01732 759725 40 VOX POP continued... continued... of remote working are now being addressed. Arwel Griffiths, Managing Director, Ar Graff Cymru: I feel that, although digital transformation is difficult for the managed print and office equipment industry due to declining printing demand and shifting business models, it also presents opportunities for us to evolve with the integration of advanced technologies and the chance to diversify into related services. Providers who can adapt and embrace these changes are likely to thrive in the digital era. John Green, Managing Director, Commerce Business Systems: We have had first-hand experience as to how the market has evolved into a mostly digital environment, but the key is being able to adapt to the changes quickly so that managed print and IT providers remain a couple of steps ahead of their customers, in preparation for them to make the transition, which many still find quite daunting. Digital transformation creates opportunities for managed print providers to diversify their portfolio beyond traditional print services. They can expand into areas such as document security, information management, workflow consulting, and managed IT services. By becoming allinclusive technology partners, managed print suppliers can meet the evolving needs of businesses and position themselves as providers of all-in-one digital solutions. Richard King, Channel Partner Manager (UK & Nordics), iTS: iTS definitely believes it has opened up opportunities. With the advent of COVID in March 2020 and the subsequent lockdowns, people quickly realised that key business critical printed information was no longer available, so, when the world opened up again, digitisation expedited lending itself perfectly to print professionals with digital workflow solutions in their portfolio. Jon Palin, Service Director, Elmdale Group: Digital transformation has, undoubtedly, had a significant impact on the print industry, which presents us with a mix of challenges and opportunities. Some of the challenges that we are seeing is the difficulty some businesses face when it comes to adapting to new technologies that can require them to make sweeping financial, office equipment or staff changes, and we know that’s not ideal. On the other hand, managed print providers have an opportunity to evolve their services to align with digital transformation, by offering document digitisation, content management, data security, and workflow automation services to help businesses move from paper-based processes to digital workflows. By providing comprehensive solutions that bridge the gap between physical and digital document management, print can remain relevant in the changing landscape. Mark Ash, CRO, Konica Minolta: Digital transformation is a big opportunity for everyone, including the print industry. From a customer’s point of view, there is great demand for managed print solutions that deliver the scanning and digitisation of historical records and paper-based data, along with the need to employ digital workflow solutions which store and organise this data. For customers in healthcare or the legal sectors for instance, this means records that must be retained for legal/ compliance reasons, so finding the right managed print partner that can reliably deliver the right solutions for their needs is essential. There is still an obvious need for print as well, particularly when physical documents are required as proof or as a way of tangibly sharing information for meetings or events. There are also plenty of opportunities for managed print providers to cater for digital workflow needs as well. We work closely with our channel partners to ensure end customers have access to a range of digital workflow solutions (along with managed print) that best suit the needs of their organisation and employees, particularly with the proliferation of hybrid working. On the production print side of things, digitalisation is the perfect way to funnel jobs and customer orders directly to the production line via the likes of web to print. Being able to offer online tools which enable customers to specify what they want and when they want it, and then to process these jobs obviously saves considerable time and money for any print business, as well as ensuring accuracy and service. Naturally, print businesses can also benefit internally from a move to automated digital processes that incorporate billing/invoicing for example, enabling the business team to concentrate more on core activities rather than administration. Arjan Paulussen, Managing Director, Western Europe and English-Speaking Africa, Lexmark: Digital transformation presents both challenges and opportunities for the print industry. On one hand, the shift towards digital workflows and the reduction of paperbased processes have led to a decrease in traditional print volumes. On the other, it brings new opportunities for vendors in this sector to enable new revenue streams, while simultaneously cementing their future competitive position. At Lexmark for example, we’ve invested heavily in our portfolio of cloud Richard Hall Jon Palin Mark Ash Some of the challenges that we are seeing is the difficulty some businesses face when it comes to adapting to new technologies that can require them to make sweeping financial, office equipment or staff changes, and we know that’s not ideal
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