However, like all good things – most come to an end – and when something unexpected happens (looking at you, global pandemic), like the decline of in-school learning and the uptake of remote school administration, we saw the dust start to settle on school printers while rising demand for home office printers left shelves bare.
Now the pendulum has swung back again. This time students are returning to the classroom and print has been placed squarely back in the limelight.
Not all is as it was pre-covid. Today, schools continue to face human resource challenges in response to the pandemic, educational budgets are even tighter, and IT departments are stretched as they face off against rising security threats.
This makes it an ideal time to review your current print arrangements, particularly if your print contract is up for review – or if you have not revisited your print set-up, or contracts, for an extended time. There are likely more effective and affordable ways to manage your print requirements while also lowering costs and bolstering security.
Data#3’s extensive experience as an education technology partner and 25 year-long partnership with HP delivers managed print solutions made just for our education customers. Complete with competitive, surprise-free pricing and aligned with sustainable and ethical practices, our HP print solutions put safe, secure, and highly efficient printers into the hands of education institutions.
Whether you are looking for a fast and economical printer, secure and sustainable energy star certified printer, enterprise-class multifunction printer, or a printer that offers maximum uptime, strong security and fast printing – there is something in the HP print portfolio to suit your needs.
Let’s take a look at the advantages of the HP print portfolio over its counterparts, starting with security.
Printers are often overlooked from a security perspective. Incredibly, 56% of enterprise companies ignore printers in their endpoint security strategy***. It is for that very reason printing devices can be prime targets for cyberattacks. To reduce risk and improve compliance, HP printers boast the industry’s strongest security measures, with technologies embedded to monitor, detect and stop threats before they become a concern.
On top of the security features above, HP offers enhanced security monitoring and management solutions.
This is the industry’s first policy–based solution and it protects student information and printers by establishing policies, automating fixes, and maintaining ongoing compliance.
Education institutions know that protecting sensitive student and staff information is both crucial and regulated. More often than not, print fleets can be large, which makes maintaining security a considerable IT administration overhead. HP Security Manager saves time and money by scheduling a daily assessment and remediation of your HP printing and imaging fleet. This keeps the fleet compliant with security policies, while freeing up IT for more strategic activities. Advanced reporting also makes it easy to verify that student information is safe and secure.
A multivendor cloud-first print management platform that delivers a 360 degree view of your print environment. Using either fleet analytics or print analytics, you can pinpoint opportunities to reduce costs and improve end user experience or discover the true cost of printing.
PaperCut MF
A low cost, vendor-neutral software solution that is designed to enable schools to seamlessly monitor and control their printing resources, providing transparency over costs and environmental impact. Once implemented, students and teachers can easily print from a BYOD or mobile device, while auto-deploying print drivers will lighten IT’s load. It’s all centralised too – the administrative and user tools can be securely accessed from a web browser. We cover more on PaperCut MF, along with other integrated print solutions, in this blog.
There’s also plenty of security built-in, including
– End-to-end encryption
– User authentication
– Watermarking and digital signatures
– Secure Print Release
– Print archiving
As educators of the citizens for the future, education institutions play an essential role in introducing sustainable practices to students. This means partnering with suppliers and vendors whose ethical and sustainable goals are aligned.
Most would agree that print has a not-so great reputation when it comes to environmentally sustainable practices. The impact of print on the environment is something HP is deeply aware of and actively working towards changing. Their efforts have seen HP become the world’s #1 printer supply recycler**. Not only do they recycle print cartridges, they are also moving towards more carbon neutral print products that are supportive of a circular and low-carbon economy. Since 2017, they have released more than 300 products made from ocean-bound plastic.
Data#3 is one of only two partners in Australia who can provide highly competitive pricing for HP Print solutions. In addition, we offer services to design, transition, and manage your entire print fleet – ensuring that print once again becomes part of your broader IT strategy. This includes pairing your school with printers and solutions that are secure, improve workflows and lower costs. You also get the local service and support that we are known for, a dedicated Account Manager you can talk to, and an honest, competitive proposal (without any hidden “gotchas”).
Contact a Data#3 HP specialist to learn more about out HP printer fleet solutions and find the right fit for your school.
* Intergraf 92019), New research identifies benefits of print [ONLINE]. Available here.
** Compared to majority of competing in-class OEM ink & laser printer supply recycling programs. Criteria: size, reach, recycled content use, upcycling and eco award/ranking. HP-commissioned Aug 2020 InfoTrends research report. Market share: IDC Q2’20 Hardcopy Peripheral Tracker. Program availability varies. See hp.com/go/recycle and keypointintelligence.com/HPPlanetPartners.
*** Ponemon Institute, Annual Global IT Security Benchmark Tracking Study,” March 2015