The “fat” client versus “thin” client discussion is not limited to the world of PCs and thin clients; the printing and digital imaging sector is also impacted by a similar debate in the challenge to maintain workflows in the face of evolving data sources and increasingly diverse delivery mechanisms.
Enterprises and large organisations are dependent on workflows; processes, routines, escalations, contingencies and compliant practices which form the basis of all interactions from the sourcing of raw materials for production to the delivery of after sales service. Unlike smaller enterprises, large corporates cannot afford to base these processes on individual intuition or even experience; there must be a clear set of processes or workflows designed to ensure agreed levels of good practice and compliance.
Printing and digital imaging processes are an integral part of such workflows, enabling organisations to capture information and subsequently deliver it in an appropriate style and format. This information could range from standard structured data such as human resource records or payslips to unstructured data such as design images or photos; it could be stored either centrally or locally; and be accessed either centrally or from offices located remotely or, even, overseas. In reality, many enterprises use a combination of these approaches to manage their workflows, in many instances building on existing practices and infrastructure or a mix of methodologies following a merger or acquisition.
Tech versus workflows
A further complication is that data sources and delivery mechanisms are continually evolving based on business practices, customer demands and technology developments. Today’s data sources, for instance, are increasingly likely to be generated from web-based applications and based on unstructured data such as images or maps; delivery mechanisms can range from shared multi-function printing devices within an open plan office, to highly secure, individual, user ID-initiated printers designed for confidential or sensitive documents.
While content sources and delivery mechanisms are continually evolving, workflows tend to go on forever; enterprises still have to produce goods, deliver services, support clients, track deliveries, pay taxes, etc., irrespective of the underlying technological considerations.
Two schools of thought have traditionally been applied to the challenge of maintaining the integrity of a workflow process in a continually evolving business and technological environment.
The smart device – or “fat” client – approach, integrating and regularly updating logic onto the device itself addresses the challenge of incorporating a level of sophistication at the hardware end. As workflows, content sources and data presentation requirements evolve devices can be adapted via software upgrades delivered directly. The management of increasingly intelligent devices brings its own challenges, however, in terms of version control, security and integration. Smarter devices require specialist business logic to be developed and downloaded individually. This complexity multiplied by the volume and variety of devices under management; remote and international locations, represents an additional layer of difficulty and risk.
Alternatively, the thin client approach creates a common interface so that terminal devices, containing minimal logic, memory or processing power, can be monitored and controlled centrally. The benefits of this are compelling in terms of management, security and control of a dispersed printing and digital imaging fleet. However, these advantages can be offset by the requirement to refresh the device fleet to reflect a standard, thin client profile. Standard interfaces rarely cover all devices within a fleet across an enterprise and the resulting fleet refresh, at enterprise level, can prove prohibitively expensive.
Third way
There is, however, a third option which can deliver the best of both worlds. There are technology solutions which allow an existing legacy print and imaging fleet to be converted to a common interface. The advantages of this approach are compelling and eliminate the requirement to individually configure each device (necessary with the traditional “fat” client model) while also allowing full exploitation of existing hardware (overcoming the limitations of the conventional common interface approach).
This approach is unique in that it exploits the smart device approach to, literally, “teach” old devices to recognise and handle new interfaces, removing the need for expansive hardware refreshes. In this way, any device in the fleet can be updated to the same Web-services interface to create a unified, stable, secure interface across the entire fleet of existing devices.
Such technology enables independent software vendors and, even, end customers to control these components via web services-based protocols. The interface can be simply installed across existing fleets to, effectively, upgrade them to the new, uniform interface. There are many benefits to this approach, as it not only allows companies to streamline paper-intensive workflows, but also protects their existing investments for the future.
Adoption
This approach is finding considerable success within the enterprise community with system integrators reporting 90% time savings to develop solutions which automatically function across any device within a fleet.
Costs associated with printing and digital imaging can account for up to 3% of enterprise revenue (Quocirca managed Print Services Market View, June 2008), so a well defined deployment and management strategy can make a real difference in terms of overheads and resulting productivity.
This third way is an example of an approach designed to maximise the use of existing infrastructure to maintain the integrity of workflows as business processes and technologies evolve and by offering all the benefits of both approaches, at a fraction of the cost, is certainly worth considering
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