Hardware 

High-end desktop machines – usually Apple Mac devices – are common in most printers. After all, fast, powerful processing power is a must for handling files that are usually several gigabytes in size.

“We use Macs almost exclusively in studios, client service teams, development, marketing and management,” says Grafenia chief executive Peter Gunning, echoing a situation in many other printers. 

However, Windows machines are widely used too and it’s important to make sure they are kept updated with the latest software updates to ensure the necessary security patches are installed. 

Most machines in use in businesses are still running Windows 7 and this will remain supported by security patches from Microsoft until 2020. However, it’s always better to act in good time and print firms with big Windows 7 estates should think about the move to Windows 10 sooner rather than later. 

Cloud software 

Sales of cloud services are expected to hit $200bn (£140bn) in 2016 according to data from leading IT analyst firm Gartner, underlining just how pervasive cloud has become across all sectors – it was also a big theme at Drupa. 

Print is no different and the benefits of cloud software services are numerous, chiefly in the flexibility and scalability it offers, whether expanding the number of users on a piece of software, or increasing the capacity on a system during peak demand – say around Christmas.

Julian Marsh from The Harrier Group says his firm uses a lot of cloud-based tools now, such as from Adobe, helping remove the hassle of deploying and managing software on site. “These are used to work on customer files and ensure they are good to print,” he said, noting that the firm is also looking to trial more cloud tools around file approval automation too.

For printers concerned by cloud systems, particularly where the data will be stored, cloud giants such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Service are increasingly opening data centres in Europe and other locations to let customers dictate where their data resides, to help ensure they know under which legal jurisdictions their data is being stored.

Broadband 

Of course while there are plenty of benefits of cloud computing, its smooth running is dependent on high-speed internet connections, especially moving uploading downloading large files. 

To ensure this is the case most firms opt for business-grade fibre connections, as Gunning from Grafenia explains: “Our HQ is connected by a direct fibre optic link to our two data centres.” This has served the firm well, especially as the cloud is now central to its operations. “All our partners upload files to our cloud-based servers and we pull them down as we begin production,” he adds.

As well as ensuring connections have the necessary capacity, availability must also be taken into consideration, as a single connection brings the risk of network downtime. For this reason many firms have more than one connection.

“We currently have three 100MB fibre optic data lines coming in to the business,” explains Marsh from Harrier. “To mitigate risk we use three different suppliers and the entry points are in three different parts of the building.”

Data storage 

Storage may not be the sexiest of topics, but there is a lot happening in this space that printers need to be aware of, as Simon Robinson from analyst firm 451 Research explains: “Companies are keeping everything forever now, so they need ever increasing data storage capacities. For a while it looked like the market for this was hitting a plateau, but now we’re expecting 20TB hard drives to be the norm in just a few years.”

This might prove a convenient solution for printers currently having to endlessly upgrade their existing storage hardware. “This could be a big benefit as company’s increasingly just want to retain everything, just in case,” Robinson adds.

As well as improvements around storage hardware printers can buy and manage themselves, there is also lots happening around cloud storage that could benefit printers: “It’s really pushing the envelope on price so it becomes something organisations should definitely consider,” says Robinson, who also notes that the price of storing a gigabyte of data on Amazon’s archiving Glacier service is just a few pence a month. Given that it can be scaled as required, this also remove the hassle of an expensive bit of kit hitting its storage limit and requiring replacing, or upgrading, at great costs.

Security

Hacks on UK businesses, in all industries, are a major threat, with the government estimating two-thirds of large UK firms have been hit by cyber breach or attack in past year. Given the sensitive data printers hold – from marketing material that may contain information not in the public domain to huge customer databases – keeping it secure is vital. 

This is no easy task and security experts urge that businesses take a proactive ‘worst-case-scenario’ approach to these threats, as Darren Thomson, chief technology officer at Symantec, explains: “Businesses need to expect to suffer a breach and focus their efforts on quickly recognising, responding and remediating attacks when they do happen.”

Marsh from Harrier says that his firm breaks the threat down into two arenas: malicious and accidental. 

“We have top-end firewalls installed. All our server infrastructure is locked away and only accessible via biometric locking systems. All activity within the server rooms is monitored and recorded,” he says.

Wisely, though, Harrier puts more focus on mitigating accidental issues – often the cause of most security incidents. 

“We run two identical server rooms and load balance between them. In the event of an issue in one we are able to move all processing to the other in a matter of milliseconds. We have a very strict change control process in place.”

Data protection 

The importance of good security is only going to become more important after new data protection laws were approved in Europe recently – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

This will create a single pan-European law, and firms that collect sensitive data must abide by it, regardless of the political situation between the EU and the UK.

At its core the law brings with it several notable changes, including notifying data regulators and individuals affected of breaches within 72 hours, fines of up to 4% of global turnover for the worst incidents, and the right for individuals to have data removed from databases.

Security firm Trend Micro expects the law to have a big impact, and its Cyber Security Solution Architect, Simon Edwards, told PrintWeek that given the sensitive data that print firms hold, they should start preparing now.

“Printing companies hold a lot of very valuable customer data, and as such will fall under the controls being put in place under the new GDPR law,” he says.

“This [the law] will put a much greater burden on an industry not as savvy as say the financial industry, to implement Breach Defence systems along with adequate monitoring and response plans.”

E-commerce expertise 

Being able to take orders online from e-commerce tools is now key to many print companies’ operations, with many developing their own tools for the market, such is the importance to modern print shops.

Gunning from Grafenia says that customers rely on it just as much for the online retail platforms it can provide as they do for its print expertise. 

“Clients are increasingly prioritising their own online presence ahead of print,” he says. “Sure they still buy a tonne of print, but if we can’t help them with e-commerce or online bookings, then we will likely lose them to someone who can.”

Given this ongoing trend towards online retail – in all forms – printers with an ageing or defunct web presence and e-commerce operation need to act fast, or risk being left behind. 

Looking to the future 

The ‘internet of things’ (IOT) has been talked about for many years with a degree of future gazing, but it is now on the cusp of becoming mainstream, with an expected 38 billion IOT sensors online by 2020. 

The idea is that companies will be able to install small sensors to the relevant pieces of machinery and specify the sort of data they monitor, such as heat, movement, vibrations and so on, to assess the state of key components. 

For printers, operating large, complex machinery, this could clearly have huge benefits by providing an early warning when systems may be on the verge of suffering a manufacturing fault, avoiding downtime and production problems – some manufacturers have started to offer such systems. 

This may not be something that becomes the norm overnight, but like many technology trends, the key is to be aware and ready to act when relevant, to avoiding finding yourself behind the competition.