At my employer, the RFID badge readers are used for:
- Secure Print - Print only when you are physically present at the computer so that classified information is not left laying about at the printer.
- Conservation - Print only when you remember to go to the printer. Many print jobs were initiated, but then people would forget to go and pick up their stuff.
- Scan to email - send PDF files back to your corporate email account
- Chargeback - in our case black and white cost is absorbed, but color prints are charged to your dept.
- Security - I can only assume that since all print jobs are traceable to an individual, they can trace espionage, abuse, porn, etc. when necessary
"Cloud printing" is used where your print job is cached on a server somewhere in the cloud, so potentially classified info is never stored on the printer, and jobs can be automatically deleted after 24 hours (or whatever) if you don't go to a machine to print it out. Swiping your RFID badge authenticates you to the printer and the print server. I wish we could do that with out computers...