Remote printing extends the reach of laptops, desktops and mobile devices

Every day, organizations of all sizes need to securely print from one location, such as a main headquarters, to another remote office location that isn’t on the same network or even in the same country. Remote printing is a cross-industry requirement and is used in industries such as Legal, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Financial Services.

Remote printing enables organizations to print documents across disparate networks, to another corporate office, supplier or manufacturer without the use of VPN or extra print infrastructure and can be of extreme value in cases such as these:

• Printing from an ERP system to a facility such as a warehouse, factory, 3PL or logistics supplier where the printer is not on the same network.
• Printing to printers at employees home offices with full accounting and without VPN.
• Retailers printing to printers at store locations that may not be on the corporate network.
• Healthcare services providers, such as test labs, securely printing to printers at hospitals and doctor’s offices.
• Printing to printers on the network of a company that was acquired, but whose network is not integrated yet.

An example of remote printing would be Corporate Office/Home Office (CoHo) printing. When a home office printer is considered a corporate printer it must comply with corporate policy for printing. Because of how the WiFi or 3G/4G networks are set up, this is cumbersome and sometimes impossible. Sometimes if it is possible, it is not secure. The ability to connect a mobile device to a secure printer, no matter which networks are in between the two provides this flexibility. Printing can be done from a laptop, PC, tablet or smartphone. In addition, all print jobs are accounted for by the existing print management software that exists on the corporate network.

The value of a remote printing solution is underestimated. It can save thousands of dollars and drastically reduce the hours spent by IT trying to set up secure print networks at remote locations.

A remote printing solution can:

• Eliminate costly VPN or leased lines.
• Make Windows print queues cloud printing capable.
• Enable printing from ERP systems to a supplier or manufacturer.
• Eliminate the complexity of connecting remote locations to the secure corporate network.
• Integrate into existing workflows such as work order, bar code and RFID printing.