39% of US users have printed wirelessly at least once. Regardless of whether they have a cloud print app installed on their smartphone or use pull printing at work, they know that wireless network printing is highly efficient. It saves time, offers additional flexibility, allows remote printing from anywhere, and much more.
The only thing is that desktop and mobile printing solutions may significantly differ depending on your needs. What works for a home office doesn’t work for a large enterprise that prints thousands of documents per day. Connected with digital apps, network printing solutions are also widely used for print marketing, sending offline communications, and record keeping.
Find more about the kinds of wireless network printing and how to set it up in our article. This time, we’ll talk about:
- Types of wireless printing solutions based on the underlying technology
- Benefits and main uses of wireless network printing and mobile printing solutions
- How to connect printers to digital apps
Types of Wireless Printing Solutions Based on the Underlying Technology
Although wireless printers are mostly associated with Wi-Fi connection, some other supported technologies include Personal Area Network (PAN), Cloud, and Near-Field Communication (NFC). The chosen technology will depend on your infrastructure, security risks, the need to have in-house network printers, and personal preferences.
- Wi-Fi network printing. You can remotely connect to any enabled printer within your network through Wi-Fi. This option is commonly used in offices for more convenient printing and also allows you to print wirelessly from iOS and Android devices.
- PAN network printing. PAN technology connects several personal devices of a user and requires them to be located within up to 10 meters. It’s a preferred solution for portable printers, for example, when a person travels somewhere and needs to print from their laptop or camera.
- Cloud network printing. Cloud print apps enable users to print from any device on the network. You can send print jobs on your way to work from a smartphone or tablet and have them ready once you arrive. This network printing technology lays the foundation for most modern remote printing solutions, including Google Cloud Print for personal use or Inkit for commercial printing.
- NFC network printing. You can print directly from your mobile device by holding it over the NFC tag located on a printer. It’s a short-range wireless printing technology that is only effective if you have physical access to the printer.
Generally, Wi-Fi and cloud network printing solutions offer more flexibility. You don’t have to approach an enabled printer to initiate the printing process. For advanced cloud-based mobile printing solutions, you don’t need hardware at all. Some web-to-print providers allow you to manage remote printing in another location.
Benefits and Main Uses of Wireless Network Printing and Mobile Printing Solutions
The actual benefits you can get from network printing and mobile printing solutions depend on how you use them. For large corporations that regularly produce tons of documents, cost-efficiency is much more important than for an average consumer. On the other hand, ease-of-use and clear interface are what matters most for those who print remotely at home. Let’s take a look at the most common applications of wireless network printing and how this technology benefits users.
Personal use
If you work from home or regularly print a lot of personal documents, consider buying a wireless printer. Canon, HP, Epson are just a few manufacturers that produce affordable equipment for remote printing in house. You can connect the necessary printer to your laptop, smartphone, or tablet and send print jobs remotely. Alternatively, you can use Google Cloud Print app that can be connected with any brand of printer. This cloud print app enables you to print content from Google Chrome tabs, Google Drive, Inbox, and other Google services.
Benefits: After switching from traditional wired devices to remote printing, you’ll work more efficiently. Since you can promptly print everything whenever you want from any device, there is no need to waste time going to printing services with one-time tasks.
Internal use within an office
Mobile printing solutions are commonly used in modern offices to provide employees with access to the same printer. In this case, the printing equipment is more high-powered than personal home printers and covers the printing needs of a large team. Office workers can either use mobile printing solutions like Google Cloud print app or connect their desktop computers to share this printer through Wi-Fi.
Benefits: Employees get more flexibility and can freely move within an office, printing from any room. Besides, business owners don’t need to invest in the purchase and maintenance of multiple wired printers. Specialized wireless equipment can produce a large volume of print and run multiple queues.
Commercial use
Most companies that produce large volumes of print, both for official and marketing communications, rely on printers connected remotely. Since the printing equipment is located in another place, a company doesn’t need to maintain it or manage the printing process. The hardware and printing materials are supplied by third-party printing providers that charge you an additional fee for print management. You only need to share a mail design or document, and they will do everything for you. There is also an option to fully automate the printing process making it a part of your communication workflow by using Inkit. In this case, the tool will automatically launch mail printing in response to specific real-time triggers and manage the delivery to the necessary person.
Benefits: Wireless and cloud print apps allow companies that produce large volumes of commercial and official communications to outsource printing. Thus, they don’t need to purchase in-house printing equipment or figure out how to configure printers. With the right printing provider, business owners will also save on printing costs and mail delivery.
How to Connect Printers to Digital Apps
Before you start the configuration of cloud print apps, make sure they are supported. Desktop and mobile apps could have specific software and hardware requirements. For instance, some legacy equipment, which can be connected to the network only through a print server or IP address, may not work with mobile printing solutions.
To check whether the selected mobile printing solutions are compatible with your hardware and get detailed instructions on how to connect them, visit the relevant resource:
The above products are the most commonly used cloud print apps. They are mainly suitable for personal and office printers when a user manually selects and sends print jobs.
If you are interested in using cloud print apps for large-volume printing and automation, consider subscribing to Inkit. This API integration platform serves as a point of contact between every element connected to your system. It synchronizes all tools and services you use for customer management, marketing, analytics, and other purposes.
As a result, you get a platform that aligns your digital marketing efforts with your database and offline communications. After a quick setup, Inkit will automatically print specific mail at the right moment and send it to the necessary person. For example, when a user joins a loyalty program on your website, they will automatically get a print welcome card. Without Inkit’s automation, this would require a lot of tedious manual management.
Want to know how to start automating printing with Inkit? Visit this guide or contact our team for help.
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