Printer drivers and connections should just work, right?
Many people experience difficulties in getting the company’s drivers to work as desired, the first installation is easy but as the number of users, versions, and operating systems increases, it becomes more and more complicated.
Printer drivers can be a source of frustration for larger businesses. Managing printer drivers can become complicated and time-consuming when a company has many employees and printers. One challenge is that printer drivers need to be updated regularly to ensure they work correctly with new operating systems and software. In larger companies, tracking which printers have which drivers and which need to be updated can be difficult. Another challenge is that different printers have different drivers, which means that it may be necessary to manage a variety of drivers for different printers. This can be particularly problematic if the company uses several different printer brands and also has hundreds or thousands of printers. It can be very time consuming and require a great deal of technical knowledge.
So how to solve it?
When it comes to on-premise installed printers for A4 or similar installed on servers and clients in the company network, there is no magic recipe on how to maintain functionality and eliminate the risk of outdated drivers or different settings, but there are ways to make the best of it.
Connect old label printers to the cloud
David Hallenhed who works in IT tells us that sometimes drivers are a big problem, read more in this article: Old label printers…
“Label printers increase complexity”
Looking specifically at label printers, the complexity increases because label printers can print in different formats and sizes, this in turn can lead to staff being unsure of which label roll to use and the result can be confusing for both the company and its customers. The label printer can also have various physical adjustments made to suit a specific label material & ribbon combination. Add the fact that the driver needs settings for the material that is mounted in the printer. It is all about a combination of print speed, darkness, and pressure that needs to align with the properties of the material, and adjustments to place the print correctly on the label. You want the quality of barcodes, image objects, and text to be as high as possible, but also that the label will last throughout its intended life cycle.
Ensure high productivity
Checklist
On-premise installed printers require knowledge, routines, and personnel
Printer drivers are an important part of an efficient and reliable printing environment in larger enterprises.
To ensure high productivity and minimal operational disruption, businesses should follow best practices for managing printer drivers. First and foremost, companies should have centralized printer driver management. This means that all drivers are stored on a central server, making it easier to manage and update them.
Companies should also have a routine for regularly updating printer drivers. This ensures that all printers on the network have the latest drivers and reduces the risk of compatibility issues and security risks. To prevent users from installing incorrect drivers and causing problems, only authorized users should have access to install drivers on their computers.
Finally, it is important to monitor and troubleshoot printer driver issues. This means having a process for identifying and fixing problems, and making sure users are aware of the most common problems and how to avoid them. By following printer driver management best practices, companies can improve their printing environment and ensure high productivity and reliability.
Label printers add further complexity
Even for label printers, the driver is an important part and they share the same challenges as any other printer in the market. But since they also add extra complexity in the form of label material, printing method and other details. It becomes extra important to develop a strategy for how to ensure the same function in the long term as when installing and commissioning printers and label material.
Common mistakes made with label printers are to install the printer as a local printer on the computer and make all the necessary configurations to achieve the desired result. This works well at first, but when user 2 is to use the same printer set, the same thing is often done on computer 2. It is not unusual to make settings that are almost the same as computer 1, so it looks almost ok. You accept this and move on. Repeat this for users 3, 4, 5 etc and there are often problems with at least one user setting that will send faulty settings to the driver and causing a crash for all users. A natural step in the right direction is of course to install the printer on a server and remove the possibility for the user to change just like in previous examples with traditional printers.
Why do so many people experience these challenges?
Most companies have limited resources to devote to developing an appropriate strategy, implementing installations, and then maintaining relevant controls to update and ensure quality over the long term.
What should you do if you lack the resources, the knowledge, and/or the opportunity to introduce these processes?
We at Cloudlabel help you centralize all label printers in the cloud, we have all drivers installed and take care of all types of maintenance and control.
You don’t have to think about which driver, how to set it up, or if a user might change something.
The user just needs to load the correct label roll and make sure the printer lights up green.