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“But my real hope for 2016 is that
how print is perceived will shift; too often
procurement views the cost of new devices
in isolation of a fleet’s running costs. It’s
time to look more closely at the total cost
of ownership if companies are going to
get a grip on their print costs, lower print
volumes and understand where tangible
cost savings can be made.”
Andrew Hall,
Marketing Manager,
OKI
“We have seen general printer sales in
decline in 2015. However, certain trends
continued and, in particular, increased
demand for multifunction devices and
larger format professional print products
created a steady rise in sales.
“Demand for Smart MFP devices is
fuelled by the need for end customers to
address the requirement for some form of
document management and space savings.
Off the back of this, managed print services
is still increasing at a steady pace. Resellers
should look to vendors who can support
them in delivering a managed service to
their customers, and who also have the
portfolio of products and solutions to back
it up.
“In addition, when it comes to
professional print, more and more
businesses are looking to bring this in-
house. So being able to offer an A3 or even
larger wide format device will be a major
benefit for the channel. OKI will again be
introducing some innovative products for
the professional market in 2016, so the
future of print does look brilliant.”
Gary Downey,
Group Marketing Director,
Apogee
“Irrespective of the size of organisation,
from more progressive clients we have
seen an increasing appetite to talk about
integration of business processes across
a managed infrastructure this year, and I
think this will gather pace in 2016.
“Mobile and Cloud computing are
becoming the norm and as businesses
migrate away from the traditional
server model to centrally coordinated
applications provided to any device, there
will be greater demand for providers
of the document infrastructure to have
the technical ability to support all these
devices, and seamlessly integrate digital
processes and communications to flow
across all platforms. Professional services
and project management expertise will
be key to winning and executing these
contracts successfully.
“After many years of hardware
manufacturers hyping apps and widgets
with limited effect, I think 2016 could
see the best of these and independently
developed versions becoming an important
consideration on the buyers’ must-have
list, and that will directly affect who wins
business.
“Process-savvy buyers will look at the
benefits of rationalising fleets and improving
process efficiency in a single step, rather
than the traditional 1-2 approach. Providers
who can communicate the benefits of their
solutions in terms of security, efficiency,
productivity etc. will have the advantage
over the commodity MPS competition.”
Alison Locke,
Marketing Manager,
Olivetti UK
“Independent research (
Global Mobile
Printing Market 2015-2019
, TechNavio,
February 2015) forecasts the global mobile
printing market to grow at a CAGR of
32.5% over the period 2014-2019, with
the key drivers for this growth being the
increased implementation of BYOD in
business and the education market.
“This trend is also driving the volume
of printed documents being stored in the
Cloud. This has created a growing need for
people, in business and education, to be
able to print from their device simply and
easily while away from their usual printer,
and there are now new and innovative
ways to do this.
“As far as desktop printing goes,
Olivetti’s market share grew in 2014 by
around +6.7%, at the same time as the
Western European market increased its share
by around +9.4%, according to Gartner.
“Olivetti’s plan is to combine the
continued launch of fast, highly featured
colour laser printers with reduced energy
consumption of 20%, and support for
Airprint, Cloud Printing, Wireless printing
and Mobile Apps, with direct access at the
front for USB sticks, to enable the growing
area of mobile printing from iOS or Android
devices to flourish.
“New printer launches for 2016 have
been designed to ensure greater data
security and to fit neatly into managed
print environments, another growing
area for print. The printers will enable
administrators to manage which users
can print in colour, or just mono, and
set the default to duplex all multi-page
documents. These new models will feature
new Data Security kits, interface block
function and access control via IC Card or
keyboard-based passwords to ensure that
any increase in their use by guests can be
managed and controlled.
“The demand for printing on different
media types is an increasingly important
factor for workgroups and our printers
include options to feed media from five
different sources. In addition, preview
features enable documents to be checked
before a long print run and electronic
collation takes the strain out of sorting
large jobs.
“In Olivetti’s opinion, the desktop
printer market will run alongside the MFP
market in environments where there are
small but highly productive workgroups,
in small businesses and where there are
branches and satellite offices to consider.”
continued...
The best apps
and widgets
could become
an important
consideration
on the buyer’s
must-have list,
and that will
directly affect
who wins
business.
Gary Downey,
Group Marketing
Director,
Apogee
Andrew Hall,
Marketing
Manager,
OKI
...continued
Alison Locke,
Marketing Manager,
Olivetti UK
