Gone are the days when the typical office job required you to physically work from the office. Now, thanks in large part to digital technology, employees are embracing the benefits of working from home, in the office or anywhere they choose.
However, staying productive in the remote work environment depends on leveraging every resource to your advantage. And two of the more convenient solutions to that problem are mobile printing and scanning apps.
Let’s dive deeper into the challenges of the modern workplace and how printing and scanning apps can empower your employees to communicate, collaborate and perform at their best.
Supporting the distributed workforce
Hybrid work isn’t going anywhere. In fact, more Australians are embracing the flexibility of the work-from-anywhere trend than ever before. According to a study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, two-thirds of Australians are now working from home.
However, the opportunities created by hybrid work aren’t without their corresponding challenges. Per a recent report from the International Data Corporation (IDC), organisations need to consider how they should adjust their print infrastructure to support the increasingly distributed workforce.
“If done correctly, there are numerous benefits to be gained,” says Keith Kmetz, program vice president for Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions research at IDC. “On the other hand, if done incorrectly, the organisation could suffer with undue costs and productivity shortcomings.”
With employees scattered around the globe, communication, collaboration and supervision during the printing and scanning process has become quite complicated. Consequently, businesses face a number of challenges:
- Lack of access to the company’s print infrastructure
- Inability to collaborate with remote colleagues
- Inability to monitor print use, including consumables
- Maintaining productivity in a competitive environment
- Securing the print environment and mitigating risk
Printing apps are a fast, convenient way to print from your mobile device.How remote employees can leverage printing apps
Solving the problems outlined above requires an adequate print management solution — the capabilities of which cannot be replaced or replicated. That said, mobile printing apps are an effective way to complement that solution, or at least bide your time until you can deploy a sufficient system.
Printing apps are a simple, convenient means for each remote or in-office employee to print on a compatible device. For example, Brother Mobile Connect features an array of core capabilities:
- Ease of use: Customise the app interface to suit your habits and workflows
- Simple set up: Install to your iOS or Android device — no computer or print driver required
- Convenience: Print directly from your device’s camera, from your copied clipboard, or print PDFs and other documents straight from your device’s content library
- Cloud storage integration: The app is compatible with widely used cloud storage providers, including Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Evernote
- Rapid connection: Automatically search and connect to supported devices on the network
- Print from anywhere: Send jobs on the go to collect later in the office or at home
- Visibility: Monitor your supply levels and order replenishment from within the app
Unsure if your Brother printer is compatible with the Brother Mobile Connect app? Check your model here.
Using scanning apps for hybrid productivity
Printing and scanning are two sides of the same coin. Just as it’s important to support your remote workforce with adequate printing solutions, you also need to consider scanning.
Of course, there’s no replacing the robust digitisation abilities of a dedicated scanner or multi-function device. But when on the road or in a bind, scanning apps are a very helpful tool for your distributed workforce.
Take Brother Mobile Connect, for example. As a two-in-one app, it not only complements print workflows but also features robust scanning capabilities:
- Scan directly to your mobile device
- Save scanned images to your destination of choice, including cloud storage
- Immediately print scanned images to other locations
- Edit scanned images within the app interface
- Scan to email, mobile or office for rapid sharing
- Scan to SharePoint for rapid collaboration
With these features, scanning apps can be a major benefit to remote productivity. The ability to rapidly scan and instantly share documents to your choice of destination empowers distributed employees to collaborate over great distances. Likewise, apps can streamline and simplify the scanning experience when you’re without a dedicated scanner nearby. This allows remote employees to save time and focus on other important tasks.
As mentioned, print security is an increasingly significant concern given the remote work environment. When you use an app like Brother Mobile Connect, digitised documents are logged in a scanning history within the app. This ensures that you never lose important files, but also allows you to quickly access and reprint or share files when under a time crunch.
Scanning apps can digitally capture physical documents in the palm of your hand.Future-proofing your remote workplace
Successfully supporting your increasingly distributed workforce requires an equally flexible set of solutions, and mobile apps are just a piece of the puzzle. That’s why at Brother we develop technologies that help you stay on the same page, collaborate with coworkers and generate efficiencies across your business both today and in the future.
Contact our team to learn more about how we can help drive productivity in your organisation.
