PrintIT Reseller: Beyond basic print management, what additional capabilities do your solutions offer, think security, authentication, analytics and reporting?
Danny Molhoek, Vice President EMEA Sales, Lexmark: With enhancements released in early February this year, LCS takes cloud technology to the next level with a unified, secure and scalable platform that provides ubiquitous connectivity spanning the entire product line. This comprehensive suite streamlines print management by bringing everything under one umbrella – eliminating the need to juggle multiple vendors and disparate solutions.
LCS is built on three core components, each addressing a critical aspect of print management and enabling scalability of resources, from small companies to large enterprises:
Fleet management. Cloud Fleet Management provides ubiquitous printer fleet visibility, remote monitoring, and centralised app and firmware deployment. This helps improve uptime and security, drive down servicing costs and ultimately enhance profitability.
Print management. Cloud Print Management enhances document security with controlled print release and real-time print analytics. Secure print release, real-time analytics and flexible printing options put users in the driver’s seat. They can save paper, printing out only what they really need, gain valuable insights into their users’ printing behaviour, and have peace of mind knowing print jobs can stay within the firewall thanks to innovative hybrid technology, sending only the metadata to the cloud for analytics. Flexible new features include offline print. This technology detects cloud connectivity issues and ensures print jobs can still be complete – even if the network is down. Advanced hybrid storage accounts for every organisation’s unique requirements and allotted budget and provides the ability to store print jobs on-premise for security purposes.
Capture and workflow. Cloud Solution Center streamlines document workflows with capture, process and routing capabilities, now enhanced with AI-powered translation and redaction, enabling faster and more accurate document processing. Unlike traditional solutions, it’s easily deployed across multiple destinations.
All Lexmark Cloud Services are supported by a real-time analytics dashboard, which gives organisations greater insight into their printing, copying and scanning practices. The dashboard provides real-time statistics on usage levels across individuals, business units, devices or offices, allowing organisations to identify additional cost saving opportunities and export data for additional analysis.
As part of how LCS revolutionises print operations, it integrates security at every level, from device management to individual print jobs. Customers can deploy security updates across their entire fleet in real-time, control access to sensitive documents, and redact confidential information with certainty. According to Quocirca, which has recently named Lexmark a leader
in cloud print management, LCS is built with a true, multi-tenant cloud architecture that keeps customer and partner information segmented, secure and private.
Karen Thulmann, Product Manager, ezeep: ezeep goes far beyond simple print enablement and delivers a comprehensive platform designed for the modern workplace. At its core, ezeep offers secure pull-printing with robust user authentication, supporting identity providers such as Entra ID, Google, and Apple. For IT administrators and decision-makers, detailed usage analytics and reporting provide valuable insights for auditing, cost optimisation, and chargeback scenarios.
In zero trust environments, the ezeep Hub IoT device enables secure, serverless cloud printing across all locations, perfect for distributed teams and branch offices. ezeep also supports mobile and Chromebook printing, making it ideal for BYOD strategies and educational institutions.
Our platform enhances the full functionality of printers by integrating document management features. This includes scanning directly into the user’s ezeep account, streamlining document workflows, and improving accessibility.
For those looking to automate their printing processes, ezeep offers seamless integration with popular no-code platforms such as Zapier, Make, and Pabbly, as well as a powerful REST API, enabling custom workflows tailored to any organisation’s needs.
Graham Adshead, Head of Architecture, Toshiba Tec UK: Security is a cornerstone of our offering. We support authentication through Microsoft and Google platforms, including MFA, ensuring alignment with clients’ existing identity and access management policies. Print jobs are transmitted using encrypted IPPS protocols, and data is stored securely in the cloud, providing end-to-end protection.
Our solutions include full auditing capabilities, allowing organisations to track who printed what, when, and where. Built-in reporting tools provide detailed insights into usage patterns and departmental costs, enabling data-driven decision- making. Centralised user and device management simplifies administration, making it easy for IT teams to maintain control across distributed environments.
Ian Fox, Channel Solutions and Services Specialist, Xerox:: Xerox Workplace Cloud (XWC) offers a range of advanced capabilities beyond basic print management including mobile printing, security and authentication as well as analytics and reporting.
Mobile printing. XWC supports printing from various devices including Windows OS, Google Chromebooks, Mac OS, Linux, and mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Surface tablets. Devices need internet connectivity to be able to submit jobs, but this can be done with LAN, cellular or Wi-Fi connections as there is no requirement to be on the same network as the printers/MFDs.
Security and authentication. The platform supports various authentication methods including card, cardless, and mobile device-based authentication using NFC, the Xerox Print Portal App, and QR codes. This flexibility can help reduce costs by providing viable alternatives to the traditional proximity card reader authentication.
Single sign-on allows users to authenticate once and access all SSO-enabled apps on the printer without additional logins, streamlining scan and print workflows. End-to-end encryption ensures that print streams are encrypted at rest and in transit and we provide the option for the customer to use their own digital certificates if required. The content security feature further enhances security by optionally alerting key personnel when pre-defined phrases are detected within the print stream.
Our advanced resellers can offer additional security services, including audit, management, and remediation of customers’ MPS fleets. Devices can be remotely managed, enabling the reseller to audit and remediate devices that have fallen outside of pre-determined policies, including password, firmware, and configuration management.
Analytics and reporting. Workplace Analytics makes use of Power BI dashboards which provide granular reporting on print, copy and scan activity. Admins can easily drill down, reporting on a who, what, when, where and how basis. This makes it easy to spot inefficient or costly processes such as single sided colour printing, or excessive scan to email and then use rules and quotas to reduce costs and account reviews to drive workflow efficiencies.
