As technology evolves, it is important that we do too!
uniFLOW is a print management solution that provides secure print rights and HIPAA compliance to its clients. It needs user intervention to retrieve print jobs, assisting with cost reduction by eliminating unnecessary printing. It is also software that provides cost recovery and accounting at the click of your fingers. It helps users by giving their clients correct statistics of work performance so they know how much to charge them back.
Central management, organization-wide planning, and decision-making management are big benefits of uniFLOW. Rather than managing scan workflows individually, you build workflows into the application and push them to your desired devices. This reduces the amount of time spent on unnecessary printing tasks.
uniFLOW is Canon-owned, and Usherwood has utilized Canon for forty-seven years. We have a tight-knit relationship with Canon, and we've tried out various vendors and manufacturers, so trust us when we say this is the one that has stuck with us and made a great impression.
But we know our clients will always have questions and want to understand better the technology they're purchasing, so let's go over a few commonly asked questions about uniFLOW.
A common question amongst clients lately revolves around scanning to cloud destinations. These cloud destinations include Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, etc.. uniFLOW can make this happen and scan those destinations easily. Those workflows can be built in and help provide a secure authentication mechanism back to the end user who needs to get into their respective document.
uniFLOW has been a staple in print management since 2004. After implementation, the product line is designed to integrate seamlessly with Canon products with a strong global brand, portfolio, and history.
Thanks to uniFLOW SmartClient, software installed on a client PC, print jobs stay within the local network where they are processed and stored on users' local PCs instead of sent via VPN to a hosted server or the internet to a cloud-based service. When a print job release is initiated, the uniFLOW SmartClient sends the job to the device where the user is authenticated. Users can also send their print jobs to third-generation imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices using Direct Secure Print while utilizing My Print Anywhere functionality. Print jobs are only released to a selected printer once a user has authenticated that device. The spool file is deleted as soon as the printout is completed or after a specified period.
uniFLOW Online hosts in Microsoft Azure™ data centers distributed across the globe. This always ensures data sovereignty as customer data remains within the local region. European customers' data are stored within European data centers, while US customers can be sure their data will never leave the US.
Proving this point, uniFLOW Online's Print via the cloud, combined with Canon's imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX Series, was awarded the Silver ASTORS' Award for Best Access Control & Authentication System.
The solution was recognized for its usability, flexible and straightforward design, advanced scanning, robust security features, and enhanced cloud functionality. It helps customers keep control over access to their systems and critical information. Combining multifunctional devices with a print management solution prevents unauthorized use and keeps valuable and confidential information safe.
Users can print jobs from their mobile devices, smartphones, or tablets by sending the file to publish as an email to uniFLOW Online or directly using mobile job submission on the uniFLOW Online Tenant. Should the file need conversion from its native file format into a language the printer can process, this will happen within the regional data center where the uniFLOW Online service hosts, i.e., customer data do not leave the data center. Once converted, the original file is deleted. The converted file is held within the regional data center until the user selects it to be released/printed or until they are deleted after a pre-set time.
Users can scan to themselves, Google Drive, or various cloud-based scan destinations. The captured document travels via the cloud to the selected scan destination when scanning. However, no reviewed content or scanned images are stored in uniFLOW Online. Only the processing, if applicable, is done in the cloud. Regular users and administrators have no access to the content or index data of the scanned document.
Return on Investment (ROI) is essential in most network technology procurements. Calculating the return in financial terms can be tricky for IT projects because the benefits and savings are often difficult to quantify. You will not have these problems calculating the ROI for uniFLOW Online because the savings are direct. The savings are implementation-dependent, but monitoring printing will generally yield a 10% - 20% savings over an unmanaged print environment.
Cost savings are dependent on the feature set implemented. Most savings result from the automatic deletion of uncollected print jobs, correct cost allocation, rerouting print jobs to more efficient devices, and optimization of scan processes. The indications are that implementing the secure printing, Print Anywhere, and scan features that follow a user from one device to another brings about savings of 20%. Adding extra features will, of course, lead to increased productivity and further cost savings.
How is uniFLOW Different From its Competitors?
Like any technology, there is always room for improvement, and there will always be competitors. But competitors are essential for any success and growth. Papercut is another solution we offer here at Usherwood. While uniFLOW works nicely with Canon, Papercut works well with HP and Xerox. One of the key differences is the chargeback ability and the ability to provide customizations based on business needs. For example, a law firm will use Papercut for client matters and billing back their clients. Once they have all the necessary data in their system, that data will get exported in a format that is compatible with their billing system.
While Papercut may be a competitor to uniFLOW, Usherwood Office Technology likes to scope out other types of print management solutions to make a complete discovery and help with the solution you need. We involve ourselves in every process step, from start to finish.
Why is uniFLOW So Popular?
The popularity of uniFLOW boils down to the fact that print management is almost always a good idea.. Even though everyone insists printing will go away, it'll never leave. We need better ways of controlling it, and that's what uniFLOW is here for.
A lot of organizations need central management. They're managing each individual print queue, and in lots of cases, this feels chaotic and messy. Deploying print queues can always be challenging, and while uniFLOW won't deploy these queues, you get certain print functionality. It will take what you're currently juggling and bring it down to a manageable number of individual input queues. That will be the single queue you are sharing out.
In small environments, even just one device can leverage uniFLOW, something as simple as scanning to some online storage, such as SharePoint. uniFLOW can do that, which is very affordable, especially in a smaller environment with one key device. If you need that ability, we have the solution and will make it happen. If you have a larger environment, where you are managing each device individually, from an IT standpoint, uniFLOW will be a huge time saver. On the statistical side, it is invaluable.
If you are looking for a centralized print management solution that will also give you additional benefits such as scanning to cloud storage, remote office printing, and easy user management with lots of statistical data, uniFLOW is the right solution for you and is Usherwood approved. If you have more questions or inquiries regarding uniFLOW, please explore our Discover Your Solution form to learn more.