Posted by Michelle Rochford
Wireless printers allow you and your staff to work in a highly mobile and flexible manner. Different staff members, each working on multiple mobile devices, can quickly and easily access the powerful features of the printer, turning digital files on a small screen into full colour prints, or transforming printed assets into digital files via scanning.
Let’s find out more about the different wireless printing options, and what you should look out for when choosing a wireless printer that will be truly helpful for your business.
Many small businesses are finding new levels of flexibility and competitive advantage with wireless printers and multi-function devices.
Space-constrained businesses, or businesses which rely on physical mobility, also benefit, as wireless printers can be placed anywhere in the office, without having to worry about running or routing data cables.
But that’s not all: wireless printing technology enables even greater flexibility with direct mobile connections, Cloud printing, and access directly from apps. Here are three things to look for when choosing a wireless printer for your business.
Most wireless printers today connect via Wi-Fi. As the dominant standard for wireless networks, Wi-Fi allows quick and easy connectivity with most home and office networks and routers, allowing you the freedom to put the printer wherever you want and easily share access with the users that need it, regardless of where their desk is.
Look for printers that are simple and straight-forward to set up and connect. Some devices offer the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) feature, which allows you to connect the device securely to the network with a button push, without having to go through the router configuration screen.
Even if you plan on mostly using Wi-Fi with your printer, it is a good idea to have other options at your disposal. Traditional USB and wired Ethernet connectivity options mean that even if you lose your wireless network, you can still get those urgent print jobs done, by falling back on simple wired connections.
If you are a highly mobile user, newer options like Wi-Fi Direct allow you to directly connect your wireless device to the printer via a peer-to-peer connection, so you can print even without a wireless access point or router.
Near Field Communication (NFC) features allow similar, direct printing from your devices, but require you to touch a NFC-enabled mobile device to the printer in order to start printing.
More and more businesses are using mobile devices like tablets and even smart phones to get serious work done. The ability to print documents, PDFs, photos and other files from your mobile device will help bridge the divide between the ultra-portable small screen, and printed, physical assets.
Many wireless printers also support printing from the Cloud, so you can start print jobs as long as you are connected to the Internet.
To be able to take advantage of these capabilities, look for printers that have support for AirPrint, Google Cloud Print or that can link through a Print Utility App.
Fuji Xerox has many printers and multi-functional designed with wireless capabilities. Our Free Print Utility App allows printing from the Cloud, and scanning to the Cloud – including photographs captured by you on your mobile devices! To find out more about our wireless printers and our powerful Print Utility Apps, please visit http://www.fujixeroxprinters.com.au
Topics: Wireless Printing, Mobile Printing, Small Business