PRINTITRESELLER.UK 45 VOX POP Separating greenwashing initiatives from measured environmental impact such as reduced energy use, long-life consumables, use/reuse of recycled plastics and components etc. is often confusing, and marketing is often confused with actual action from measured environmental impact such as reduced energy use, long-life consumables, use/reuse of recycled plastics and components etc. is often confusing, and marketing is often confused with actual action. Epson has always worked on a sustainability platform with consideration taken on our products and how we operate, and we highlight this annually in our European Sustainability Report. Understanding the commercial benefit of sustainability is also key as well, and to inform and assist we offer our online optimisation tool that our partners and customers use to show how changing to Epson heat-free inkjet printing could reduce energy consumption and subsequent CO2 emissions, reduce waste, and increase staff efficiency and productivity. The industry is alight with acquisition, mergers, diversification, and as-a-service offerings, all competing for the contracted print pound. I foresee much consolidation in the next 12 months as some of these acquisitions and mergers happen, as-a-service offerings expand from the IT sector, and others pull out to concentrate back on core activities. Consolidation at vendor level is also a strong possibility as some who purchase and rebrand equipment are, in essence, just sales businesses now effectively reducing choice for the end-user. Epson is pleased to have grown our production capabilities and built all our own products in our own facilities, and we’re pleased to continue offering customers a true alternative technology built on our three pillars of sustainability, productivity and reliability. I see the printing landscape changing further in terms of where and what end-users print. Over the last three years, as a result of the pandemic we have seen print move from office, to home, to hybrid. This is changing the landscape of what users want and need. Flexibility is especially key as office use has seemingly changed forever, with agile working now the norm for many, but with office and commercial space demand increasing. Corporates who quickly shut facilities post-pandemic have been re-opening them, but many with changed layouts that champion collaborative work environments. I think this will lead to more changes as current print operations span a variety of locations and demands a different approach. Home print is often higher, and the traditional ‘cost-effective’ cartridge printer isn’t appropriate given the high consumables cost, which is why we see the ever increasing demand for our cartridge-free EcoTank printers. High volume office copier fleets of low volume personal A4 devices and standard A3 devices will change as fewer A3 devices and higher volume A4 devices are used to meet workgroup demands. Identifying this as a growing transition of print has made us consider our product portfolio and we introduced the first line of our WorkForce Enterprise AM-C range earlier this year to allow compact A3 workhorses (40/50 and 60ppm) with space saving inner finishers as well as traditional external staple finishers and booklet makers. www.epson.co.uk Steve Pearce, Group Head of Marketing, Kyocera: Good change will be driven by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in 2024. Vendors and channel partners will be inspired by others’ actions and there will be a cultural shift as business leaders tackle environmental considerations alongside commercial goals. Products will become more environmentally-conscious and there will be greater focus on the supply of goods from packaging materials, shipping emissions to circularity; end of life improvements in pursuit of zero waste to landfill goals. Channel partners will join vendors on the road to net zero, we are already seeing this at Kyocera and we are proactively helping them become carbon neutral businesses. Vendors will extend this support and provide tools and metrics to enable both direct and indirect customers to make eco-conscious decisions when choosing the brands and suppliers that best fit their green values. The demand for zero-trust cybersecurity will rise in 2024 as we see AI start to play an increasing role in the threat landscape, benefiting vendors that are already able to offer this capability to their end customers and channel partners. Finally, the industry will start to explore product longevity in relation to lease lengths to address the current trend of ‘sweating assets’ as businesses seek to minimise outlay due to current economic forces. www.kyoceradocumentsolutions.co.uk Steve Pearce
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