Written by Arron Fu, CTO, UniPrint.net 

In the workplace, technology is still constantly changing the way enterprises and their employees work, from both from a day-to-day basis and long-term transformation. As innovative new solutions are brought into the business world, enterprises need to evolve quickly to maintain their competitiveness and to keep their workflow efficient.

Virtualization has been one of the major steps in the digital transformation of the workplace with organizations across all industries integrating virtual environments into their technology.

A recent survey by Quocirca points to more than 50% of millennial leaders in the IT and Business world holding the belief that workplace print volumes would rise, along with 70% stating that documents of great importance should be printed rather than digital stored.

Out are the old days of brick-and-mortar buildings with in-house servers, and in is the rise of virtualization which has been increasing in popularity and uptake around the world!

The development of innovative, easy to use environments by companies like Citrix, VMware, RDS etc., has helped push many businesses to the forefront of digital transformation.

With security still remaining a top concern for decision makers in the corporate world, vendors offering virtual computing solutions have been focused on improving the virtual environments provided to promote enhanced security, user productivity, and versatility.

In addition to the security provided by virtual environments, solutions with cloud-based technology can provide workers with the ability to work on the go. Whether they're working on public transit on the way to work or using productivity tools like Office 365 to work when away from the desk, employees with mobility options yield more overall output than traditional workflow setups.

Organizations that want to reach corporate goals and objectives can now easily do so by having workers be able to contribute from anywhere with the use of their mobile devices!

With all the benefits that come from virtualization, it is obvious that many businesses are embracing the technology when pushing for the digital transformation of their enterprise.

Many businesses have already taken the first few steps in digitally transforming their business, yet printing, an important part of every business, has been left behind despite advanced solutions being available that could remove some of the problems that end-users face.

More often than not, you will find employees complaining about how the printer is slow, print jobs going to the wrong printer, or just generally not working.

To many end-users, printing is just a piece of hardware that people are forced to use (which needs to have tedious printing problems solved before using) to get their hardcopy documents.

Although there is printing for VDI/VMware/Citrix environments which makes printing seem like a problem of the past, some problems are amplified when it comes to actually printing documents and reaching the printer.

In most of the simple cases, the VDI/VMware/Citrix terminal goes through a WAN connection and reaches the remote client. From the remote client, the print data is sent to the client printer where it is printed out which the user grabs.

However, it continues to be a pain point for many businesses, costing money from hidden expenses that can easily be cut, wasting time of employees with constant printing headaches, and posing security threats.

Thankfully, there are VDI printing solutions for that can increase print job efficiency, allow anywhere, anytime printing, and increase the security of the printers.

Virtualization solutions for Citrix and VMware printing can give system administrators the power to map specific printers to their remote clients.

Consider the example of healthcare printing which has several unique types of print jobs being printed all around from medical records, drug prescriptions, medical labels, etc.

Before virtualized print solutions came, healthcare providers faced problems of sending print jobs to the right printer for proper labeling and ensuring client data privacy.

Now with third party print management solutions, companies can manage any number of specialized printers through a single platform and change permissions of users, giving them the flexibility to adjust for new equipment.

Third party printing solutions also enhances security features that can help maintain the confidentiality of documents while also allowing users to chose both the time and place of printing.

This can be done through numerous options which authenticate and release their print jobs, including mobile devices, RFID cards, QR codes, NFC, and touchscreen tablets.

An efficient secure print release mechanism option can provide users the option to print only when they are physically at the printing device, giving employees mobility wherever their device is.

Despite how useful virtualized printing solutions are, many enterprises simply push it off as an unnecessary addition when it could be made simple and given the ability to make printing more versatile.

When pushing for digital transformation, all businesses need to prepare for rapid change by aiming to virtualize all parts of their business, even printers which are usually seen as a relic of past times.

A report Print 2025 by Quocirca, points out many of the global print market insights that would occur by 2025 which could change all enterprises.

Mobile devices and enterprise mobility and mobile devices will be one of the main driving forces behind digital transformation with less of an emphasis on paper-based processes.

With only 31% of executive believing their organization is well prepared for digital disruption, why not start preparing now and future-proof your workplace.

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About the Author

 

Arron Fu, CTO & Managing Partner, UniPrint.net

Arron Fu is a member of the UniPrint.net leadership team and responsible for all aspects of  strategic product development.  Arron is the creator of the patented and award-winning UniPrint universal printer driver technology specifically designed for optimizing printing functionality and simplifying administration in multi-user, server-based computing environments.

An IT industry veteran, prior to UniPrint.net Arron spent 15 years in the field of consulting, system installation/integration, and application design and development across business functions, processes and industries.  He holds a degree in Computer and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manitoba as well as a number of industry standard qualifications.