18 months ago is now evolving into proof of concept. It will be the crux of many sales presentations in 2023 as organisations move infrastructure to the cloud. I still think it is a slow burn, but you need to be lighting the fires this year. We all know about hybrid working and mobile workforces but add to that the potential savings on energy alone achieved by removing servers and the challenges of the skills shortages in IT and it becomes very compelling very quickly to simplify the whole process and outsource it to the cloud. If you need convincing ask yourself why Kofax bought Printix and Y Soft acquired EveryonePrint, and Papercut is investing in Hive. “Document audits are back. We have had more meetings in the last three months advising how to carry out and deliver a document audit than in the past three years put together. I would predict that this will continue into 2023 and the consultative sell will be back. However, unlike previous iterations where it was all about demonstrating that the MFD/P was more cost-effective than the laser, inkjet, pencil…the new audits are looking at document workflow, output, processes and seeking opportunities to digitise, move to the cloud, automate and enable. “Consultative sales will become the key to success. Speeds and feeds are important but only as part of an integrated offering. If you are a traditional office equipment dealer then you will have noticed the trend of IT resellers turning up as competitors or partners in bids for the printer opportunity. This is because it is linked to an IT project. If you embrace it you could turn up in their manor and eat their lunch, or work with them to provide a broader solution to your customers. However, to find out what your customer needs you need to engage on a broader front than just the device as all companies are trying to do more with less. “Retrenchment. It could have been driven by the stock shortages, the difficulty in fulfilment and diminishing returns, but we have seen a lot of companies in our space who saw printers as peripheral activity pull out of the market and focus more on their core business. This makes sense given the challenges of the increased complexity of which led to Boris being removed, the government not responding in a timely fashion to the various crises erupting around the place, a period of limbo whist a replacement was found and then the markets reacting to the new regime so badly that interest rates were catapulted to heights not seen for decades, and the UK became a financial basket case over a weekend. To cap it all, as if there wasn’t enough to be gloomy about, the Queen passed away sparking a genuinely moving and sincere period of mourning across the UK. “2022 could go down as the worst year in my entire professional life and at the risk of tempting fate, it is hard to imagine 2023 being worse. So how do I see it panning out? “Of course, there are longer term trends afoot but organisations like Quocirca are far better placed to advise on them than me. My predictions are based on the questions, requests and problems we help our 650 dealers with on a daily basis and focussed on the UK and Ireland where most of them are based. With that in mind my predictions for 2023 will be as follows: “Continued consolidation. This is across the whole market. In our space (remote print device management) small players are being bought up by bigger entities as the demands of the market, the technology involved and the resources required mean deeper pockets are required and economies of scale are a necessity not a desirable. Several smaller companies have merged so far this year. Of course, we already went through this in 2019 when Print Audit was acquired by ECI and as result increased the base of devices they managed from 14 to over 20 million globally. “The same dynamic is continuing in the dealer market. We have seen the larger dealers being as active as ever, but we have also been involved in several of the smaller ones merging to remain competitive. The only cloud on this horizon is the impact of the new world of inflation and interest rates at much higher levels. If money is being borrowed to finance acquisition it has suddenly become much more expensive. “Cloud is still the future of our channel. What started as conversations sales not serviced via a web page. I therefore predict that the channel will have less participants, but the same level of devices at the close of 2023, and not purely down to consolidation.” www.paebusiness.com Anthony O’Mahony, Director, Pay As You Go Print: “Gone are the days of businesses being tied into long-term lease contracts for their printers. In 2023, clients will be looking for more flexible printing options, no contracts and much more transparency from their provider. “With climate change so high on the agenda, businesses are looking for more sustainable print solutions. In 2023, we predict that organisations will do even more to change their behaviour and set objectives to help them become more environmentally responsible. We’re already seeing clients choosing refurbished printers over brand new and recycling toner cartridges more, businesses just want to simply pay for what they print with no tie-in.” https://payasyougoprint.co.uk Mike Barron, Managing Director, SYNAXON UK: “Automation, efficiency, and scalability will still be key factors for IT service providers in 2023. Our focus continued... Anthony O’Mahony Mike Barron It turned out the new normal was hard to spot amidst a European war, resulting in an energy crisis and surging inflation PRINTITRESELLER.UK 43
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