The Best Print Management Software Review
For our evaluation of print management software, we have approached our study from the three core criteria which define the scope of these solutions:
1) device management,
2) cost management,
3) output management.
Device Management
At its heart, print management software exists to deliver device management, which is to say that it enables network administrators to monitor and manage printers and multifunctional printers (MFPs) remotely from a desktop.
The best of breed print management software solutions enhance productivity by ensuring print device uptime, automating supplies management, and offering the centralisation of printer settings, and the automation of software updates.
Critically, print management software also delivers user-friendly connectivity. As a whole, these core objectives free-up an organisation’s IT resources and, so, reduces the cost of print to the organisation.
Cost Management
Cost management and cost reduction are essential features to print management software solutions, and these are very often the initial reasons for implementation. All good print management solutions track print output devices as well as the user activity of every device.
While simultaneously helping you to manage print costs, there’s always a strong element of device security to limit who can print to which device, whether dedicated printers on the desktop, or centralised office multifunctional printers.
Output Management
In terms of output management solutions, the best solutions include cloud-based technologies which facilitate remote connection to printers, and which even ensure accurate colour consistency across printer fleets.
However, there are a handful of specialist print management software applications which add so much of value to the security equation, they must be considered regardless of which core software suite is selected.
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For its sheer robustness, PaperCut software is one of the undisputed leaders, not least of all because they have more than 100 million users spread across 60,000 organisations globally. With two hundred staff entirely dedicated to a single, focussed, product suite, you’ll discover their print management solutions can be deployed for just tracking and monitoring of print jobs, or extended through to integrating BYOD printing and advanced job management.
At the entry level, you find PaperCut Mobility Print, which is a free alternative to Google Cloud Print and it’s designed to enable Chromebook and Windows users to print remotely and outside their own networks by sending print jobs over the internet. We’re delighted to report that Apple Mac support is coming soon.
Solutions for Businesses of Every Size
For small businesses, there’s PaperCut NG, although for most users it’s PaperCut MF which become the print management software of choice. PaperCut MF is based on the three principles of easy, secure, and waste-free printing. It’s phenomenally easy for a specialist to install and configure, it’s robust, and highly customisable.
As PaperCut also supports mobile and BYOD printing, follow-me / follow-you printing for secure print release, there not much more you’d want to ask of a sophisticated print management application able to fully support your desktop and MFD print environment.
Although PaperCut haven’t yet released a full-blown Cloud print application, PaperCut Hive is now in Beta, and so Cloud print management is nearly here. As it’s from PaperCut, it’s bound to be both very good and well tested indeed.
If you’re looking for print management software with a true pedigree, then Kofax Equitrac must be under consideration. For decades, Kofax have proven that there’s nothing beyond their skills when it comes to managing document scanning, capture and printing.
Kofax Equitrac is the absolute pinnacle for enterprise-grade print management, as demonstrated with its total emphasis upon print security delivered by enforcing user-centric print and capture policies.
Equitrac is Scalable
We like how Equitrac scales from small businesses up to large multi-site enterprises with countless print devices, and that you can both simplify and centrally manage mixed fleets of multifunctional device (MFP) fleets, with minimal additional administration.
Where Kofax Equitrac wins in the print management software review challenge, is that it’s the cream of the crop for detailed analytics and customised reporting. In fact, the analytics are precisely what the CIO and CISO want at their fingertips as they explore their total print device utilisation.
It’s not a perfect software suite, yet, since Kofax Equitrac is not yet in the cloud, and the configuration can prove to be quite complex. These are justifiable trade-offs, though, in a world where security is paramount, and your organisation is complex.
Over twenty years, PrinterLogic has become a print management software force to be reckoned with. Like PaperCut, PrinterLogic employ around 200 staff solely dedicated to their mission: print management and the elimination of physical print servers.
PrinterLogic have a singular belief: if you eliminate on-premise print servers in favour of a purely cloud based print management software solutions, your client gains security, ease of use, reduced IT overheads, lowered costs,
Perfect in Virtual Print Environments
There’s a ‘next-generation’ approach to PrinterLogic’s enterprise print management. Faced with complex virtual environments, such as Citrix and VMware, their print management software serves as a fully-fledged, cross-platform print management solution, which enables organisations of any size to eliminate print servers and replace them with a single centralised server running a single, infinitely scalable instance of their software.
With the power of cloud-based print management, PrinterLogic manages your print queues with an unmatched speed, and as it’s almost fully automated (without requiring any on-site hardware) it offers up the print drivers you need wherever you are across your organisation.
Whether it’s for a global enterprise or a multi-site operation in the United Kingdom only, imagine being able to walk into any office and being able to print instantly. No drivers to install, no permissions to secure – all because your permissions were mapped centrally, and the print drivers load on command.
