PRINT.IT
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PRINT
that are creative, ingenious. We
invest a lot in our technology and
our patents (we have 50,000
live patents in Japan) and that
determination to do things slightly
differently to others is what drives
our business.
Security is a growing area of
concern. What security features
do Epson products have?
PS:
Security’s becoming more
important. When you have your
document hub at the centre of
your business, it’s really important
to control what people are doing
with those printers, for example
by using PIN codes to stop people
from doing certain things; to stop
people just being able to scan
anything and send it anywhere. It’s
not just about security; it’s actually
about control. Businesses want to
control what is being done and who
is sending what to where. so we are
integrating those kinds of features
into our products.
How does Epson support the
increased demand for mobility in
the workplace?
PS:
All of us go onto social
media with our mobile phones,
our laptops, our iPads and other
tablet devices, so we recognise
how important it is to be able to
print from those devices and scan
to those devices. You have things
like Near Field Communications
(NFC), where people just tap their
device to print things out, but what’s
becoming really important is the
speed at which this happens –
how long it takes for something to
actually come out. This is where we
have a technical advantage with our
products, as the time to first page is
really fast. If someone goes up with
their mobile device and it takes half
a minute, 60 seconds for something
to come out, people will become
very frustrated and won’t use it.
What’s important is to be able to
use NFC and for the documents to
come out very quickly.
What are some of the other key
USPs of Epson business inkjets
and WorkForce Pros?
PS:
Because there is so much less
technology inside – fewer parts
– we can cut the cost of printing
quite substantially, by up to 50%
compared to laser alternatives.
The other key advantage is
environmental; the fact that our
products produce no heat at all
when printing means that printing
can start almost straight away, and
there is an environmental benefit
as well. It also means cartridges
and printers last a lot longer.
Is Epson particularly strong in any
key verticals?
PS:
The major vertical is education
where we have a very strong pull
not just from print but also from
our projector range. We have a
45%-50% market share in the UK
for those projectors and we are
also very popular for classroom-type
printing, as well as back office and
shared environments. So education
is an obvious area for us to focus
on. Recently, we have done a lot of
business in back office retail and
where people need to print in an
environmentally sensitive area, such
as a restaurant. People like the eco-
friendliness of our products.
Can Epson products be easily
integrated with third party
solutions?
PS:
Yes, they can. It’s an area we
have been developing a lot over the
last couple of years, particularly
with our WorkForce Pro solutions.
We are introducing an open
architecture so customers can
integrate cost control packages into
the product itself. What’s important
is to do it not just on the high-end
products but on A4 desktop devices
as well. And we are introducing
embedded solutions for a lot of our
products, for example Papercut.
Embedded solutions are very
important to us as they enable
customers to control and manage
our products and so cut costs.
Are there any awards or accolades
that Epson has received recently?
PS:
We have won a lot, particularly
for our RIPS products. One that I
particularly like is the O
utstanding
Achievement Award
from Buyers
Lab. They like the fact that
customers can print 75,000 pages
without having to replace the ink
and they like the environmental
aspects. An
Outstanding
Achievement Award
gives us a lot
of confidence that we are doing
the right thing and that business
inkjet is the future. It makes laser
printers look almost like dinosaurs
in comparison.
Reflecting both the company’s ambition to make
things easy for SME customers and its maturing
business inkjet proposition, Epson has introduced
a managed print service (MPS) for its WorkForce
Pro series that wraps hardware, consumables
and servicing costs into an all-inclusive monthly
payment.
Epson has developed its Print 365 managed
print service for SMBs or any organisation that
could be considered to be a small business, like
a GP practice, a school or potentially even a home
office, as a way of supporting a managed print
service for a dispersed workforce.
Suitable for small print fleets or even single
devices, it wraps everything up into a single
monthly payment: the cost of the hardware,
consumables, service and delivery; there’s no
capital cost and no upfront payment.
Print 365 can be used to acquire any Epson
WorkForce Pro business inkjet printer/MFP, starting
with the WorkForce 5 series, which incorporates
mono and colour, single function and multi-
function desktop products, including a RIPS
variant with extra-large ink tanks that last for the
lifetime of the machine; the WorkForce 6 series
of heavier duty A4 products, available in desktop
or freestanding versions configured with multiple
trays and a cabinet; and the WorkForce 8 series
of A3 printers/MFPs including desktop and floor-
standing versions and a RIPS variant.
Epson recommends the RIPs devices for
customers with heavier print volumes. For its A3
devices, it has an ‘all you can eat’ bundle, subject
to a Fair Use policy to make sure everything is
kept within the parameters of what the engine
is capable of. For £155 per month, this lets you
print up to 300,000 pages over the lifetime of the
device. Broken down across a 36 month contract,
this works out at 8,300 pages a month, which can
be split any way between colour and mono, A4
and A3.
