HP Announces JetAdvantage On-Demand Print Solution Management Platform

HP has a simple vision for its JetAdvantage On Demand offering announced on September 7: A single, open platform where corporate print customers, dealers, or MPS providers can purchase, install, and manage print apps through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) portal. And to be clear, this is an open platform that supports both HP and competitors’ hardware and software.

HP JetAdvantage On Demand gives dealers and service providers a single view of apps at customer sites

“Software is a powerful tool for enhancing the security, management and productivity of printing infrastructure,” said Edmund Wingate, head of JetAdvantage Solutions, HP Inc. “With HP JetAdvantage On Demand, we bring together top apps from HP and ISVs and leverage the cloud for a simple purchase, deployment and management experience.”

That’s a powerful vision if fully realized, and a number of software companies have committed to the JetAdvantage On Demand platform. Fenestrae’s Udocx app will be available through the portal when it launches in November. Hyland, OpenText, PaperCut, and TROY Group are among the ISVs that are working with HP to release apps through JetAdvantage in the future.

HP will release its own existing apps, JetAdvantage Private Print and JetAdvantage Insights, through JetAdvantage On Demand when it goes live. It will also release a new app, JetAdvantage Secure Print, which is a pull printing app that supports both cloud and on-premise print job queues.

HP’s main target for JetAdvantage On Demand is the mid-market. “Over 75 percent of mid-market customers are asking for print-related solutions,” said Wingate. Those solutions include scan to application, secure pull print, and print tracking and analytics.

The company is also hoping to capitalize on the trend toward SaaS in office and print applications. Wingate said that nine out of ten print software ISVs have some kind of SaaS offering. Eliminating the need for an on-premise server to deliver print solutions is clearly a big factor for that trend, particularly in the mid-market where resources to manage infrastructure are sometimes spread thin.

JetAdvantage On Demand provides a simple and clear user interface. An admin can easily select an app and then manage who has access to it on which devices. This can be done on site or remotely, for example, if done by an MPS provider. HP is also putting all apps through a security certification process before making them available through the platform.

That alone might make JetAdvantage On Demand an attractive option for dealers, managed service providers, and MPS providers to manage customer print apps. They can also use it for free. In fact, they can earn revenue when they sell app licenses through the portal. Resellers can also offer free 30-day trials that provide a risk-free way to allow a customer to test an app before deploying it–something that would be impossible with an on-premise solution. Resellers also get tools that allow them to see when licenses expire or to monitor usage and adoption rates.

Ultimately, the value of JetAdvantage On Demand lies with the participation of third-party app developers. If key app segments aren’t adequately represented on JetAdvantage, then the concept of a single app management platform doesn’t really take shape. The ISVs that have committed early are an encouraging sign.