The Small Business Guide to Wireless Printing
With office WiFi already a firm fact of life, wireless printers are able to connect to the network using an installed WiFi transceiver. Once connected, they are compatible with all devices, and can print from anywhere within the network range.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of incorporating a WiFi enabled printing device in your small business.
The pros:
1. Increased flexibility
Having easily integrated WiFi access to a trustworthy communal printer means that employees can print quickly, whenever they need to. This is beneficial to everyone’s productivity because it replaces the cumbersome task of navigating wire connections and who has printer access.
2. Reduce spending
Buying, maintaining and powering a single WiFi enabled communal printer is a big money saver for your office. All employees can have quick, seamless access to printed documents at the click of a button. This eliminates the need for you to purchase multiple desktop printers which will in turn require electricity and maintenance.
3. Fewer cords
Wireless printers reduce the cords you have cluttering up the office. Tangled wires are a constant challenge for employees and can limit good workflow practices such as hot desking or use of communal spaces. By removing multiple plug-in printers from the office you also remove a great number of wires.
4. Integrate with modern technology
With a wireless printer, workers can simply connect to it via the WiFi on their mobile or tablet and print the notes or documents they have just been reading in a meeting or at a client site. No more will these documents have to be awkwardly transferred to the plugged in computer.
Epson WiFi enabled printers also support Apple Airprint, Google Cloud Print and Epson iPrint. This means that you can print on the go, leaving employees to concentrate on fitting in more clients and business functionality while the printing happens in the background.
The cons:
1. Speed issues
Wireless printers rely on information sent to them over a wireless network, and understandably they can’t begin printing until all of this has been received. Printing speed is therefore affected by the speed of your WiFi connection. Unlike a connected wire which transmits the information almost instantly, your WiFi network may be influenced by interference such as walls or other devices trying to connect.
This issue can usually be improved with a good strong wireless internet connection, but this may not always be possible.
Bandwidth, and the information being transferred within it, are more vulnerable to attack in a wireless network versus a wired one. Having an open signal that unlimited devices can connect to also makes it difficult to monitor your network, and infected devices can gain access.
These risks, though prevalent, can be combated by understanding exactly what your security weaknesses are and taking active security measures, such as:
1. Training staff to take proper precautions
2. Encrypting printer job information
3. Keeping printer software updated
Also, proximity of printers within various workplace areas can play an important part in security. The benefits of a distributed printer fleet include easy access, confidentiality and control, which all contribute to enhanced workflow. The local distributed print model such as the Epson printers for business are particularly useful where confidentiality and fast, direct access to prints is crucial.
— — — — — — — —
For more articles on printers and projectors, visit Epson Shop blog.
