Print management was once a tale as old as time. Secure and quick printing was traditionally facilitated by an on-prem print server - one of many pieces of hardware that formed your business infrastructure. Then the cloud came along, and business infrastructure changed forever. You no longer needed servers on-site, or even applications on your devices.
Printing has been a trickier space to enhance with cloud computing. In the world of cloud print, there’s always going to be an element of on-premise infrastructure - the printer/MFD.
Cloud Print Management isn’t about replacing on-prem infrastructure. It’s about enhancing the print management space by utilizing cloud and Internet of Things technologies.
You might be asking yourself, what is cloud printing? Or what is cloud print management? Is there a difference between cloud printing and cloud print management?
These types of cloud print solutions may sound similar, but depending on what problem you’re hoping to solve, there’s a crucial distinction. Cloud printing is a matter of enabling printing with the cloud, cloud print management is a matter of controlling printing.
Cloud printingfacilitates remote printing over the internet.
Cloud print managementtracks and coordinates printing with the cloud, rather than with on-premise infrastructure.
There are cloud print solutions for each, and some cloud print management software also offers cloud printing. But before choosing your cloud print solution, it’s important to know what you’re trying to achieve with your printing and the cloud.
Print enablement gets your users printing quickly and securely.
Print management offers visibility and insight into your organization’s printing.
Whether you’re a startup looking to make printing as easy as possible, or a school district grappling with crafting a secure and responsible printing culture, there is a cloud print solution for you.
Cloud is a common term when discussing today’s working environments, but it’s a term that has lots of nuts and bolts.
So you can understand everything in this section, let’s brush up on some basic cloud computing concepts, through the lens of print.
There are three types of cloud hosting.
| Public cloud | Private cloud | Hybrid cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Computing resources fully-hosted in the cloud, accessed over the internet along with other users from other companies | Self-hosted, dedicated computing resources for a single organization | A combination of public and private cloud |
Related to public, private, and hybrid, a single-tenant or multi-tenant refers to whether a cloud application - a set of cloud resources referred to as an instance - is shared with one or multiple customers.
| Single-tenant | Multi-tenant |
|---|---|
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Did we lose you at SaaS?
That’s one of the three types of services offered in the cloud. It stands for Software as a Service and refers to software, applications, and solutions accessed via the cloud, for example Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace.
In regards to cloud print management, SaaS is usually the only XaaS term you’ll come across.
PaperCut’s cloud print management portfoliois about choice. You have the ability to choose a cloud print solution that’s appropriate for your printing requirements around simplicity, management, security, and privacy.
An easy way to think about cloud print management options is to split them into two main categories.
| Self-hosted cloud print management | Fully-hosted (hosted for you) cloud print management |
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