Letting home workers have any printer - risks?

[Linkex]

Not sure where to put this, but it seems like this forum will have the right people to answer the question

My company has a strict hardware control policy in place - if its not on the approved list (Which is controlled by our parent company), you have to go through the rigmoral of trying to get an exception, which is a painful and long process, which usually end up with me dealing with JFDIs from senior management, so the process gets ignored anyway.

I have been tasked with trying to improve this process if I can, and I am wondering how much damage a user can do with a printer. One of the most common questions we get is "I went out and bought printer xyz on my company credit card, please can I install it"? As it stands the answer is "No - go and request an exception from parent companys slient standardisation team". I think this is one of those things thats done because its always been done and I'm wondering about creating a blanket approval for certain brands of printers.

So, my question is - if I allowed any user to have any major brand printer installed by desktop support (Drivers only, not additional software), what risks would this create?

 

[Linkex]

Allowing staff to buy printers or any other IT devices on the company card ! wow what a relaxed company I wish I had a company credit card! Just force them either this printer or nothing. Is the company going to fit the ink/toner bill aswell? .....

Risk? there is no risk involved.

We don't actually have company credit cards (Or at least very few). We do have a couple of approved IT suppliers that anyone can raise purchase orders against, and they stock printers other than our approved ones. Basically, if a user goes to order without checking with us, and supply chain don't catch it, then they can (and do) manage to get non-approved printers from time to time. Its rare, but it happens. I said company credit cards because it was simpler than explaining all that.

The issue is one of increased workload supporting these users with their random printers. Why not compromise and just put out a short list of printers you will support (and ones that can be bought easily) and restrict them to that.

As mentioned in my first post, we do have a list of approved and supported printers. This is what to do when a user goes out and buys something that isn't on the list

If you were to do this i would recommend a HP or similar range which uses a generic printer to improve compatibility.

Personally I wouldn't allow users to have printer's at home, more so if they have Vpn there is then access they are able print off company documents which could be used against the business if the employee went rouge. Depends on if this is a concern for you.

We are a large (8000+ employee) parented by a large multinational. Users with a valid requirement to print from home are allowed to do so, its not something I have control over, and frankly I wouldn't want the heat that would come down if I could and did stop it

Thanks for the recommendation, but as I mentioned, we have a catalogue of approved gear, this is about what to do when end users buy the wrong kit because they didn't check first. Bear in mind, I have to be pragmatic, I can't just say "No non-approved hardware". It would be nice, but in the real world it just gets escalated to senior managers who may not understand the implications, and then I get instructed to allow it anyway.

To clarify further, the situation is this - there is a process to allow these users to get use the printers installed, but it is an utter ballache for them, and adds workload onto various teams. My intention is to change the rules, to basically be:
"I bought this printer, can I use it"
"Yes, but other than installing the drivers for it, you will get no support. If you need a supported device, please go and procure one from the published list."

My question is - is there anything wrong with this approach? What risk am I putting the business at by allowing users to have any printers drivers installed?

 

[Linkex]

Damn it, I replied to this thread a couple of days ago, from my mobile, obviously didn't take.

I agree with everyone who is saying to stop the non-approved printers, but thats the problem, I can't. There are over 8000 employees in this business, all in departments with thier own budgets, ordering from various suppliers. This is not a case or just saying "Don't order anything we don't allow", because thats what we already do. The problem is that users are idiots and blindly order IT gear without thinking to check with anyone first. I am trying to solve the problem of what to do in this case - just saying "No - go order something correct" is not practical, as this means the business is out of pocket for a useless printer. As I mentioned in the first post, there is already a process, users can already get an exemption, its just a pain for them, and wastes the time of several teams.

In addition, I can't maintain a stock of the correct printers, as users don't come to IT for a printer, they purchase them out of thier departments budget.

Just to be clear on this, simply saying "No" is just not an option I have - these people WILL buy the wrong printers and they WILL be allowed to use them, I can't change that. The only thing I can do is simplify the process by saying - "Fine, you can use whatever printer, but its drivers only, and you have to wait until desktop support can install them and no support beyond driver installs". Hence, I need to know what risk I put the business at by doing this.