devices and are built around maintaining compliance throughout all industries. 

And most of all, they take pressure off IT.

Secure Printing Solutions on a Single Platform

One problem with most of the secure printing products on the market is that they require a print server, which means that if your print server goes down, everything ceases to work. 

PrinterLogic eliminates your print servers and removes the single point of failure while providing a centrally managed direct IP printing platform. On top of that, PrinterLogic is 100% device and OS-agnostic and integrates with all major IdPs. 

PrinterLogic’s version of secure printing, Secure Release Printing, holds print jobs on the user’s workstation and empowers users to release print jobs using one of the following methods:

  • Smartphone App/QR Code
  • Control Panel
  • Web Browser
  • Badge reader

Plus, get access to additional secure printing features like Off-Network Printing, Mobile App Release, and Concurrent IdP Support to extend the security reach of your print environment. 

See firsthand how PrinterLogic leverages secure printing features in the cloud and gives you the protection you need in today’s print environments. 

Get your free 30-day trial of serverless printing today.

Cloud Print Management vs. Cloud Printing

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.