UniPrint bills itself as the ‘all in one’ is print management software platform, which offers both cloud and on-premise print management. It’s print vendor agnostic, so you can deploy & manage printers regardless of vendor or environment, including A3 devices and home printers.
They call it ‘universal printing’, so regardless of whether you’re an office worker, remote worker, or hybrid worker, your printing experience remains consistent. Like the best print management solutions, UniPrint also offers follow-me / follow-you print support, for secure release, and it incorporates a mobile App for contactless secure release too.
Excellent in Citrix and VMware Print Environments
UniPrint is a powerful solution which can deliver enormous cost savings, but it does lack the sophisticated reporting tools of Equitrac, for example. Configuration is not the easiest, but with careful planning there’s no doubt that this is a reliable solution. It comes into its own in virtual environments, such as Citrix and VMware, and wherever print virtualisation is planned.
For solid, comprehensive, and robust print management software, Xerox Workplace Solutions is a top contender. Confusingly, this software suite comprises two separate products: Xerox Workplace Suite, and Xerox Workplace Cloud.
Xerox® Workplace Suite is the ideal choice for those who need productivity for mobile devices and office workers, and especially if they have additional requirements for data control. Xerox Workplace Suite provides on-premises, server-based print management and mobile access for your printer fleet. It offers the benchmark security, convenience and usage insights you need to unleash productivity and reduce costs.
Xerox Workplace Cloud is famously easy-to-use and IT-friendly. It’s entire design is about removing security risks, and in delivering sophisticated tools for convenient and powerful dashboard-based monitoring and control of your entire printer fleet. Xerox Workplace Cloud is the ideal choice for organisations with limited access to IT support, and organisations with multiple networks.
Powerful Dashboard-based Monitoring
Xerox Workplace Solutions give a seamless experience across the full ecosystem of operating systems, even with complex network configurations allowing print submission over the local network or across the internet from remote locations. Users won’t need IT support to get up and running — raising productivity for everyone.
We especially like how the Xerox Workplace Cloud print management software provides native desktop printing via Windows, Chromebooks and the Apple Mac OS., and desktop clients can make job submissions over the internet or local network, and there’s mobile support too.
Comprehensive, flexible, and support for massive multi-site fleets of mixed devices, this is a global print management solution which should be on every organisation’s radar.
We have included Kofax Output Manager in this review because this software adds so much more security control to every print management deployment. In fact, for virtually any business working with sensitive data, in this age of data protection and extreme regulatory compliance, it’s almost careless to not have Kofax Output Manager installed.
Output Manager is the solution to print security: whether it’s a borrower’s financials on a loan application or a patient’s medical records, managing confidential data properly isn’t an easy task. Now you can be alerted to who has accessed or printed any document, automatically redact sensitive data, and generate the audit trails which will protect your business from data theft.
You gain centralised print management to lower your costs, as well as remote print and capture support for your mobile workers. This is your best solution to tighten information security with document inspection and document transformation, the ability to keep confidential data from printing, watermarking and mobile authentication.
The Top Choice for Data Protection
Consult with your Data Protection Officer and ask how important it is to identify or remove sensitive information prior to printing, or even to remove documents altogether before someone attempts to print, or at least to enable automated redaction and add watermarks. With a full chain of custody, and encryption of files that have printed or are waiting to print, you ‘data at rest’ is secured too.
For solicitors, finance directors, HR professionals, and any environment where personal or company confidential data is handled, Kofax Output Manager is the solution to implement.
The Advanced UK Rating for the Best Print Management Software
For the small to mid-sized business of up to 1,000 employees, it’s hard to challenge PaperCut MF, while for the very largest corporations, and those with complex print fleets across multiple sites, then it’s either Xerox Workplace Solutions or Kofax Equitrac which must be considered also.
For organisations seeking to eliminate print servers, then PrinterLogic is always a contender, as is Kofax Output Manager. Expect PaperCut to challenge in this environment in 2021.
For global support, or where the most stringent security requirements are factors, then your shortlist might lead with Xerox Workplace Solutions, Kofax Equitrac.
At Advanced UK, we bring all of these solutions to the market, across the UK. We advise, configure and support in equal measure, and with such proven independence, you can rest assured that you will be guided to select the most appropriate print management software solution for your environment today, and one which will work in harmony with your development plans.
How Do I Find Out More?
Call the Advanced UK sales team on 01895 811811 to configure your solution.
Humperdinck Jackman – Marketing Director
Humperdinck has a 30-year career spanning Document Management Systems (DMS), data protection, Artificial Intelligence, Data Protection and Robotic Process Automation. With many articles published in print internationally, he believes the advances in office technology are such that we’re entering the 4th Industrial Revolution. Now Director of Marketing and Consulting Services at Advanced UK, he’s as active with clients as he is in endeavouring to write original blog articles.
