Canon makes security a printing priority

Canon Canada Inc., a printing and imaging company, has recently launched a new version of uniFLOW v5 with enhanced printing security features that requires authentication before printing and restricts user printing.

“Security is very important to all levels of users from SMB (small to medium businesses) to enterprise,” said Evan Hardie, an analyst at IDC Canada Ltd. “The release of confidential print jobs to a device is equally important.”

Printer and copier security was seen as being essential among businesses, according to a report by CBS discussing how documents are stored on the printer’s hard drive. The report raised awareness amongst companies about the security of confidential documents on the multifunctional printer’s hard drive, Hardy said. UniFLOW v5 solves enterprise customers’ problems with security and protects the confidential documents because it only prints when a person logs on to the printer.

“Enterprise customers have insisted that vendors provide provisions for the security of confidential documents,” Hardie said. “Canon’s uniFLOW v5 provides the user the ability to pull jobs down from anywhere in a network, which aids in the security of the print job.”

Using this software, an IT department can choose settings disallowing documents with certain keywords to be printed . This ensures employees are not printing too many personal documents unrelated to work. UniFLOW v5 also allows work to be sent to multiple printers easily and it works well with Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint to convert documents. This new version of UniFLOW helps IT people maintain better control over printing and streamlines printing processes across the organization, according to a report by Canon. With this software, IT can coordinate printing to be more efficient to avoid bottlenecks.Instead they can set it so that dormant printers can be used.

UniFLOWS also benefits businesses by cutting printing costs because it limits colour prints. It also allows companies to monitor confidential documents by typing in the keywords spelled out in full for search purposes, according to Hardie.
 
Another security feature of this version of UniFLOW is it prevents unauthorized scanning of hard copy or digital documents. UniFLOW v5 was already available in Europe over the summer.
 
“It fits amazingly well with Canon devices,” said Natasa Galic-Prekovic, a marketing manager at Canon.
 
UniFLOW v5 is also environmentally friendly because it means there will be fewer useless prints, according to Galic-Prekovic. This is because you have to physically allow print jobs from the printer with a card or access code.
 
“You have to go and release the job so there is no overflow in the blue bins beside the printer,” Galic-Prekovic.
 
Canon is not the only company with a product like UniFLOWS v5; many third party companies are introducing similar solutions in response to security concerns, according to Hardie.

 

 

 

 

 

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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