01732 759725
BULLETIN
6
Konica Minolta's new colour MFPs, the bizhub
C308/C368, feature embedded Near Field
Communication (NFC) so that users can scan/print
directly to and from a mobile device. Users can
also connect smartphones and tablets using Konica
Minolta's free PageScope Mobile App
ThinPrint buys ezeep
ThinPrint has strengthened its position
in the cloud printing market with the
acquisition of ezeep, a provider of printing
solutions for co-working spaces.
It has set up a new business unit, ThinPrint
Cloud Services, which will continue to operate
ezeep services and further develop printing as
a cloud service, with enterprise-grade enhanced
features and management capabilities.
ThinPrint's existing printing solutions for
mobile, virtual and cloud environments are used
by more than 25,000 organisations worldwide.
•
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 both for 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.
BULLETIN
Mobile print volumes
to rise by 50%
Topping up made easy
Vodafone is incorporating Powa Technologies'
PowaTag technology into printed catalogues,
adverts and posters so that Pay As You Go (PAYG)
customers can top up outside store opening times.
All users have to do is download the app, scan the
printed PowaTag with a smartphone/tablet and
choose their TopUp value. Personal information
and card details only have to be entered once and
email receipts are sent automatically.
Alternative
funding
growth for
SMEs
SMEs are making greater
use of alternative funding
sources, such as invoice finance,
leasing, non-bank commercial
mortgages, crowdfunding and
peer-to-peer lending, as banks
continue to pull back from lending to small
businesses.
A new report by online business finance
supermarket Funding Options shows that over the
last year the amount of alternative financing used
by SMEs has grown by 43%, from £53 billion to
£76 billion.
Alternative lending to SMEs is now equivalent
to 46% of the value of term loans and overdrafts,
which, according to the Bank of England, now
stands at £163 billion, 5% lower than last year
and 17% lower than four years ago.
Funding Options says that banks are being
forced to reduce their exposure to small business
lending, as regulators class it as riskier than other
forms of lending, such as residential mortgages
and loans to larger businesses. This means banks
are forced to hold more regulatory capital if they
increase their small business lending
.
Loan application
success rates rise
Success rates for loan and overdraft
applications are improving, as more SMEs
move into profit, according to the latest
SME Finance Monitor
from the Business
Finance Taskforce.
Four out of five SMEs interviewed in Q2
said they had made a profit in their last trading
period, up from 69% in Q2, 2013.
At the same time, success rates for loan
and overdraft applications have continued to
improve, with 84% of overdraft applications and
69% of loan applications in the 18 months to Q2
2015 being successful. Respective figures for the
18 months to Q2 2013 were 72% and 56%.
However, overall use of and demand for
finance amongst SMEs remains flat, due to
the increasing proportion of ‘Permanent non-
borrowers’. In Q2, 36% of SMEs were using
external finance, down from 46% in 2011.
Half of SMEs (49%) now meet the definition
of a Permanent non-Borrower (PNB) i.e. they
have not used external finance in the last five
years and have not applied for it in the last year.
The
SME Finance Monitor
shows that while
PNBs are slightly more likely to report a profit
(81%) than non-PNBs (76%), they are also
less likely to be planning to grow in the next
12 months (37% v 49%); less likely to be
international (12% v 19%); and less likely to
have innovated (29% v 41%).
The Business Finance Taskforce was set up
by the British Bankers’ Association in July 2010
to review the key issue of bank finance and how
banks can help the UK return to sustainable
growth.
