The Dangers of Changing Your Digital Environment Without Including Your Technology Providers

Did you know making changes to your digital environment can interrupt something as simple as the ability to print and scan from your workstation? Did you know that even something as simple as updating your computer can cause document workflows to fail?

Often, the solutions to these problems are simple fixes — but if you aren’t aware of what these common problems are, they can cause delays and headaches as your organization suffers a loss of productivity.

After reading this blog, you’ll be able to determine if a change to your digital environment will affect your ability to print, or your document workflows.

THE FIRST RULE: ALWAYS COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER

If you’re not a technical person, don’t worry. Often the simplest and fastest method to determine if a technological change will interrupt your ability to print is to ask your print service provider. Even small changes can have unexpected, profound impacts on your workflows.

It may seem embarrassing or superfluous to call your account manager or representative to ask about a small change to your digital environment, but if you’re in the hands of a reputable provider with a professional level of customer service, they will be happy you did. It’s always easier to prevent a problem than it is to fix it, and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Your office’s copier is probably attached to more processes than you may realize — and changing any of those processes can impact your copier in a myriad of ways. Below, you’ll find a non-exhaustive list of examples of things that can cause your copier to stop working.

COMMON EXAMPLES OF CHANGES MADE TO DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS THAT CAUSE PRINTING AND DOCUMENT WORKFLOW INTERRUPTIONS

Operating System Updates

As mentioned above, something as simple as everyday Windows updates have the ability to break your print drivers. For example, Microsoft released a patch that caused issues with Kyocera print drivers worldwide. When a user would click “print” on a document, their word-processor would crash, and the print queue would simply spool and never print.

This issue was eventually fixed with a revised Windows update. Most fixes rely on third party providers, causing long lead times to fixes. While it’s always best practice to update your computers as soon as updates are available, its always a good idea to have a backup ready just in case an update crashes your print environment.

Changing Computers

Every few years, it’s time to get a new computer. Switching to a new computer can change sharing permissions on folders you normally have access to. If these permissions aren’t updated to include your new computer, features such as scan to email or scan to folder can stop working.

Luckily, this fix is easy: just go to the folder in question, and re-add your workstation to the shared devices.

Changing Managed Service Providers

If your organization partners with a MSP, and switches to another, always communicate the exact needs of your print workflows. Print servers can be easily overlooked in service migrations, and are necessary to any networked print environment. If your print server breaks, that reduces your ability to print to only directly connecting your computer to your copier, or by placing your print files on a USB, and then plugging the USB into the copier itself.

A good MSP should always make sure they include your print server in their migration and management.

Changing Hardware

Similar to changing computers, changing any server room hardware can impact your ability to print. This is typically due to IP schemes changing. Since IP addresses are the way devices on your network identify and communicate with each other, when a single IP address changes, your entire print environment can break — especially if that IP address belongs to a piece of hardware in your server room stack.

To avoid this, make sure to clearly communicate to the team changing your server room hardware about how your printers interact with end users. They will need to make sure after the changes have happened that all necessary network settings and permissions are updated for the new environment. 

Migrating to the Cloud

Just like changing your physical server hardware, migrating to the cloud can cause your entire print environment to fail. This won’t just affect your ability to print, however. If you use digital workflow applications to automate scanning, filing, OCR, or any other print and document management feature, a migration to the cloud can bring all of that crumbling down.

We highly recommend that if you’re migrating your servers to the cloud, that you continue to use a localized print server. Print servers are very lightweight, and can be entirely run on a regular desktop computer. Plus, if your print server exists in the cloud, you run the risk of causing unnecessary delays in your print queue, as the print data must travel from your workstation, to the cloud, and then back to your office’s copier — often traveling over thousands of miles of ISP line, and through multiple servers.

Moving your copier

Even something as simple as moving your copier can interrupt your printing operations. Not only are office multi-function printers sensitive machines that can break if transported improperly, it can also lead to your service technician losing your printer. If your office has multiple printers on multiple floors, it can cause a lot of confusion for your technicians, causing unnecessary delays in service calls.

QUESTIONS? CALL.

We hope you’ve found this (non-exhaustive) list informative. If you have any questions about changes you’d like to make to your digital environment, but you’re not sure how they will affect your organization’s ability to print, or you’re worried something might break, contact us here. We’re more than happy to guide you through any worries you may have.