PrintIT Reseller - issue 49

© I Source: IDC, 2018 01732 759725 22 COMMENT IDC predicts that by 2021, 40 per cent of companies in developed regions will have experienced a double-digit decline in office- based printing due to the ability to intelligently mine data and automate the extraction of business intelligence*. This is not the paperless office scenario, but it is significantly less paper. We are already using 3rd Platform (big data analytics, cloud, mobile and social business) technologies in our everyday lives. They are being used to enhance the business services provided to us as well as enabling self-service, without being overly aware of the technology behind these services. Increasingly, big data analytics and innovation accelerators such as cognitive systems and robotic process automation are behind advancements in document and content management. They provide the ability to not only ‘search and find’ information but to intelligently leverage information in a way that is valuable to the business due to powerful analytics capability and process automation. This functionality will be in high demand in three key areas: n For high-volume processes that are essential but not revenue-generating e.g. compliance n For customer-centric processes that influence customer satisfaction and retention n For processes that help to reduce the invoice-to-revenue cycles Contrary to popular belief, just as technology development accelerates, the pace of print volume decline will also accelerate, although there will continue to be a role for office print. The changing print market landscape Printer vendors and channel partners are already experiencing falling service revenues – revenues that are intrinsically linked to printed pages in the office. Some market players are mainly or solely focused on squeezing print revenues as hard as possible. For many, this will mean trying to turn transactional print business into contractual business – from a simple supplies replenishment contract over a few years to a contract offering more in the way of print management and even document management – anything to change transactional business into a recurring revenue stream. Jacqui Hendriks, Research and Consulting Manager at IDC, provides her take on the state of play, outlining the challenging times ahead for print market players The state of play for the office printing market Others are way above the curve. They are also looking at expanding their capabilities and services in a bid to replace these falling office page volumes and associated revenues. However, such once lucrative revenues are difficult to replace and market players who do not already have a strategy in place to develop additional business, will find themselves in trouble. An aggressively competitive environment becomes even more so if you consider the fast pace of technological change. As a result, although market players strive to differentiate their product, solutions and services offerings, new announcements today for launch in the next six months may very well be met with other similar product enhancements by market rivals at launch. Speed to market is critical. A number of manufacturers have more recently been wholly or partially acquired by investors, who may also be market players – the key benefit for them has been the ability to leverage this investment to accelerate time-to-market – think of particularly Apex/ Lexmark, Foxconn/Sharp and now Fujifilm/ Xerox. In exploring additional market opportunities, vendors are deploying various tactics. The main three scenarios are: n Developing an IT services business: The assumption is that some customers may prefer one IT services provider and it is more likely that print services engagement would be absorbed into a larger managed IT services engagement. For print vendors to be granted permission-to-play, they need to build IT skills to compete with these IT services providers. Several traditional printer vendors have worked hard to acquire the necessary skills whether through recruitment or acquisition. Changing the perception of a print vendor to an IT services provider is in itself a challenge. IDC will be exploring how successful print vendors have been in changing customer perception of them as credible IT services partners. n Building a managed content or document services business: Understanding that hardcopy processes Increasingly, big data analytics and innovation accelerators such as cognitive systems and robotic process automation are behind advancements in document and content management