Print.IT Reseller - issue 85

01732 759725 46 VOX POP Cloud services are re-writing the rule book when it comes to business operations and customer expectations. Managing IT infrastructure in the cloud make it easier for organisations to flex and scale, reduces costs, and increases employee efficiency and flexibility. For vendors, cloud services offer recurring revenue streams and increased customer stickiness The pandemic saw an increased appetite for SaaS models as more organisations moved mission-critical workloads from on-premise to the cloud. Print has historically been lagging behind as customers migrate core IT infrastructure to the cloud, but the tide seems to be changing. Quocirca’s Cloud Print Services Market Landscape Report 2021 revealed that 72 per cent of organisations are planning to increase their use of cloud print management between now and 2025. Re-writing the rule book – part one Adam Bishop, Chief Revenue Officer, EveryonePrint: “Cloud is the next big wave of change for our industry. It represents perhaps the last time many customers will think seriously about their print estate. The early adopters moved back in 2017 when many of the offerings weren’t mature. Now though, every week we’re seeing a new blue chip company looking to explore their options for a migration, and in many cases they’re articulating a multi-year path to move to a true public cloud offering. “These customers want to ‘set it and forget it’. If they can build an infrastructure in the cloud, and effectively avoid most/all of the headache that comes from running print, then it’s a great solution for them. Assuming that they can get the right system, support, availability and security – all of which are improving month on month as service providers continuously update and upgrade the underlying platform – then why would they change again? In some cases the customer’s hardware will need upgrading in order to support the latest security or cloud enabled platforms – which represents a compelling reason for traditional vendors to embrace the cloud and capitalise on this opportunity. “We have formed several global and pan-European partnerships with OEMs over the past twelve months, a move that signals the shift to the cloud and the importance of having a flexible offer to support customers on their cloud journey.” www.everyoneprint.com Hugo Marqvorsen, Co-founder & Sales Director, Printix : “Printix has seen rapid adoption of cloud over the past year, due to the pandemic, and I think that is a huge opportunity for the print channel. “Before the pandemic, on average, 74 per cent of all users were printing regularly. During the pandemic, this figure dropped drastically. Now we see it ramping up again. Now, however, there is a cloud-first expectation. Organisations are also looking at how to optimise workflows, and how to remove paper from a workflow. “The print industry is changing. And I do not think we will enter at the same level as before. This includes the purchase of new printers, companies wanting to ‘wait and see’ what the impact of a cloud transformation brings and what the future printing need is, for example, how many users per device are needed. “Five years ago, Printix had about 15 users per device in an enterprise setting, now we see 25 users, on average, per device. I expect that number to continue to increase. I see a trend for the volume of devices to go down with the volume in printing also decreasing, as customers are transforming to cloud; however, what is a constant is that users still need to print.” www.printix.net PrintIT Reseller: Quocirca says that MPS providers should invest in their cloud offering, skills and consulting service and be proactive about migrating their current customer base to the cloud. Do you agree and to what extent do you see the move to cloud-based services as a major growth area for the print channel? Hugo Marqvorsen Adam Bishop