Here at directprint.io, we’re passionate about our cloud-native print management platform and we’re continuously thinking of new ways to innovate and add more customer value.
User-centricity is at the heart of what we do. After all, serverless print management is designed to eliminate printing pain points – not add to them! That’s why the voice of the customer is so important to us, and so we thought we’d highlight five things about our platform (and team) that have emerged as favorites among some of our clients.
According to Thomas van Hout, ICT Manager at Dokter Bosman, the main advantage of directprint.io is that it just works. “It’s simple, and it’s easy to manage,” he said. “Adding devices takes no effort because there’s nothing needed locally on the printer. Google Workspace integration means that if end-users are created, moved or deleted, the platform automatically reconfigures their printer access, and single sign-on provides seamless access to the printers they need.”
Tad Hawkins, Technical Services – Manager of Enterprise and Learning Solutions at Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) said: “We did consider other vendors’ solutions. However, directprint.io stood out for a number of reasons. We have a multi-vendor print fleet, and it supports all printer brands and makes. There is no requirement for servers, and we particularly liked the tight integration with Google Workspace and the fact it was designed to enable printing from Chromebooks.”
Bryan Barcroft, Systems Administrator at Tulia Independent School District really likes the directprint.io QuickCodes. He said: “For me, the biggest benefit has been the QuickCodes feature. It’s been really easy to assign specific users to specific printers, automatically. What’s more the directprint.io team agreed to do some further customization to the QuickCodes system to enable our end-users to self-serve. They created a dedicated portal for us where end-users can view the list of available printers, regardless of their location, access the QuickCode for an individual device, and simply click to print.”
Dokter Bosman’s Thomas van Hout concurs: “We really love the QuickCodes system, that’s a big advantage for us,” he said. “Printer access is set via OUs and each user is allocated to one OU. Often our end-users travel from site to site and if they’re in a different location, they don’t automatically have access to the printers. They can either look up the QuickCode for the printer, or we can send it to them with a link to a YouTube video tutorial, to enable access.”
“The main difference and benefit of directprint.io is that you don’t need a print server to process a print job – all print jobs are automatically directed straight to the printer using the unique universal driver,” Graham Gosden, Head of IT at ALP Schools explained.
“This was a huge plus for us, especially as we have sites distributed across the breadth of England. By removing the servers, not only did we eliminate a huge cost, but it also meant we had less equipment on each site. Removing our servers also helped to reduce support calls about lost print jobs,” he added.
Tulia ISD’s Bryan Barcroft also commented that one of the immediate benefits of migrating print to the cloud was that it removed dependence on a print server. “Straightaway that was one less device we had to manage and maintain, which made things more manageable for us,” he said.
“Print is less of a pain and getting prints to the printers is hands-off,” Thomas van Hout reports. “We found that a lot of other print solutions basically interjected the prints from the Chrome browser to the system’s own printing dialogue screen. directprint.io does things differently, and that absolutely works for us.”
Tad Hawkins points out that he doesn’t have to spend a lot of time managing the print infrastructure. “We only go in if we need to add a new printer and that takes all of a few minutes,” he said, adding: “Our students continue to print as they always have – in fact, nobody noticed we’d actually implemented a new solution.”
Tulia ISD reports a reduction in print-related support calls, as Bryan Barcroft explains: “Before, we’d get a call every time someone couldn’t access a printer, but now, once the device is set up on directprint.io, it’s set up for everyone. The number of print-related calls we receive now is significantly lower, so it is definitely working well for us.” Graham Gosden points out that all students and teachers at ALP Schools find the solution easy to use. “They only see the printers they need to so there are rarely any complications.
It’s also great for admins because we can manage the system via the control panel and set certain print policies for different students/years to reduce costs,” he said.
A glowing testimonial from Bryan Barcroft, who said: “The ongoing support we’ve received from the directprint.io team has been really great. It’s really easy to schedule a call and talk through a query or a question. Their response is always: “we’ll get it done for you.” I would 100% recommend directprint.io, I tell everyone it’s great!”
Tad Hawkins added: “I just find directprint.io so simple, it just runs, and I don’t worry about the print infrastructure at all. The support has been amazing. The directprint.io team are always checking in to see that we are OK, and they are really responsive.”
The final word goes to Graham Gosden who commented: “directprint.io’s solution has been brilliant and suited our organization’s needs far more than any other management system. The ongoing support the team have delivered has been second to none; directprint.io has gone above and beyond to ensure we have all the required features to help our students receive the best education possible.”
If you’re looking for a way to reduce the print burden and simultaneously improve printer access for staff and students – why not sign up today for a free 30-day trial and discover the true value-add of smart and secure serverless printing first-hand?
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