by Stephanie Kennard, Y Soft

Just about every print management provider has announced integration with Universal Print, Microsoft’s recently announced service within Microsoft 365. As a dealer, what does this mean for you? And what if you have customers interested in cloud-based printing, but not cloud-based print management?

First, let’s understand what Universal Print is and what Microsoft is intending to do with it. Universal Print is a feature within certain Microsoft 365 subscriptions currently under public preview (meaning you can use it, but Microsoft is not committing to the usual support level until it becomes generally available.) It moves print servers and print drivers to the cloud, specifically the Azure Cloud platform.

For IT print administrators, this is very welcome news. No longer will they need to purchase and maintain print servers and deal with print drivers every time a new user needs access to a printer. Customers are looking to move print to the cloud anyway and Universal Print makes this path to the cloud easier. Y Soft and Microsoft discussed Universal Print in detail in a webinar and you can learn more technical details, which M365 subscriptions are supported today and how it all works.

Where’s the Opportunity for Dealers?

Today, there are not many printers that can natively support Universal Print. Although many OEMs have announced they plan to support this service, it will take some time for these new models to come to market. But in this economic environment, are customers going to rush out to replace their fleets? I think we know that the answer is probably no. They may be open to a more cost-effective solution.

At the same time, many office workers have shifted to working from home (WFH) while some still work in the office. And we know from a Gartner CFO survey that many will remain WFH when “normal” returns. So now your customer has to figure out how to support a hybrid workforce – WFH and in-office workers – with secure printing.

With these two market changes happening in parallel, we see a few opportunities for dealers:

• Embrace Microsoft 365 and help customers move printing to the cloud using their existing printers. Microsoft realized that in-market printers need a way to connect to Universal Print. After discussing this need with Microsoft, we developed YSoft OMNI Series™. In short, OMNI Series connects in-market printers to Universal Print at a fraction of the cost of a new MFD. So if you are not able to sell new print fleets, you can provide customers a solution, maintain your relationship and move them to print management in the cloud when they are ready.
• Embrace the hybrid workforce, particularly in industries that rely a lot on printing – mortgage firms, insurance agencies come to mind. In many cases, companies are providing employees home printers.

  Once again, YSoft OMNI Series can connect a worker’s home printer to Universal Print so the user can SECURELY print to their home printer from home. They can print to an office printer from home. They can print to their home printer when in the office. And of course, the normal printing to an office printer from within the office. The diagram below illustrates all the scenarios.

Y Soft and Microsoft talk about the hybrid workforce in this video. There may be an opportunity for dealers to bundle a M365 subscription with home printers and OMNI Series. The bonus for customers is that they can use it for office printers as well.

• Differentiate with white glove service. Many smaller businesses may not have IT resources, don’t understand Universal Print and need a trusted advisor. Although OMNI Series can be set up in four easy steps (unbox, plug in, register with Microsoft 365 and connect the printer), dealers can provide this service. See this video on how easy it is.
• For some customers, print is still a critical business process. Customers may have bursts of high print volumes and cannot afford print jobs delayed at the printer. This is traditionally handled through load balancing or redundancy failover. Universal Print cannot accommodate and solve this. Luckily, OMNI Series can. If your customer has shied away from cloud printing for this reason, then you now have a solution.

For customers who want more than cloud-based printing and require print management with print queues through Universal Print, on their existing printers, there is opportunity there too with YSoft SAFEQ and YSoft SAFEQ Cloud.

As a Microsoft Gold-certified ISV and working closely with Microsoft on OMIN Series and our SAFEQ on prem and SAFEQ Cloud services, we can help with these new opportunities to increase revenue and add value to your customers. Get in touch and let’s see how we can help.