Near Field Communication (NFC) is rapidly transforming the way in which everyday tasks such as payments, gaining security access to buildings and even the purchasing and collection of concert tickets are performed.

NFC has its roots in radio frequency identification (RFID), which dates as far back as 2004, and was first used in a smartphone in 2006. The technology enables devices to establish peer-to-peer radio communication, passing data from one piece of equipment to another by touching them or placing them in close range.

Mike van Lier, divisional head of Enterprise Business Team (EBT) at Samsung Electronics SA, says: “Companies that have embraced the technology and invested significantly in its development continue to discover new and innovative ways in which NFC can simplify business processes.

“Samsung announced the initial range of NFC-enabled printers with its Xpress C410W series in 2013, a market first, which boasted compatibility with a number of mobile IT devices. As industry leaders in innovation we take pride in having brought this technology to the world of printing,” says Van Lier.

Earlier this year, Samsung launched the more advanced Xpress C1860 series. With printing speeds of up to 18 pages per minute, this range was developed to increase efficiencies for small and medium businesses (SMBs) with high volume printing needs.

Samsung’s range of NFC printers goes a step further by eliminating the need to be connected to a WiFi network or transferring the document onto an app, which previously posed a problem if certain file formats were not catered for.

NFC supports Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF documents.

It can transform a smartphone into a powerful business tool for production, faxing as well as the scanning and sending of documents directly from a mobile device simply by placing it near the NFC icon on the printer.

The printers function best with the award-winning Samsung Mobile Print App is available via Google play, and is also compatible with Samsung Galaxy smartphones and Tablets, and enables printing via Google Cloud Print.

Consumers and businesses are increasingly adopting the technology and Samsung will continue to develop innovative solutions to simplify processes through the utilisation and incorporation of NFC. The industry has only scratched the surface; the possibilities with NFC are endless for large enterprises and SMBs across a number of our key verticals including education, retail and hospitality.

“NFC Technology can accelerate delivery of products and services, and has successfully been utilized to boost the overall customer satisfaction,” concludes Van Lier.