Matt Hill, Regional Vice President, Sales – Northern Europe, Middle East & S. Africa – DAS, Tungsten Automation: At Tungsten Automation, our focus extends well beyond basic print management; we specialise in workflow automation that helps our customers automate their business processes.
This not only leads to lower costs but also enhances security and compliance while providing greater flexibility and scalability.
Through our automation expertise, we offer advanced capabilities such as content-aware printing, which applies intelligent rules based on document content. This feature optimises print workflows, improves security, and ensures compliance with regulations like the GDPR and HIPAA through automatic redaction of sensitive information. Additionally, our solutions provide robust analytics and reporting tools that give customers insight into their print usage, enabling them to identify inefficiencies and optimise their environments.
To further support our customers, we provide free ROI analysis and Print Health Check, generating customised reports that highlight potential cost savings. This has proven invaluable in helping customers secure internal buy- in from senior executives for their print management initiatives.
Stuart Miller, Partner Channel Director, Canon UK and Ireland: Cyberthreats have continued to increase alongside the vulnerabilities that come with complex hybrid working environments. Partnering with a trusted MPS provider that offers end-to-end document management processes is crucial for security.
uniFLOW Online incorporates all print and scanning workflows into a single platform, increasing visibility and control of document. By offering a unified solution, uniFLOW Online provides the flexibility and scalability of a MPS solution, as well as the assurance and compliance of a security software.
Designed to address the unique threats of hybrid working, it also operates under a zero trust infrastructure, tracking and restricting access to sensitive information. Its ability to track access to information across systems, even non-Canon devices, ensure information is stored and processed securely.
Denis Slavin, Business Development Sales Director, Partner Channel, Ricoh UK: Organisations are increasingly seeking cloud-based solutions that deliver more than just print output management. Ricoh’s offerings provide a centralised management interface; essentially a single pane of glass that allows administrators to manage device settings, standardise user interfaces, control installed applications, and enforce firmware consistency across fleets.
Of course, security remains a core priority. Advanced auditing and monitoring capabilities enable organisations to track usage patterns and flag potential risks, for instance, monitoring output from employees exiting the business to prevent the loss of sensitive data. These features are becoming fundamental to modern print infrastructure, particularly in regulated or security-conscious sectors.
Stuart Brookes, EMEA Regional Lead and Head of Sales & Channel, PaperCut: PaperCut MF offers support for mobile and BYOD printing, automated print queues and convenient print release. It supports sustainable printing through features like Forest Positive printing, facilitating zero uncollected print jobs and actionable reports to spot opportunities to further reduce waste.
To simplify the process of scanning and digitising documents, to boost productivity PaperCut MF offers one-touch scan to home folders, email, or cloud storage accounts like Google Drive, OneDrive, Sharepoint, Box.net, and Dropbox. To add more value to digital documents, PaperCut MF users can activate optical character recognition (OCR) and image processing to make documents more useful by making them text searchable and editable. It’s been optimised to work on all devices too, so users enjoy a consistent, modern and easy-to-use scanning interface, regardless of MFD brand and model.
PaperCut’s Print Quotas enable users to assign, track, and enforce printing allowances directly within the admin console for both PaperCut Hive and PaperCut Pocket. With Print Quotas, sys admins can assign financial allowances to users and easily top up or adjust balances manually when needed. They can schedule automatic balance resets across the user base and define specific costs for different print attributes (like colour, page size, duplex) for accurate tracking. User balances and activity can be viewed in real-time, and the system can automatically restrict printing if a user doesn’t have enough balance for the job.
For those who manage print environments for different departments, client sites – or even managed service providers – keeping track of multiple different email addresses just to manage printing can be challenging. To address this, PaperCut’s multi- organisation login enables the use of a single, primary email address to access all of the PaperCut Hive or PaperCut Pocket instances.
For those who use Okta for identity management, PaperCut has simplified configuring it by adding it directly into the authentication setup wizard alongside Google Workspace and Microsoft Entra ID. We’ve been careful to ensure that the setup page closely mirrors the configuration fields within the user’s Okta admin interface for faster integration.
We recently extended our improved user onboarding flow to Chromebook users, who now benefit from the same streamlined, intuitive onboarding process as everyone else. This easier setup means fewer helpdesk support tickets for busy sys admins. For added BYOD print flexibility, we have multifunction and single function printer app support for all print brands, and we recently announced app support for both Epson and Ricoh devices, as well.
George Davies, Product Marketing Manager, Sharp UK: We see print management as more than just controlling devices, it’s about delivering secure, intelligent and future-ready infrastructure that supports the way people work today. Beyond the basics, our solutions offer a robust suite of capabilities that address the growing demands around security, compliance, and visibility.
For example, our Synappx Cloud Print platform is built on Microsoft Azure and incorporates advanced security features like encryption, zero trust architecture, and agentless communications.
This ensures that print jobs remain on the local network, with only metadata sent to the cloud. Data is protected in transit and never leaves the secure network perimeter.
Our recent pan-European research of 11,000 office employees underscores the urgency of these features. The study revealed that only 15% of office workers have received training on printer security, and nearly 40% of businesses lack specific IT security measures for printers. This highlights the need for built-in protections like secure print release, role-based access controls, and automatic firmware updates, capabilities that are standard across Sharp’s latest MFPs and cloud platforms.
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