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Barcode label printers are critical components in manufacturing, warehousing, retail, and other operations. Without accurate, legible labels, even the most advanced automated data capture solution can be crippled by errors or bottlenecks.

Making sure your fleet of label printers operates properly, provides quality labels, and has the latest updates can be challenging for an IT organization that is already likely spread pretty thin. A remote printer management solution, such as Zebra Technologies’ Profile Manager Enterprise, can help ease the burden of managing and maintaining an industrial printer deployment. In the same way that centralized PC support tools or mobile device management (MDM) systems have streamlined other IT management tasks, remote printer management can cut costs, reduce labor, and improve printer performance.

Here are four important benefits of remote printer management solutions:

Visibility into the entire printer fleet:  Even if your printers are spread across a large facility, a corporate campus, or in multiple locations around the country (or the world), printer management software can allow you to quickly assess the status of the entire fleet, specific locations, or individual printers.

Remote printer management allows you to automatically discover any printer on the network, and then organize those printers into logical groups. With the click of a button, you can check printer status, initially configure or update a specific group of printers (such as printers in a specific department, or a particular type of printer in one location), or configure/update printers at every location simultaneously.

Rules-based, granular permissions control: Permissions allow you to control not only who has access to printers, but also their level of access. Using single sign-on technology, you can define the settings for any type of employee, including users, administrators, and technicians.

Printer updates scheduled to minimize disruptions: Schedule printer updates when the printer is powered up and visible on the network, or schedule those updates to avoid disruptions in workflow or costly downtime. With a remote management tool, you have complete control over updates and regular maintenance activities. Updates or new configurations can also be pushed out to devices automatically.

Remote printer management tools also make it easier to be alerted when printers are at risk of failing or need regular maintenance. Visual alerts in the management dashboard can quickly and easily provide status updates. Managers will know if a printer has gone offline or is out of its operating temperature range. Managers can also monitor conditions like printer head condition or battery health and set automatic alerts to remind operators when to perform regular maintenance tasks or to change media.

Better security: With more printers connected directly to the network, the security of these devices has become a bigger concern for the IT department. Using remote printer management tools, companies can leverage a direct, secure, encrypted connection to printers that protects sensitive data to help ensure compliance with standard IT practices. In addition, the monitoring capabilities in the management software can help alert IT staff of unusual printer activity, unauthorized access, and other indicators that there may be a data breach.

Healthy printers are an important building block of a well-running data collection and labeling operation. Remote printer management software can help reduce the labor and costs associated with deploying and maintaining a printer fleet, while also providing real-time visibility into printer status and operations. This makes it easier to quickly respond when there is a problem, and to ensure that your printers are running with the latest software and security updates.

Talk to an expert at Imprint Enterprises about Zebra Profile Manager Enterprise today.