Your business is facing a lot of new opportunities in the new year, but there are also plenty of print security challenges that need to be addressed in the meantime.
Before looking ahead to what the second half of 2022 has in store for your business, let’s reflect on the year that was.
What we learned in 2021
After a massive migration to a work-from-anywhere environment, 2021 was certainly a difficult year for businesses of all sizes.
Supporting the new normal meant equipping hybrid workers with the ability to print any document from any location. But in the process, IT departments like yours encountered a number of obstacles:
- A lack of ability to manage remote employee printing
- Difficulty managing in-office print jobs in a pandemic environment
- Disruptions to productivity caused by limited access to office or remote printers
Most pressing is the emerging threat to print security that organisations will need to overcome because work-from-home isn’t going anywhere: 83% of workers globally now prefer a hybrid work model. That means it’s never been so important for you to keep your print infrastructure secure.
To help you understand the future of print security and what you can do to stay protected, let’s look at the trends you’ll need to address this year.
The threat landscape continues to expand
Now that print infrastructures have expanded to include both in-office and remote locations, securing that environment has grown increasingly complex.
According to research from Quocirca, the majority of organisations are reliant on printing, but remain woefully at risk:
- Only 26% of IT decision-makers are confident in their print security post-pandemic
- Only 18% of companies are considered “Print Security Leaders”
- 68% reported at least one data leak in the last 12 months to the average cost of AU$1.1 million per incident – not including the cost of disruption to business continuity after the fact
- More organisations are concerned about home print security (66%) than they are about in-office print security (57%)
- Users of Managed Print Services (MPS) are more satisfied with their print security than non-MPS users. In either case, 70% of organisations expect to increase print security spending in 2022
Work-from-anywere models are necessitating the use of cloud print managementThe cloud is powering remote print management
When offices closed their doors during the pandemic, at-home printing suddenly became a mission-critical workflow for many companies. But in doing so, businesses also ushered in a new wave of unforeseen obstacles.
According to the IDC’s assessment of the distributed print environment, “the most significant work-from-home printing challenges reside in a lack of oversight or ability to monitor print usage.” Most businesses lack any visibility or control over their remote print environment. That means they can’t keep track of paper, ink or toner supplies or proactively schedule hardware maintenance.
A lack of oversight exposes the business to accidental data leaks and breaches in print security. The IDC recommends that IT managers will need to invest in their ability to monitor remote printing through cloud-based print and document management solutions.
Services like these often feature remote monitoring abilities, print analytics and content-based control policies, not to mention print quotas and other cost-savings opportunities.
Cloud solutions like secure print job submission are essential to the future of print securityRisk assessments are becoming more important
One of the best ways to be sure that your print infrastructure is protected against threats is to perform a security and risk assessment.
Given the increased complexity of the modern print environment, IT departments should be performing regular audits of their security posture with both cost and security in mind. According to Quocirca’s research, nearly 40% of organisations are planning to implement more secure practices, including formal reporting, risk assessments and response policies.
Whether the results of your security audit are positive or not, you still stand to benefit from a cloud print solution. Through services like secure cloud-based print job submission, they afford you the opportunity to increase protection in both remote and in-office locations.
Because most cloud solutions are a service model, you can also automate the replenishment of consumables for remote employees. With simplified print-from-home logistics, your IT team can cut down on waste while also freeing up time to focus on other critical security tasks.
Securing the future of your business
You need a solution that simplifies the complicated landscape of print security and protects your most sensitive assets.
With Universal Print, we’re providing businesses like yours with the tools to print safely from any location without fear of data loss or disruption. Get in touch to learn more about how we can help fulfill your print security needs today.
