Although most companies would wish to run a paperless office, when the printers stop working, so does the business. The challenge of reducing paper without interrupting the flow is to find a happy medium that lets users print what they need, when they need it, without increasing the costs and complexities of deploying a print infrastructure. Also, ideally, this is done while ensuring the added layer of security to help comply with regulations as laid down at law.
Security threats are a constant and are becoming ever more sophisticated. In this regard, data protection regulations provide guidelines as to how to avoid the risks and have definitely raised awareness.
Also, Output Management Software offers one of the platforms required to ensure this security by combining and simplifying the many security issues surrounding document management processes.
‘Device Access Control’ is one way in which you can achieve some of the above by securing the output of all sensitive or confidential documents in your company by printing only after the user has identified himself directly at a printer; users can only access the MFP functions they really need to perform their operations. For any organisation this is a big step to control expenditure and security. When the follow-me feature is used, the print jobs are only released to the printer where the user provides the required identification via different options such as proximity cards, Biometrics, username/ password or PIN codes.
Secure Network Communication provides additional layers of security when transmitting print jobs across a network. When print jobs are in transit, they are susceptible to interception. A good Output Management Software encrypts data until it reaches the device which the user has identified at and securely releases the print jobs.
A good secure system should recognise whether a printer error has occurred and, if the user has logged out, it should automatically delete any remaining released print jobs. As a result, the printer should not print those print jobs even once the error has been fixed, ensuring that no parts of any sensitive document are printed and left in the printer after it has been fixed.
‘Guest Printing’ feature provides external job submission pathways via e-mail or web.
This minimises attack risks as there is no need to add unknown or unauthorised mobile devices to the organisational network.
Most of today’s Output Management Software are also Google Cloud Print™ compatible which also offers the possibility to submit a print job without connecting any devices to the organizational network.
Furthermore, Cost Tracking and Accounting features in Output Management Software allows the finance department to track, assess and charge back all printing, copying, scanning and faxing costs so that costs are allocated to departments or specific projects correctly. Tracking and analysing the usage of devices means that businesses can assess where savings can be made. It also enables the implementation of rules and routing of jobs to cheaper devices resulting in additional savings.
Whether stored digitally, at a printer or in transit, your mission-critical documents must be protected. Output Management software ensures that only authorized individuals can print and access printed information helping your organization maintain internal security policies and external compliance regulations at all times. By automating the printing of sensitive documents and requiring audit trails of all print activity, your organisation can reduce the risk of manual errors or misuse that may result in data breaches whilst also reducing costs and unnecessary printing.
James Attard is Business Development Manager at Avantech Limited.