Microsoft smtp September Shutdown Will Stop Your Scanning

Microsoft changes to network authentication in September will make your MFD technology incapable of scanning to email.

In response to increasing security risks, this September Microsoft are turning off the ‘plain smtp’ authentication for networked devices and enforcing multi-factor authentication.

What does this mean?

For the last 20 years most MFDs have scanned to email via plain authentication.

Come September 2025 when Microsoft turn this feature off and terminate the use of this protocol, every device that is setup to scan to email to Office 365 using plain smtp will stop scanning.

What do you need to do?

The first step you need to take is for your IT department to do some configuration updates. This is done in Microsoft Azure and the 365-Admin Console and not something your service provider will have access to remotely.

Secondly for the OAuth settings to be available on the MFD device a firmware update will need to be carried out.

However, many older legacy devices will not support this new authentication requirement even with updated firmware and will need to be replaced.

Why are you scanning to email?

At the same time as upgrading your system/device, it’s worth thinking about where your scans are going. Once you scan a document, does it just end up in your emails and sits there?

Well over 70% of all scans are to an email inbox but that is just the start of a work process. Most people will have to manually save the file, then open it, then take information out of it and type this into another system. There are a lot of other steps along with these which waste time and are often sources of errors.

With scanning volumes increasing yearly, it’s more important now more than ever to think about automating your system. Within a matter of seconds, you could securely scan a document, save it into a folder or document management system with a unique file name, and capture data from within the document and enter that automatically into another ERP system driving the next step of that workflow.

There are multiple Professional Service solutions which will solve this issue and others in your business whilst taking the necessary steps forward towards digital transformation.

What do we recommend?

The best thing to do is to get in touch with us to confirm if your devices are capable of being updated, we have a dedicated team of Professional Services experts who will be able to advise you of the steps you need to take. If your MFD isn’t capable of the update, we will be able to help you with finding the right machine for you.