01732 759725 40 the design phase, optimising printers for longevity and serviceability, much like our approach with the Lexmark A3 9-Series, which boasts a 40% longer lifespan over competitors. Image optimisation will also see advancements, with AI automatically enhancing scanned documents and marketing materials, cleaning up imperfections and optimising resolution. Content creation and translation will be streamlined through generative AI, enabling on-device translation in over 100 languages, as demonstrated by the Lexmark Translations Assistant. Predictive diagnostics will become more sophisticated, further minimising downtime by proactively addressing potential issues. Most critically, AI will bolster printer security by continuously monitoring network activity for suspicious behaviour targeting printers as entry point devices into organisations. Ryan Green, Digital Services Director, Carbon: Yes, I think it will become more relevant, we are already seeing a greater uptake in the Intelligent Document Processing space, giving the ability to process and manage documents more efficiently, reducing manual intervention and errors. Shaun Wilkinson, Managing Director, UTAX UK: The adoption of AI in the print industry is accelerating and already transforming operations. Predictive maintenance, powered by AI, is now integral to device management systems, enabling real-time analysis of consumables and device status. This ensures potential issues are addressed before they cause downtime. Automated workflows are now commonplace across a variety of software offerings. These are typically accompanied with wizards to set up commonly used by retail and other service providers as part of online customer service to produce instant responses for customer inquiries, which also helps to alleviate some of the pressure on human customer service teams and allows them to concentrate on more bespoke customer needs. Elsewhere, generative AI can be used to analyse large datasets to generate insights and reports, helping businesses make better and more accurate datadriven decisions. It can also be deployed to process electronic invoices or to help automate HR recruitment processes, helping to find suitable candidates by screening resumes/applications. Arjan Paulussen, Managing Director UK, Western Europe and South Africa, Lexmark: AI is rapidly transitioning from a niche technology to a core component of the print industry. In the coming year, expect to see even greater integration of AI across various functionalities. Predictive maintenance and automated supply replenishment are already becoming standard, but the future holds much more. AI will play a larger role in PrintIT Reseller: Do you see the use of AI in the print industry becoming more widespread in the coming year and in what areas? Olaf Lorenz, General Manager Global Brand Experience, Konica Minolta: The use of generative AI and automation will continue to become more widespread in 2025. These technologies will help streamline operations, enhance productivity, and improve employee experiences. Popular AI-powered tools can help create and compose written collateral such as marketing content, reports, or emails. To accompany this, AI can be used for image creation to produce specific high quality (and often royalty-free) images that are quick to produce and use. On the operational side of the business, AI-powered chatbots are The print sector continues to transform, and the adoption of AI continues to grow apace. Here, we look at how AI-powered technology is supporting innovation in a commoditised marketplace, how it is influencing channel vendor’s go-to-market strategies and enabling efficiencies within their own business AI in the print industry – part one VOX POP continued... Olaf Lorenz Photo: pixabay.com/geralt
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