CLOUD SERVICES
Creating efficiency in the cloud—the onramp to digital transformation starts with scanning to the cloud.
January 25, 2022 | By Larry Early, Director, Software and Industry Marketing
Lexmark Cloud Scan Management will be the latest tool to leverage cloud-based technology, which continues to grow in demand as businesses pivot to a digital-first economy.
Imagine for a minute you are a healthcare organisation with more than 100 clinics or offices and over 500 employees. Every day, your employees must copy, and send physical medical documents (such as Explanation of Benefits or Payor Correspondence) to a central processing centre, which costs you time and expense. In some cases, missing authorisations, chart documents and patient information cause even more delays and rework.
How can you reduce this paper-based process to save time, money and headaches? The solution requires converting hardcopy paper documents into a digital format—an essential on-ramp to digital transformation—and that starts with Cloud Scan Management which will be released early next year.
Now imagine the same healthcare organisation using CSM. The office manager on site at each clinic opens the post and scans the Explanation of Benefits, correspondence or request for information documents directly into a cloud-based file-sharing system, such as Microsoft OneDrive. If needed, they can request re-scans or adjustments to the EOB from a central OneDrive repository, rather than having to send the physical documents back to each location. What was once done in an office can now be completed remotely for convenience and to improve patient privacy. In addition, these sensitive documents are more secure in the cloud than they would be transported by a courier on paper. Because CSM leverages the cloud, these significant process improvements and cost savings are realised without any investment required for servers in the clinics.
This forwards-thinking healthcare organisation is not alone—and the benefits it can attain from CSM apply across a wide variety of industries. Lexmark’s own data shows continued improvement in scanning adoption rate with scan to network usage nearly doubling over a three year period.
Lexmark Cloud Scan Management will be the latest tool to leverage Lexmark Cloud Services. It currently provides support for scanning to Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint. With Lexmark CSM, users will gain the ability to scan files directly into a folder to be shared with remote employees. And organisations can achieve alignment between online and paper-based forms for those scanned and available through a digital portal.
Lexmark CSM will offer big savings for businesses that courier paper documents between offices or must search filing cabinets for the right paper file. The rollout of Lexmark CSM is part of our dedication to serve our customers with the technology they want and need to grow and improve their businesses. In a recent report, technology research firm IDC estimated that cloud-based technology spending could reach $1.3 trillion by 2025. “As businesses pivot to a digital-first economy, cloud will continue to play an ever greater, and even dominant, role as the IT industry focuses on delivering greater efficiency, flexibility, and faster innovation,” the report said.
Many new enhancements to Lexmark Cloud Services are available now. These include updates to the dashboard cards and notifications on devices, which alert customers when a feature is available. In addition, several updates for Lexmark Cloud Print Management (CPM) enable faster, more secure cloud-based printing. These include:
- Native Print Release extends the supported models for Lexmark Cloud Print Management to include a broader set of Lexmark devices for Badge and PIN print release.
- Linux Lexmark Print Management Client (LPMC) provides a version of the LPMC for submitting jobs into CPM from Linux; it also includes the redesign of the Client Download Page with the additional selection for Linux.
- Microsoft Universal Print integration provides a connector that enables Microsoft Universal Print to submit jobs through CPM
- Guest print allows guests at a business (for example, a hotel) to use print release without a cloud account. The guest user submits the document they wish to print, then receives a unique PIN via e-mail to authenticate print release.
Multiple updates to Lexmark Cloud Fleet Management (CFM) will provide even greater capabilities to manage customer fleets securely and remotely.
In today’s work environment, service providers must be able to remotely monitor, manage and secure the print infrastructure. We are continually improving Lexmark CFM to allow for complete control without the burden of on-site visits.
Several features are new to Lexmark CFM include:
- Days to depletion monitoring uses sophisticated predictive algorithms to calculate and display the number of days until a device’s toner will run out.
- Predictive alerts highlight devices that “need service” or “need toner” in the printer listing page.
- Additional supplies levels are now shown on screen
- Users can schedule reports to run and receive an e-mail with the link to the report
- Firmware updates can be scheduled to run unattended
- A local agent can be used to connect with printers connected directly to a computer rather than the network
In addition to these enhancements, all CFM capabilities are planned to expand to additional countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
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