Pharos is proud to support Universal Print and we applaud Microsoft for embracing cloud print management. We are making it as simple as possible for IT managers to integrate Universal Print with our Beacon cloud services. Any Pharos customer planning to take advantage of Universal Print will be able to quickly do so.
With Pharos, organizations running Universal Print can add a critical layer of security and confidentiality to their printing workflows. They can also take advantage of comprehensive print analytics to gain the insights needed to continually optimize their print environment.
The video on our Universal Print page demonstrates how easy it is for IT managers to combine Universal Print and Beacon to secure their printers and document output workflows in an Azure AD environment.
Print jobs submitted to Universal Print are parked in a secure virtual queue. When users are ready to collect their documents, they simply walk up to their preferred printer and use their proximity card, mobile device, or login credentials to authenticate and print their documents. Employees can even print from home or any other external network and release their documents when they visit the office.
This secure printing workflow protects confidentiality by ensuring that documents are not left unattended in printer output trays. Print jobs that are not released after a configurable period of time are considered non-essential and will expire. This feature alone typically saves organizations up to 20% on unnecessary output costs.
Pharos cloud printing services are multi-vendor; businesses wishing to leverage Universal Print can quickly establish secure cloud printing workflows on a wide variety of printers from several manufacturers. IT managers can reduce or even fully eliminate their print server infrastructure, enable secure printing from workstations and mobile devices, and offload their print management tasks to cloud services.
Organizations can also enable touchless printing workflows to help manage the new reality we’re all facing in a post-quarantine world. Many people will prefer to limit their contact with shared surfaces, including printer control panels. Offering this option to employees is a proactive way to contribute to workplace safety and help ease concerns.
Microsoft and Pharos share a vision of a world in which printing is simple, secure, and free of print servers. We look forward to supporting our customers who plan to use Universal Print and Azure AD to simplify their printing operations.