Print IT Reseller - issue 48

01732 759725 VOX POP 36 Stephen Martin, Business Unit Manager for Print and Supplies, Tech Data UK “We see security being a very big area in print over the next year. With GDPR coming in, there is heightened awareness of the need to secure at every point on the network and while everyone focuses on endpoints like notebooks and tablets, the increasing sophistication and easy connectivity of printers and MFPs have made them a potential point of entry for hackers. “Offering devices with enhanced security is a good way to value and up-sell, and it can also lead to conversations about remote monitoring and management. Most organisations will happily hand over the responsibility for maintaining print devices to a trusted partner now and that’s a strong area of growth that is also being aided by the enhanced connectivity of printers and MFPs. “Printers and scanners are still part of the core equipment every office needs. While there is a lot of talk about paperless processes, we still see strong shipments to enterprise, public sector, SMB and consumers. And if you can capture the consumables business as well, it can be an important contributor to your overall revenues.” www.techdata.co.uk Jamie Brothwell, General Manager Print Division , Exertis “Contractual print agreements are becoming more commonplace within the IT channel. Home users and SMBs are being increasingly targeted to sign up for automatic ink replenishment programs where software measures ink levels and automatically ships a replenishment based on a pre-arranged agreement. “Colour laser and especially multifunction with higher print speeds will continue to be more popular at the demise of mono. Shift from single to multifunction will also continue. ASPs likely to fall for colour MFPs which will boost sales. Business Inkjet will continue to grow. We are also seeing good growth in the OA space from Epson with their RIPS proposition. “Print management software will continue to be a focus for enterprises looking to reduce their print costs and track usage. Ensuring print security will also continue to be a focus particularly for those organisations that hold sensitive information or to prevent malicious copying of documents by unauthorised personnel. “Document management will also become crucial as more people focus on cloud storage and the implications of the GDPR become more apparent to organisations in relation to their obligations around document and print management. Companies will need to be vigilant to prevent sensitive data from being printed either deliberately or by mistake by an employee. Creating secure locations, granting appropriate permissions and triggering security alerts will need to be part of their document management strategy in addition to a documented process surrounding their printing processes.” www.exertis.co.uk Bob Davies, Commercial Director, Integra Business Solutions “In 2018, there are four key trends that will prevail. The first is the continued growth of multi-year, contracted managed PrintIT Reseller asked a panel of channel vendors to consider what 2018 holds for the print sector print solutions which will have the knock-on effect of placing further pressure on traditional transactional sales of consumables. This trend will also probably result in growth in the associated OEM branded consumables as a percentage of the total market. ”With high-profile data breaches continuing to hit the headlines, the real threat of cyber-attacks as well as the forthcoming GDPR among other things, print document security will become even more important, particularly as the average number of users per device continues to increase. “The industry has seen an unprecedented number of mergers and acquisitions and there will undoubtedly be further industry consolidation including hardware and supplies manufacturers. “3D printer sales will continue to grow although the application is likely to remain rather niche in the consumer sector. The real growth will likely come from industrial systems where there are massive 3D print installations printing manufacturing prototypes – especially in the healthcare, aerospace, automotive industries.” www.integra-business.co.uk continued... 2018 Print Predictions Stephen Martin, Tech Data UK Jamie Brothwell, Exertis With high- profile data breaches continuing to hit the headlines, the real threat of cyber-attacks as well as the forthcoming GDPR among other things, print document security will become even more important