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VOX POP
36
The skills shortage remains a longer-term
issue with younger talent not coming into the
pipeline amongst an ageing industry
Resellers are
beginning
to get a
sense of
urgency to
protect their
customer
base from
direct
vendors,
compatible
resellers
as well as
traditional
competitors
...continued
with and complements customers’ existing
MPS or cloud printing platforms.
“Above and beyond managed print,
software is becoming more and more
integral to end-users, with people regularly
printing from a plethora of devices,
whether they’re at the office or working
from home. We’re seeing a substantial
increase in market demand for apps in
particular, which is in alignment with the
changes we are seeing in how people
actually work, customers are still printing,
but in a very different way to in the past.
“Cloud as a technology has been with
us for a few years now and although
used largely by enterprises to outsource
critical services, cloud printing is not yet
mainstream in the enterprise segment. As
enterprises outsource more and more of
their services to the cloud, we think 2017
is the year that cloud printing becomes
more mainstream.”
“There is a common perception that the
demand for print will significantly reduce
due to the proliferation of digital media,
easily accessible via mobile devices and
tablets, allowing people to view documents
in electronic forms, anytime, anywhere.
“Digital communications are losing
their impact however as the sheer volume
of messages users receive continues to rise
exponentially. With email marketing now
more popular and easier to implement
for any size of business, people are facing
loads of emails and it is getting more
difficult to capture the attention of the
recipient. The challenge therefore for any
business is how to attract the attention of
the desired recipient.
“Research has shown that reading a
physical document, especially if colour
is used, leads to a far greater level of
engagement and information retention
than electronic formats. (In a recent study,
88% of respondents indicated that they
understood, retained or used information
better when they read on printed paper
compared to 64% and less when reading
on electronic devices).
“The same research also highlights the
impact of printed advertising vs. digital.
48% pay more attention to advertising
when reading leaflets received by mail
vs 26% paying more attention to digital
online advertising.
“So, the way businesses communicate
needs to change. We expect the demand
for printed communications to increase as
businesses move towards more effective
communications that are personalised
and with eye-catching colour graphics,
grabbing people’s attention, resulting in a
higher conversion rate and a greater RoI
than email marketing.
“Printing combined with digital data is
the perfect combination for more effective
communications. Personalisation is key to
ensure the recipient engages in the desired
way intended. So, we see that the future
of print will have a major impact on the
way we communicate with customers in
the future.
“Smart multifunctional devices will
continue to grow as they are able to
integrate more seamlessly with digitisation
and document workflow in the workplace.
High print security protocol, a compact
footprint and integration with document
management solutions ensures businesses
of all sizes will benefit from true multi-
functionality without a huge capital outlay.
“2017 will be a challenge, however
changing the way customers think about
print will result in a positive outcome and
benefit for all.”
“
Mergers/Acquisitions/Failures:
The
changing landscape poses significant risk
for either bad debt or business failure
in the channel. Smaller industry vendors
may consider merger or acquisition to
survive and small resellers may continue
to be acquired by larger competitors
consolidating customer bases under
common cost models.
“
Value chain going up into services
not boxes:
SaaS, service desk management
and project management (PRINCE2 level)
is becoming the de facto standard for large
scale projects. This points to services-
orientated organisations continuing
to thrive and survive. We will see fleet
optimisation and audit services becoming
a hygiene factor, rather than a nice to have
for print vendors and resellers.
“
Competing priorities:
Resellers are
beginning to get a sense of urgency to
protect their customer base from direct
vendors, compatible resellers as well as
traditional competitors. Print vendors are
actively competing with copier vendors in
the MPS space on cost per click, the HP/
Samsung print business acquisition signals
intent in this area, while copier vendors
continue to push centralisation vs print
vendor de-centralisation and balanced
deployment.
“
Business ink:
The business ink
marketplace shows good resiliency in
amongst technology as A3 capability for
larger spreadsheets/bigger documents
continues to be in demand within
businesses of all sizes.
“
Post-Brexit Britain:
Price Inflation
due to Brexit will continue to be a concern,
all vendors whether dollar or Euro-based
cannot absorb the currency devaluation
at current rates. If the pound stays at its
current level then hardware pricing is very
likely to increase across all IT sectors.
“
Skills shortage:
Vendor level merger,
acquisition and layoffs means that more
salespeople will come back onto the market
as the industry gets smaller and the high
wage inflation we’ve seen over the past
two years will slow down. Whilst resolved in
the short-term, the skills shortage remains
a longer-term issue with younger talent
continued...
Phil Jones,
Managing Director,
Brother
Andrew Hall
Marketing Manager
OKI Systems (UK)
Phil Jones
Managing Director
Brother
Printing combined with
digital data is the perfect
combination for more
effective communications
