PrintIT Reseller - issue 64

01732 759725 VOX POP 42 Maybe the impact will be more prevalent when the ‘gen Zs’ are dominating the boardroom When talking about the print industry, the word disruption is now bandied about almost as much as other commonly used terms and phrases. As digital transformation accelerates across all industries and sectors PrintIT Reseller asked this month’s panel to consider to what extent the DX economy is disrupting the print industry and whether they view it as a threat or an opportunity The age of digital transformation Mark Bailey, Managing Director, EBM Managed Services : “Not necessarily. It just means we need to think differently. It may be that the paperless office is the office of the future, but we don’t see it yet. In EBM’s experience, clients are looking to print more efficiently but not eradicate it all together. In this scenario, digitisation can be an opportunity for growth – It’s not unreasonable to suggest bundling document management solutions so that digital and hard copy can go hand-in-hand.” Martyn Williams , Technical Director , Pinnacle Document Solutions : “Digitisation is a fundamental shift that’s changing how organisations operate internally and interact with their customers, suppliers and partners. Businesses converting paper processes to digital helps to reduce costs, increase efficiency and delivers faster results and service. Linking solutions within the digitisation process helps stabilise the hard shift and support the journey. Print has evolved from a paper hardcopy, into an electronic workflow and process.” Martin Randall, Sales and Marketing Director, Vision : “The ‘paperless office’ is a threat that’s been talked about since I’ve been in this industry (18 years!) so whilst I think the answer is probably ‘yes’, it certainly isn’t an immediate threat. Maybe the impact will be more prevalent when the ‘gen Zs’ are dominating the boardroom.” Nigel Allen, Marketing Director, ASL Group : “The threat of digitisation is not new. In fact, Business Week published an article that referred to the ‘paperless office’ in 1975. At the time it was office automation – fuelled by the expected growth of personal computers – behind the predicted demise of print. “Despite the pervasive spread of personal computers, the worldwide use of paper in business actually doubled from 1980 to 2000. While the PC became popular, improvements in printers and photocopiers made it easier to print the documents that people sent to each other electronically. “Today’s digitisation processes are far more sophisticated than yesterday’s office automation systems and the use of paper has declined since 2000. There has been a generational shift in that period and people generally don’t print documents unnecessarily. “However, Quocirca’s Global Print 2025 survey shows that, through to 2025, 64 per cent of businesses believe printing will continue to be important to their daily lives. Now there is more interest in the convergence between print and digital technologies, through integrated document workflows, for example. While print volumes may decline, businesses are interested in smarter use of print such as a focus on print security and cloud-based managed print services. Customers are looking to digital transformation initiatives to improve productivity and remove cost from their operations. Smart print businesses are evolving their propositions so that continued digitisation becomes an opportunity rather than a threat.” PrintIT Reseller: Is digitisation a real threat to the print industry? Mark Bailey Martyn Williams Nigel Allen