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PRINT.IT
01732 759725
Mobile Printing
there is corporate printing,
utilising solutions that enable
printing from smartphone and
tablet technology to any device
within the business network,
which is useful for organisations
with different sites, locations
and campuses. Both options
offer flexibility for workforces and
authentication to ensure only the
person printing the document
can retrieve it.
“Contrary to popular opinion,
we’re seeing that the increasing
use of tablet and smart phone
technology is in some cases
actually increasing print volumes
across a company, as employees
benefit from total flexibility
and are able to print remotely
from any device, rather than
being tethered to a desk-based
computer. While it might not
be the case across the board,
we’re certainly not seeing any
reduction in print volumes, nor
do we expect to.
“An increasingly important
issue in mobile print is security.
For businesses handling
sensitive data, it’s essential that
the opportunity for staff to use
unproven and untested mobile
print software is minimised and
that any mobile print solution
is driven by the company, not
the employee. Widely used,
and often operating under the
organisational radar, unsecured
Mobile printing the
Samsung way
Samsung offers three mobile
printing solutions for its
smartphones, tablets and
printers: a mobile printing
app; a ‘Print‘ command built
into the mobile operating
system; and integration of Near
Field Communication (NFC)
technology.
Samsung MobilePrint App
Users of Android, iOS or
Windows smartphones/tablets
can print to Samsung wireless
printers and network printers
connected to a wireless access
point by downloading the
Samsung MobilePrint App.
This lets them use their mobile
device to print pictures, e-mails,
web pages, PDFs, Microsoft
Office files and documents from
Google Docs. The app also has
a fax transmission function and
allows users to scan images
from a Samsung MFP directly to
a mobile device.
One-touch mobile printing
Samsung Galaxy smartphones
and tablets (excluding the
earliest Galaxy S) have a
built-in printing function that
automatically detects any
Samsung wireless/network
printer launched since 2002. In
order to print pictures, e-mails,
web pages or notes from the
Samsung SMemo and SNote
apps, users just need to press
the ‘Print’ button on the menu
screen. With a few more taps
they can select the number of
copies to print, double-sided
printing, colour settings, the size
of document, orientation and
document type.
NFC printing
Samsung’s new NFC-enabled
colour laser printer (due to
be launched in the second
half of the year) will enable
a user to print from an NFC-
enabled mobile device in close
proximity. When an NFC-enabled
smartphone is placed near a
NFC-enabled printer, the two
devices connect automatically
and require no additional setup.
www.samsung.com
From a Galaxy close by
mobile print apps can in some
cases cause significant security
breaches, as confidential
information is sent across
company networks from device
to printer.
“It’s important for end-users
to be on the front foot or risk
a serious security breach in
the future. For BYOD to work
effectively, it’s essential that
organisations formulate a clear
strategy and roll it out across
their entire workforce to ensure
there is uniformity in mobile print
from any personal device and
that the policy is driven centrally.”
Rules and tracking
Nuance Director of MFP Product
Management Bill DeStefanis
says it is important to treat
mobile devices like any other
‘validated’ access point to the
print environment to ensure that
mobile print jobs are tracked
and subject to the same rules as
traditional print jobs.
“Nuance does not see
mobile printing as a big driver
of additional print volumes. The
restrictions of many devices
(decreased screen size, lack
of print drivers, etc.) limit the
practicality of these devices for
creating and reviewing business
documents, such as contracts,
thereby minimising the demand
for many mobile print needs
...Continued
in the enterprise. We may see
a small up-tick in printing as
travelers take advantage of
‘convenient’ print offerings for
one-off print jobs in hotels,
airport lounges etc., but the
overall increase in printing will
be negligible.
“Rather, Nuance views
mobile print as an additional
method for workers to access an
organisation’s print stream. In
this way, mobile print is mostly
about convenience. Office
workers today are accustomed
to using more than one device
(smartphone, tablet, laptop) in
the workplace and increasingly
expect those devices to provide
an additional means to access
the print environment on the fly.
As support for mobile printing
gains greater traction in an
organisation, some print jobs
traditionally sent to the printer
through a desktop computer will
instead be sent from a device.
Again, we do not expect this to
increase the overall print volume
at an organisation, especially
not in those that have a print
management process that
supports mobile devices.”
Data security fears
For Chris Mills, product
manager at Toshiba TEC UK
Imaging Systems, security and
management fears will limit
mobile print take-up in the short-
term, but he does not expect
this to last as end users become
more aware of the secure mobile
print solutions that already exist.
“The continued use of driver-
enabled laptops, which are
currently more convenient for
the creation, manipulation and
management of documents, will
prevent widespread adoption of
mobile printing, as will concerns
over data security from the
private cloud. Even so, we are
finding demand for mobile print
increasing.
“IT managers want a solution
that is product agnostic: they
don’t necessarily want to support
a plethora of operating systems
that are constantly changing.
One simple solution is to use a
product that uses email. A user
with any type of device can send
an email to a centralised print
server account which can detach
documents and give the user the
option of printing the email and
attachments on any device on
the network.”
Nuance: mobile printing is all about
convenience.