Cloud services are attracting a lot of business attention. They are revolutionizing access to software, processing power, and storage resources. And they help improve productivity, increase flexibility and save costs.
Canon uniFLOW Online is Canon's answer to this market demand, a cloud-based print and scan management solution that allows small and medium-sized businesses to improve office workflows and increase productivity in and out of the office without the need for a local server.
In the past, companies had to buy servers, databases and other infrastructure. Today, cloud computing allows customers to subscribe to a package of services only for the period for which they need. Through cloud technology, companies of all sizes can be part of a large overall IT infrastructure and take advantage of the economic benefits of large-scale, which until recently were only available to a few.
Moving scanning and printing processes to the cloud opens up new opportunities for companies to improve office workflows and increase productivity. Especially nowadays, when more and more people work from home, the question arises how to print and scan at home to be fully effective and integrated into the processes in the office.
Michaela Gilavu, Business Development Manager for Office Solutions at Canon CEE GmbH, says: “Canon uniFLOW Online's flexible solution supports our customers' efforts to deliver digital transformation through advanced cloud features. With this flexible technology, Canon meets the diverse needs of customers, including a modern work environment that brings together multiple devices, multiple locations and mobile employees. ”
Canon uniFLOW Online is a solution to improve the efficiency of the office environment for printing and scanning. It provides cloud print management in a combination of different ways to send print jobs, as well as a complete set of cloud scan management features. Companies can track their printing, scanning, and copying costs and generate reports with detailed information on document processing costs through the All-In-One.
Canon uniFLOW Online together with multifunction printers Canon increases the efficiency of multifunction printer scanning processes by offering integration with multiple cloud storage destinations (Box, Dropbox, Evernote®, Google Drive ™, Microsoft OneDrive®, Microsoft OneDrive® for Business, Microsoft SharePoint® Online) and selected document management software with precise OCR functionality and a high level of document compression. Predefined scan workflows are available to the user through all shared multifunction printers in the organization.
Cloud printing is also possible directly from the device: documents stored in different destinations in the cloud are accessible through the multifunction printer after authentication and can be printed or queued for later printing. A wide variety of document formats are supported. An overview of the print job is available, and finishing settings can be changed directly through the machine before printing.
Although the uniFLOW Online solution is designed primarily for business users of Canon printers, third-party devices can be connected to the secure printing environment through additional hardware (optional).
SUPPORT FOR HOME EMPLOYEES
When working from home, technical prerequisites, such as a laptop and a stable internet connection, are often already in place. On the other hand, the lack of such technical means can be easily filled. The current situation is likely to permanently change our work culture and increase work from home. But working from home poses challenges in sharing the cost of printing for private and business purposes and effectively scanning documents at home for office use.
Canon uniFLOW Online supports both large office multifunction devices and smaller multifunction and single-function printers. There is a wide range of devices available that are very suitable for professional use in a home office environment. Employees who work from home can print directly from their device with immediate release of the print job and the ability to track costs.
If the device is in the same room with the employee and is under constant surveillance, security sealing is often not necessary. If the device is shared regularly with family members, a security seal for company documents can be introduced. Documents can be released after authentication via PIN code.
Pre-defined scan work procedures follow employees from device to device. This includes the device in the home office. The same user interface and scan profiles are available in the home office and workplace.