Smartphones and tablets are
changing the way people use
and manage documents, but
when it comes to printing, they
are still stuck in the PC era.
A new study by International
Data Corporation (IDC),
Mobile
Device Users/Non-Users: Print,
Scan, Document Management,
Worldwide
, shows that while
90% of users say it is as
useful to print from a tablet/
smartphone as from a PC, only
56% are satisfied with their
mobile printing experience.
More than one third of
smartphone and tablet users
say they want to print but are
unable to do so (35% and 34%
respectively).
Angèle Boyd, Group
Vice President and General
Manager, IDC Document
Solutions, said: “The business
value for smartphone/tablet
printing is enormously clear,
and yet support for this is
shockingly lacking in 2015. This
is a huge missed productivity
opportunity for both businesses
and print providers.”
The four main benefits of
printing from smartphones/
tablets, cited by between 32%
and 57% of respondents,
are faster document review;
greater customer satisfaction;
an increased number of
transactions; and the ability to
attract more customers.
IDC’s study shows that,
due to small screen sizes,
smartphone and tablet users
prefer to read documents
on a PC or paper than on a
smartphone or tablet.
Over the next three years,
IDC expects the proportion of
prints from smartphones and
tablets to rise by around 50%,
from 20-21% today to 28-30%
in 2018.
More than half (52%) of UK workers expect tablets to replace
laptops in the workplace within 10 years, according to a study
by EE. One in four workers has already transitioned from laptops
to tablets and 31% say that workplace laptop usage is declining.
Undertaken to support EE’s introduction of the UK’s first
36-month tablet plan for businesses, the survey also found that
organisations are keeping tablets for longer, with 30% keeping them
for over three years.
One business making good use of tablets is sailing holiday
provider Sunsail, which is deploying ruggedised 4G tablets from EE in
combination with a digital form and data capture app to streamline
marketing, inventory and safety check processes.
Digitising these processes is expected to save £6,000 in labour
costs and more than £3,000 in copying, toner and paper each year.
The use of digital feedback and booking forms that customers can
fill in instantly instead of paper ones to take away has also improved
customer engagement, for example by increasing the feedback rate
from 10% to 60-70%.
· 0800 956 6108
New version of EveryonePrint
EveryonePrint has launched a new version of its mobile print
software that enables users to print from any smartphone,
tablet or mobile computer.
Version 4 includes new clustering and load balancing features;
support for three of the leading Mobile Device Management solutions
(AirWatch, Good Technology and MobileIron); printing from Windows
phone devices using a newly developed app; new features for Apple
iOS and Android apps; and Google Cloud Print from Android devices
or Chromebooks. It is also the only enterprise mobile print solution to
install on Linux Enterprise and IBM System z mainframes.
Tavs Dalaa, CTO of EveryonePrint, said: “EveryonePrint sits entirely
within the customer’s private network. It is hosted either on the
premises or in the customer’s hosted MPS environment, but always
within the customer network, so there are no external dependencies
or external communication, making it highly secure – a prerequisite
for our customers within Defence, Government, Finance and
Healthcare.”
EveryonePrint has more than 8,000 installations in 83 countries
worldwide.
NFC support
Canon’s new i-SENSYS MF700
series of colour A4 MFPs
boasts new NFC Touch & Print
functionality that enables
workers to print directly from
NFC-enabled smartphones/
tablets. The new products
also support scanning to
Searchable, Encrypted and
Digital Signature PDFs and
feature fully customisable
colour touchscreens.
New from DSales (UK), the
ineo+ 308/368 makes it easy
to print and scan from tablets
and smartphones. Both colour
systems feature Google Cloud
Print, WiFi Direct and NFC (Near
Field Communication), offering
touch to print and touch to scan
capability. In addition, Develop’s
free ineoPrint Android/iOS app
lets mobile devices connect to
the MFP by scanning a QR code
on the MFP touchscreen.
Photo ordering
from smartphones
doubles
The number of consumers
ordering photo products
from smartphones has
doubled since 2013,
according to new research
by Futuresource Consulting.
Its study of photo-sharing
practices amongst consumers
in France, Germany and the
UK – 500 in each country
– shows that smartphones
are the most popular way of
sharing images, with almost
40% of UK consumers using
them for this purpose.
Jeremy Wills, Senior
Print & Imaging Analyst at
Futuresource, said: “In the
past two years, we’ve seen
some new ‘mushroom’ photo
printing apps coming into the
market, as well as a growth
in the availability of app and
HTML-5 ordering platforms
from existing photo resellers
and retailers.
“Many of the sub-30
‘digital native’ generation live
in the moment and have also
grown up in an age when it
is the norm to share photos
digitally, so a photo printing
app or platform that offers
a quick and easy way to
order photo products and/or
provides a creative or novelty
element can be a catalyst.”
-
consulting.com
Mobile print volumes to rise by 50%
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Tablets to replace laptops within 10 years
