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PRINT 2016
the user is focused on print speed.
Finding a balance between the two
is key.”
Ziyad Hareshe,
BPO consultant,
Danwood
, prioritised features that
aid Digitisation: “We are seeing
digitisation and a desire to go
paperless at the forefront of our
customers’ thinking. The overall
driver being to free up space, reduce
paper storage and ultimately the
property portfolio. However, cost is
still a key factor, so these solutions
need to be affordable and present a
good ROI.”
Steve Hawkins,
Group Managing
Director,
Xeretec
, pinpointed
Business Intelligence/Analytics as
the main factor in buyers’ choices:
“Business intelligence and analytics
will underpin many decisions
made by companies in 2016. This
applies to print, too, as having a
better understanding of what is
being printed and why will enable
organisations to identify how to
manage and control the other six
important considerations on the list.”
...continued
PART 2: INDUSTRY CHALLENGES
What factors do you think will have the biggest impact on printer and
consumables sales in 2016?
Digitisation
Millennial Print Habits
Economic Uncertainty
Longer Replacement Cycles
Third Party Consumables
Business Inkjets
Lack of Innovation
Least Important
Most Important
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Continued...
SUMMARY
Businesses still have a need to print
and many people like to work with
paper. Yet, there is no doubt that
the printer industry faces significant
challenges that threaten the existing
revenue model. Foremost among them
is digitisation and the replacement of
paper-based processes with electronic
workflows. For obvious reasons, more
than half of our experts picked this as
the Number One challenge facing the
printer industry.
In second place are the printing
habits of Millennials, who are
entering the workplace with none
of the emotional attachment to
paper (or learned printing habits) of
previous generations.
An uncertain economic future –
EU referendum, anyone? – continues
to prey on the minds of printer
suppliers who are still feeling the
effects of the last recession in the
form of longer replacement cycles,
although this could also be a
symptom of falling print volumes.
The threat to the status quo
posed by business inkjets – a low
cost, eco-friendly alternative to laser
printers – is shrugged off by our
experts, with only HP giving their
disruptive potential the recognition it
deserves. Third party consumables
also get short shrift. This could be
due in part to many OEM vendors’
participation in the compatibles
market (to help them deliver vendor-
neutral managed print services).
n
Digitisation
Total: 27
Average: 1.9
Range: 1-5 Median: 3
Mode: 1
No argument, digitisation is the
greatest threat facing the printer
industry. Only one contributor
ranked it lower than third place in
importance, with more than half
selecting it as the Number One
factor affecting printer sales.
“As more of us are now consuming
our data on mobile devices and
smartphones, less and less is
being printed. Print will continue
to be at the heart of business
communications, but it is not always
necessary at source. At Toshiba we
look not just at how information is
printed, but also how it is recorded,
shared, managed and displayed.
This strategy is at the heart of what
we do to support burden removal
and process optimisation.”
Jeremy
Spencer,
Toshiba TEC
“In the education sector, our research
shows that digital convergence is a
key driver when it comes to buying
devices and that 62% of teachers
think technology is a key differentiator
for them as an institution. On a more
general level, we think that providing
workflow enhancements with HyPAS
apps will be key, as it enables multi-
location and improves productivity.”
Nigel Allen,
KYOCERA
“With cloud moving from a buzzword
to reality, print habits and the need
to print are starting to be looked at
differently.”
Tony Burnett,
Altodigital
“It’s no big secret that sales of
consumables and print hardware
are on the decline. By Gartner’s
estimates, the market is going to
drop by 30% by 2019. There are a lot
of reasons for this, but digitisation
plays a big role. People are becoming
smarter about how they store and
access their information. Digitisation
of workloads will lessen businesses’
reliance on print, which means that
print suppliers need to diversify
to cover the entire spectrum of
document lifecycle management.”
Joe Doyle,
Annodata
“Many organisations are still
driven by manual processes and
paper. 2016 should see more
organisations transform time-
intensive manual processes and
digitise paper, which is the key to
making information more available
and more useful. Working in a new
way will reduce the cost of producing,
storing and distributing content.
It will create flexibility, leading to
efficiency improvements, increased
productivity, improved collaboration
and increased profit.”
Bernard
Cassidy,
Konica Minolta
“I think digitisation will continue to
cause transition in the market. I don’t
envisage a day when businesses are
entirely paperless, but what we are
likely to see is a shift from single-
function devices to multifunction
Bernard
Cassidy,
Head of
Marketing,
Konica
Minolta Business
Solutions (UK)
Nigel Allen,
Marketing Director,
KYOCERA
