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The Benefits of User-Specific Print Privileges

From small offices to large corporate buildings, copy and other business machines are often in public areas and freely accessed. In fact, printers are often the true water coolers of the modern office, and people rarely demand credentials from copy machine service providers. Nevertheless, these devices present a real potential for security risks and cost inefficiencies, which is why the industry urges companies to restrict usage on a per-user basis.

How Copy Machines Are Safeguarded

Most modern copy machines have a security layer built in that lets you define users and set privileges. Password protection is the most basic form of access control and requires a user to enter a PIN number. Of course, no company wants to add yet another PIN for its employees to remember. More sophisticated options include microchips in ID cards and facial recognition technology.

Closing Network Backdoors

As copy machines have become more sophisticated, so have the potential network security threats they present. These are, after all, network-connected devices. Developers of operating systems and other software have certainly done a much better job over time of recognizing the potential and protecting against it. Nevertheless, it’s recommended to secure this resource at the point of access as well. Be mindful that security risks aren’t just digital in nature. A person with the privilege to open a machine could, for instance, plant a device that records and transmits images of any documents being scanned.

Setting Privileges

From an organization standpoint, perhaps the greatest benefit of establishing user profiles is that you can define what a particular profile or group of profiles can or cannot do. Perhaps basic users can scan documents held in hand, but not scan documents and other items stored in memory.

Tracking Usage on a Per-User Basis

Copying and printing is essential to any modern business, but also presents the potential for big costs and significant inefficiencies. By default, you can track usage on a per-departmental or per-machine basis, but user access allows you to track the usage of each individual. Doing so provides an expansive data set that can be analyzed in order to reveal where the irregularities lie in your print services.