My mug as my only companion?
Never has a crisis had such an impact on employees’ relationships with their workplace.
The truth? This crisis has simply speeded up an existing trend: hoteling. A new model for using workspaces that is more dynamic, but that poses new challenges for IT teams.
My office for a hotel.
Hoteling is a new form of office sharing. The model copies the hotel industry, and therefore the idea of booking an office just like you would a hotel room.
In this workspace, employees therefore do not have permanent offices. Instead, they book offices in advance, depending on the days they are going to be present.
This new shared office model is already very popular among companies with mobile employees. Today, however, it appears that almost all employees are mobile, alternating between home office and company offices.
As a result, traditional companies must increasingly deploy this model, similar to the one used for co-working spaces.
Hoteling, a new challenge for IT teams.
Like everything that has to do with users who are on the move, hoteling involves challenges for IT. Printing is one of them. Giving these users access to printers is about as easy as trying to deliver a parcel to someone who moves house every day.
In other words, you may succeed, but you’re much more likely to miss the delivery and, as a result, be deluged with calls to the support service.
Some IT departments are trying to solve this problem with an " everything for everyone” approach. This involves giving users access to all printers in the fleet.
Unfortunately, this approach is limited. It gives users too much choice. They may easily select the wrong printer and send their printing to the wrong place. It can also lead to driver problems if there are different printer models in the fleet.
The other option is rigorous control of printer deployments, but this very rarely works. What happens when a mobile worker suddenly moves to a shared office on another floor? Or at a new site? They will not be able to access a nearby printer, and this generally means a more or less friendly call to the support desk.
In this fast-moving environment, one thing is certain. Print servers are no longer the solution. They were designed for a static working environment. With so many users on the move, GPOs and scripts are unfortunately inefficient and time-consuming tools.
On the other hand, the classic direct IP printing model makes no sense in the hoteling framework. Each printer change requires manual and lengthy intervention, leading to an endless workload for support teams.
Obviously, historical printing methods make it difficult to support your mobile workers. But that doesn't mean hoteling is out of reach. Or that you are doomed to spend the next decade drowning in support requests.
Eliminating print servers is the real answer!
The server-free printing infrastructure makes it easier to manage all mobile users in a hoteling environment. Through a centrally managed direct IP print platform. Print server and direct IP traps become a thing of the past.
How this next-generation architecture responds to these challenges is described below:
- iOS and native Android printing. End users can print directly from their smartphones and tablets.
- Location-based deployments. Automatically deploy printers to users based on IP address or advanced AD/IdP criteria. No script or GPO required.
- Self-service portal. No printer? No problem. Users can install nearby printers by simply clicking on a floor plan map.
- The power of the Cloud. Using the administration console, IT can manage printers and users from anywhere.
- Effortless migration. The transition to this new generation platform is quick and effortless. An automated migration tool imports printer objects, print queues and existing settings.
This solution makes for a painless switch to a hoteling model. When your users return to the office, you can be sure that they get the printers they need based on their current location and workspace. This makes life easier for users on the move, and for the IT team.
The future is mobility, don’t let print servers slow down your business and your users; get rid of them!
