“Follow Me” Printing

You’ve seen it. You walk up to the printer, and there is a job sitting there in the output tray. Maybe three or four of them. Your job comes out, you pick up the stack, and go back to work.

An hour later, you print another document, and while waiting for it to print, you notice those old jobs are still there, uncollected. Curious, you peek at the stack, and notice that it’s sensitive information. Do you shred it? Find out who printed it and give it to them?

Now multiply this scenario by the millions of office workers around the country, and it’s easy to see why we use about 50 million tons of paper every year in the US. That’s about 850 million trees. Estimates vary, but the percentage of print jobs left uncollected appears to be around 30%. In addition, if these jobs are sensitive, and wind up in the recycling bin or the trash dumpster, they can expose your organization’s information to competitors, hackers, or worse. They can contribute to HIPPA and FERPA violations, to name a few.

One easy solution, that’s built into most modern MFPs, is called “Follow me.” Instead of your print job going directly to the printer, it starts out a secure server. When you arrive at the printer, you identify yourself, and your job is pulled from the server and printed out right there. Now your sensitive information stays with you, instead of sitting around. And the waste factor is reduced dramatically. The server won’t release the print job until you arrive to “claim” it. So if you get sidetracked, or forget to go collect the job, there is no waste of paper. And no exposure to prying eyes.

An added bonus is that you don’t need to worry about figuring out which printer to send your job to. You can send it from any device — laptop, desktop, tablet or even a phone — and it is routed to whatever printer you physically approach.

Ameritel’s line of Kyocera and Canon printers support this feature. Call us today at 301-463-4699 to find out how “follow me” can save you time and money, while reducing security risks.

The right technology can make all the difference!

Read our blog to learn all of our technology tips and tricks.

The right technology can make all the difference!

Blogs

Subscribe to Blog to stay up-to-date.