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Print.IT Reseller
predictions
Matt Marshall
Head of Print & Imaging,
Futuresource Consulting
Consolidation within the print and
imaging industry is expected to
continue unabated. Not only do
we expect to see the large brand
vendors go through mergers,
takeovers and inevitably some
will withdraw from the market;
but we also expect to see a rush
to acquire software and services vendors who offer vertical
and horizontal market solutions delivering access to customer
categories beyond the traditional user groups.
Managed Print Services continue to evolve into a Managed Workflow
offering at the high end with suppliers looking to secure soft revenues
in the areas of consultancy, support and training whilst also delivering
increased customisation of the existing MPS services including 3rd party
support and servicing capabilities.
Mobile printing morphs into ‘just printing’ as the user community
empowered with smartphone and tablet technology becomes more savvy
and increasingly used to anywhere anytime print capability.
Print consumers will continue to look towards cheaper, 3rd party
alternative consumables for their devices as the economic downturn
continues to impact upon disposable incomes – increasing the challenge
to printer manufacturers to secure their own aftermarket annuity stream.
Dell has recently acknowledged that users will on occasion use non-original
cartridges in its print devices and whilst not supporting this trend they stated
that these cartridges will work within Dell devices and more importantly,
that use of non-original cartridges will not invalidate the warranty as is the
case with some other hardware providers. Is this the beginning of a trend?
Less paper will become reality. For some time now many industry
watchers have predicted the decline and ultimate removal of hardcopy
from the office as the paperless office drive gains traction. Although users
are printing less, as increased education and the increased capabilities of
devices to print duplex and ‘n’ up as basic functions have limited what was
and to some degree remains, an uncontrolled cost within the office, we
are still seeing strong page volume production across both the SMB and
Enterprise environments.
Granted page production growth within the general office has slowed
and in some markets has declined but we must also consider the number
of users within offices has declined dramatically over the past three
years with unemployment in the UK currently standing at close to 7.5%.
Whether an upturn in employment will bring about an increase in printed
pages remains to be seen – but for now we seem to be stuck with a less
users = less paper office scenario.
Mark Dawson
Director of Marketing &
Sales,
MSE EMEA
Lingering recessionary trends
and insecurity will slow
economic recovery. Thus overall
office print volumes will remain
flat or will decline slightly
in Western Markets. Reports
on the negative impact of
smartphones and tablets on
print volumes will continue, while more informed sources will
recognise that the concept of the Paperless Office is still a
very long way off (if not unattainable) and will continue to
highlight the benefits of hardcopy in B2B markets.
Manufacturers and suppliers of aftermarket printer cartridges will
continue to gain significant share as more and more organisations seek
to make savings, thus creating significant growth opportunities for
resellers. For smart resellers with good sources, the impact of reduced
print volumes will be more than compensated by share gains at the
expense of OEM supplies.
Volumes of new build clone cartridges (predominantly originating
from China) will reduce as OEMs continue to exercise their IP rights
via litigation, thus enhancing further the opportunities for resellers
with good sources of alternative supplies. Resellers that source high
quality alternative printer cartridges will see strong growth both in
transactional as well as managed print sales models.
Business class inkjets will fail to live up to their hype. Laser will
retain its supremacy in the B2B market due to entrenched bias against
ink and its unsuitability for MPS. More resellers will develop brand
agnostic MPS programmes and will focus on flexibility in the SME
markets to help users optimise existing printer fleets.
And finally, the market for refurbished printers will start to boom as
independent MPS providers look to increase cost savings for users.
Business class inkjets will fail
to live up to their hype. Laser
will retain its supremacy...
Print consumers will continue to
look towards cheaper 3rd party
alternative consumables...
...2013 will be when
print management
solutions come
to the fore.
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Rob Attryde
Marketing Communications
Manager,
Kyocera Document Solutions
2013 will be the year when Managed
Print and Managed Document
Services really take off.
We know that outsourcing helps
organisations gain and maintain
competitive advantage but it also needs
to deliver demonstrable value. Our own
Managed Document Services is designed to deliver the highest levels of
focus, service and quality.
We also think 2013 will be when print monitoring and management
solutions come to the fore. Best of breed solutions such as SafeCom,
Equitrac, PaperCut, AutoStore and Kyocera’s Mobile Print App are in
demand across public, private and third sector organisations of all sizes.
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