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PRINTER APPS
Here’s an interesting statistic:
2016 is the first year that global
IT spend on the ‘third platform’ will
exceed investment in the ‘second
platform’.
In his keynote address at the
Samsung European Partner Summit
2016, Mick Heys, VP of Imaging,
Printing and Document Solutions at
IDC, said that the ‘third platform’,
built on the four pillars of cloud,
mobility, social business and
big data/analytics, was taking
over from the ‘second platform’
characterised by client-server
computing and the LAN/internet.
This is transforming how, where
and when we work – even when
we are in the office. Smartphones
and the cloud especially have
freed people to work anywhere,
using the device they have to
hand. They enable dispersed work
teams, remote decision-making and
collaboration across boundaries.
Samsung calls this the
Connected Workplace, and,
according to Robert Davey, Business
Development Manager for Samsung
Europe, it is transforming what is
required of printers and MFPs. The
old values of quality, performance,
reliability and ease of use are
now seen as a basic requirement.
Today, what differentiates suppliers
and their products are the
cloud, digitisation, security and
customisation.
At its partner event, Samsung
highlighted four ways in which
it is leveraging its heritage in
smartphones and smart TVs to
create print products optimised for
the Connected Workplace.
1
Smart UX Centre
Samsung has taken the open,
customisable user interface of a
smartphone and transformed the
ease of use and functionality of its
MFPs. It has already introduced
the Android tablet-based SmartUX
Centre on its new generation MFPs
and now plans to extend it to select
printer models.
2
Samsung Print Apps
Samsung is leveraging the Smart
UX platform to deliver new solutions
and services in the form of apps.
There are more than 30 printer/
MFP-related apps in a dedicated
app centre – the Samsung Print
App Centre – and, with the launch
of an SDK, developers can now
create app-based solutions of their
own. So far, more than 330 app
developers have downloaded the
SDK.
3
Cloud
Samsung has created a cloud
infrastructure through which
it provides a range of printing
services, including a new managed
print service (see box), which
enables more resellers to offer
customers the convenience,
efficiency and value for money
of a fully managed printer fleet;
and PrinterOn mobile and cloud
printing solutions. With PrinterOn
firmware embedded in all Samsung
devices, it is easy for customers to
implement hosted or on-site secure
mobile printing.
4
Partnerships
Samsung is strengthening its own
product offering by creating strong
partnerships with other industry
leaders, a good example being
a strategic alliance with Nuance
Communications, which will see the
latter provide Samsung resellers
with an enhanced level of pre-sales
support when selling to large
accounts. In the future, Samsung
could leverage Nuance’s expertise
in voice recognition to create
voice-controlled MFPs, bringing new
levels of usability and ease of use
to its devices.
At its European Partner Summit 2016, held in
Budapest at the beginning of June, Samsung
explained how it is supporting changing
working practices and the Connected
Workplace
A world of possibilities
Samsung
highlighted
four ways in
which it is
leveraging its
heritage in
smartphones
and smart
TVs to
create print
products
optimised
for the
Connected
Workplace
SmartUX and apps
Through these initiatives Samsung
claims to be transforming the
usability and serviceability of its
devices, bringing benefits both to
end users and resellers.
In his address, Paul Birkett,
sales and marketing director for
Samsung Electronics Europe,
outlined a couple of scenarios in
which printer-based apps could be
used to good effect. These include
the example of a charity using apps
on its MFPs to create a workflow
for centrally recording and pricing
charity shop donations, including
scanning the barcodes on books.
In another, he explained how a
student who had left his work at
home could retrieve his documents
from the cloud and edit them on an
MFP screen using the free Hancom
Office app.
It’s not immediately obvious
how using a printer for these
tasks is any better than using
a smartphone/tablet. However,
businesses will no doubt be able
to identify ways in which their own
processes could be improved –
and, with the launch of Samsung’s
Dynamic Workflow app, this
is something they can now do
themselves.
Dynamic Workflow
One of the highlights of the
Samsung European Partner
Summit, the Dynamic Workflow
app enables users to design
complete one-touch workflows
involving multiple functions and a
combination of apps. For example,
Continued...
SAMSUNG
Dynamic Workflow App
Summer
2016
