34
PRINT.IT
01732 759725
PRINTING
Infotrends has produced a new
report exploring developments in
office printing through the lens of
‘required’ versus ‘optional’ printing
i.e. between documents that are
printed for storage or as part
of a business process
(e.g. forms, documents
that need signatures,
contracts and invoices)
and documents that are
printed not because they
have to be, but because
people prefer to work
with them in hard copy
form (e.g. email, travel
documents, magazine
articles, photos, maps,
presentations).
Based on an online
survey of 750 office
workers in the US, UK,
Brazil and Spain, the
report provides further
evidence of the decline
in office printing ( -4.4%
over the next 3 years in Europe
and -3.6% in the US), whilst also
highlighting the enduring popularity
of paper as a medium for recording,
processing and sharing data.
Infotrends Associate Director
Andrew Carroll said: “The office
print market in developed
Other findings
n
The top three reasons to reduce paper usage are
to increase efficiency, reduce paper usage and
decrease costs. Increasing productivity was in
fourth place, followed by environmental factors in
fifth and security in sixth.
n
Two-thirds (67%) of respondents say their
company has taken steps to remove, simplify or
automate document-related business processes.
n
On average, survey respondents spend 36
minutes retrieving digital documents compared to
20 minutes for paper documents.
n
Almost 40% of respondents say less than one
quarter of their business content remains on paper.
n
Workers spend 11% of their time travelling for
business, visiting customers or working in the
field. Yet, just 4% of printing occurs in a mobile
environment. This suggests that vendors could
do more to enable on-the-go printing, especially
as many workers will not print a document if they
can’t do so immediately.
economies is entering a phase of
on-going gradual erosion. We believe
that print volume in the office has
peaked and that in the future it is
going to shrink, albeit at a relatively
low level. This survey very much
reflects our existing beliefs about
where print volumes are going to
decline at the greatest rate, and
that is in larger organisations.
Smaller companies, we think,
will continue to see the most
persistent print. That is
where the job growth is and
where print will continue to be
persistent.”
Required printing
Carroll says that the decline
in print volumes in larger
organisations will come
principally from a reduction
in ‘required’ printing, as
organisations adopt electronic
workflows to increase
efficiency, reduce paper usage
and decrease costs.
“Very large organisations
expect to see their print
volumes decline at the greatest
rate, and we think that aligns quite
well with initiatives like managed
print and document management
solutions that are having an impact
at that end of the market far more
than in smaller companies,” he
said.
Infotrends Senior Consultant
Barbara Richards added: “As
companies continue to invest in
electronic content management
and workflow efficiencies, paper-
based documents will continue
to erode in the workplace. In fact,
67% of our survey respondents
said that their company had
taken steps to simplify, remove or
automate their document-related
business operations or processes.
This number was a bit higher in
companies with 500+ employees.”
Across all respondents, the Top 5
reasons for a reduction in required
printing are: the introduction of
electronic workflows (40+%); the
use of electronic forms (30+%); a
decrease in hard copies needed
for record keeping (30+%); the
introduction of electronic document
management solutions (25+%); and
Why we keep printing…
Popularity of paper amongst younger workers
slows decline of office print, new study shows
because clients prefer to receive
information digitally (25+%).
Interestingly, in light of the
debate over distributed vs.
centralised printing, only a handful
of respondents expect print volumes
to fall due to printers being removed
or placed further away from users.
No millennial effect
Nor is there any evidence of a
generation gap in attitudes to
paper. Andrew Carroll points out
that consistent responses across
all age-groups, including 18-29 year
olds, challenge the received wisdom
that millennials will naturally default
to digital and accelerate the decline
in paper use.
“One of the most interesting
conclusions we’ve brought out
of this survey, which reinforces
learnings we’ve had from previous
studies, is that younger people
seem to have an equal if not slightly
higher preference for using paper.
By far the biggest reason people
still print is for reviewing and editing
– people still prefer to do things on
paper. It’s reassuring for the industry
to know that a younger workforce
doesn’t necessarily equate to a
lower preference for paper. When
we talk about persistent print, the
assumption shouldn’t necessarily
be that print is only going to be
persistent amongst the older age
group,” he said.
Resilient and stable
Optional print volumes, which might
be expected to decline more quickly
as companies control and monitor
printing, show surprising resilience
and stability. This suggests that
people will continue to print when
a hard copy adds something to
the experience, such as greater
legibility, easy editing, improved
understanding or ease of sharing.
In Europe, the ratio between
required and optional printing is
currently 57:43. Infotrends’ findings
suggest it likely to stay at this level.
When asked whether they thought
optional print was becoming a larger
or smaller share, 22% of European
respondents said larger, 22% said
smaller and 57% said no change.
