Getting secure printing in place is a mix of technology and understanding human nature. Here are a few of the things that might be getting in the way of your efforts to make secure printing work for your law firm.
- People don’t use it. There are two reasons people don’t do something you have implemented. One, they don’t know how to do it. Two, they don’t understand the importance of using secure printing. Secure printing capabilities can maintain the integrity of not only your clients and their information, but your firm as well.
- Secure printing isn’t set up properly. Each printer is different and the process for secure printing will be different. It is important to remember each printer has a unique process and vocabulary for secure printing. Here is a quick guide to secure printing if you want to control it from your desktop.
1. Begin printing as you would a non-secure document.
2. In your print dialog box select Properties. Within this window there will be an area where you can change the Job Type, Mode, Output Method.
3. Depending on the printer, change it to Secure or Private.
4. You will be prompted to enter information, usually a code or password, on your computer, and then again when you reach the printer.
- What you don’t know can hurt you. Did you know that most printers have an internal hard drive in them that stores copies of documents as they are printed? Many are surprised to find rogue copies of confidential documents they didn’t know remained accessible on their printers. Make sure all of your printers are set to automatically delete documents from the hard drives after the printing is complete.
- The water cooler effect. The water cooler was the place where informal conversations took place among employees, but now the printer station has taken its place. Unfortunately, if you don’t use secure printing, it’s also where a lot of confidential information about clients and cases could be printed as we wait for our jobs to be completed.
- Employees leave documents on the printer. Nearly 30% of all printed documents are left at the printer for anyone to take. Secure printing forces you to key in a password or swipe a badge at the printer to pull the print. So if you forget your document, you don’t have to worry about anyone else seeing your prints.
Don’t ignore the advantages of secure printing. Contact Tri-Copy to discuss how we can help you avoid some pitfalls of unsecured print jobs.
