PrintIT Reseller - issue 58

PRINT IT RESELLER.UK PRINT PREDICTIONS 39 become the norm as employees will be unwilling to waste their time searching for information across a sea of files and folders. Instead, staff are looking to be empowered to carry out their jobs and work smarter, regardless of where they are or what devices they are using. “The idea that work is something you do, not somewhere you go, has become prevalent over the past year, and I fully expect to see that bubble up to the C-Suite in 2019. This ideology will take the form of a smart, digital workplace in which employees and technology-enabled systems interact in an increasingly open, connected, and intelligent information fabric. “Firms unable to provide intelligent systems to underpin this flexible way of working risk becoming less attractive to emerging top talent and losing to more tech-savvy competitors. To address this challenge, whether for office-based or off-site workers, organisations must think about the right technologies to deploy. Cloud-based intelligent information management solutions would be a great place to start; opening the door to exploiting AI technology while staying focused on creating the right workplace for their most important assets – their staff.” www.m-files.com James Turner, Regional Sales Manager, Y Soft “Managing print services in the cloud will be a key choice for reducing IT burdens and costs. The advantages of managing print services in the cloud are well-documented, with the technology bringing operational efficiencies, reducing expenditure and increasing agility. As businesses increasingly focus on technology and processes that allow them to be more efficient, productive and secure, failure to implement cloud printing as part of this philosophy, risks organisations unable to use IT resources for more productive projects. “While the need to frequently print documents isn’t quite as prevalent as it once was, printing still makes up a crucial part of IT processes for many companies, meaning managing print services in the cloud is essential if organisations want to take advantage of cloud services to run their business efficiently. “Resellers have an opportunity to meet customers’ expanded needs. As the industry faces challenges ahead in addressing the inevitable digital disruption, resellers need to demonstrate the agility and vision to be at the forefront of meeting customers’ needs. Customers are looking for solutions that help them in their digital transformation and this can include business processes beyond the traditional print and capture areas. Resellers should look to expand their offerings and partner with solution providers who can offer attractive, new revenue opportunities. “Organisations shift to one-stop shops for a simpler support model. As digital transformation initiatives continue to develop, and businesses look for ways of ensuring an efficient, smooth-running office of the future, we believe organisations will want to use one supplier for multiple document management solutions – as this provides a simpler support model. To do so, companies will start to look at ‘one- stop shops’ that offer comprehensive solutions – both print management and document capture with software and hardware support – through one OEM vendor. “Artificial Intelligence in the print industry. The potential disruption that AI brings to the print industry is significant. Through digital transformation projects, organisations will be looking for solutions that support productivity, efficiency and cost savings, and AI has a major part to play in these areas. The use of AI to support collaboration and connectivity will also impact workplaces of the future. “AI is often used in predictive maintenance as well as paper to digital workflows; however, there is a scope to develop these further by enhancing existing products and services. The increase of analytics and the internet of things will drive yet further innovation and disruption using automation and robotics. “One of the benefits and drivers towards the adoption of AI is the enhanced security measures of defence against security threats. By using AI to enhance security measures, the decision- making process will become streamlined and improved as the automated system can detect and stop attacks quickly, while learning and adapting by using data. “Security will continue to be a high priority. This year it seemed we were hearing of a new data breach every day and as such, businesses have become more conscious of the various touchpoints throughout the organisation, such as printers that require both external firewalls and strong internal authentication. With more connected devices entering the workplace and an increased emphasis on the Internet of Things (IoT), these touchpoints will continue to rise and as organisations update their security measures, they will need to ensure there is close collaboration between the IT department, the enterprise solution provider and the service provider. “As enterprise workflow solutions are typically embedded as part of the MFD’s set of features and communicate to third- party systems, the security of the entire system must be considered. Therefore, it is important for close collaboration between an enterprise solution provider, the MFD service provider and an organisation’s IT department. “ www.ysoft.com Richard King TimWaterton The increase of analytics and the internet of things will drive yet further innovation and disruption using automation and robotics