Since 2020, work environments have changed drastically, from bustling offices to our DIY home office set-ups, in-person office chats to online team Zoom meetings.
While businesses have worked hard – and still are – to safeguard productivity, staff morale and customer satisfaction, moving forward we need to ensure we're adapting all our technologies to a hybrid workspace. This will see teams working in-house while socially distanced or working remotely from home.
Remote access to workplace systems has become imperative. One of the most significant techs that need to stay sharp is our office printing service. Can your printer handle working from home? How can you make sure your office printer has all the features that will make a hybrid workplace a happy one? Below are a few flexible printer features to look out for when it comes to the hybrid workplace.
Cloud Capability
With some of your team working remotely, others on-site, and never knowing when you may need to stay home, connectivity is vital for a seamless working environment.
If your printer has cloud capability, no matter where your staff are, they will be able to print or scan directly to the office printer.
As well as staying connected, this feature also helps ensure greater security for documents and less likelihood of data being misplaced or lost.
Print Management Settings
Having the ability to manage your print settings, systems and queues remotely means that operations will continue to run, even when being accessed from multiple workspaces and locations.
If your printer has this feature, system administrators (sysadmins) won't have to travel to the printer itself, or a staffer's home, to reset settings, or update or push print queues.
Remote Tracking
Keeping up with what is being printed, by whom and for what purpose, is easier today with the right printer.
However, throw in the issues of staffers using their own devices, from a variety of locations and networks, and it's fair to say what should be easy, could get a little tricky.
The right printer will enable remote, offsite tracking so that sysadmins can stay on top of what data is being accessed and printed, along with enabling them to produce productivity reports.
Safety Features
A hybrid work environment must, literally and figuratively, open its doors to more devices and networks than they would ever really want to.
BYO devices and various, unsecured networks will be used to access valuable data and while it presents some security challenges, the right printer can help keep you and your business safe.
Ensuring staffers are using the right kind of system at home, the on-site systems need to safeguard the data it's storing and printing, through features such as user authentication and authorisation, network monitoring and protection software or functions for stored information.
Make sure your office is equipped for the ongoing changes and demands of the hybrid workplace. Konica Minolta about offering solutions that best work for your business. Discover the right office printer using Path, take the survey today.
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