PrintIT Reseller - issue 64

VOX POP PRINT IT RESELLER.UK 43 continued... back to workplace changes, allowing employees to manage their print processes flexibly and remotely.” Aaron Hopkinson, Product and Solution Manager, Brother UK : “The paperless office is a much talked about concept. But in reality, becoming fully paperless has proven to be a very difficult proposition for many businesses as they struggle to reduce print volumes. “We researched 800 SME managers and employees and found that although 61 per cent of the respondents are striving to reduce paper consumption, 41 per cent said their business prints more now than it did two years ago. Markedly, almost three quarters (71 per cent) claimed that printing documents increases their efficiency at work. “It’s clear that paper, ink and toner will remain essential to everyday office Mark Ash, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Altodigital : “If your business is solely based on putting marks to paper, then yes, it is a threat. Print doesn’t exist in a vacuum and it’s important that you complement your core offering, like Altodigital, with complementary products and services. Paper has often been seen as a digital disrupter, however managed correctly with digitisation it will continue to be an important part of our business and our clients.” James Pittick, Director of B2B Indirect Sales, Canon UK : “Digitisation presents a challenge for the traditional print business, however, for the smart partner this evolution presents a great opportunity for embracing change. Digitisation should be viewed not as an existential threat but as a chance to look at diversifying portfolios and examining opportunities for growth. Digitisation is only a real threat if a business is unwilling to adapt.” Carlo Longhi, Director and General Manager, Indirect Channels UK and Ireland, Xerox : “Technological change is accelerating, with new digital platforms and devices emerging every day. Shifts within e-commerce platforms are fundamentally changing the ways in which suppliers and customers manage their business operations. “Digitisation is responsible for moving business operations from an analogue manual process to an online automated service, which includes a move away from print to digital documents. Yet despite the workplace becoming increasingly digitised, companies still require a sophisticated print infrastructure. Within the SMB space, the growing trend for companies is to outsource their print infrastructure to a third-party managed print service under a SaaS business model. Whilst this service was previously only available for corporate and large enterprise organisations, this now gives SMBs access to a smarter print environment at less cost and minimum print devices. “The demand for print has reduced and will no doubt continue to do so as companies endorse digitisation. In order to meet market demand and the reduction in print, Xerox introduced the intelligent business connected range of Altalink and VersaLink multifunctional devices. Technologies like this map life. But the desire to reduce consumption presents a significant opportunity for the print industry to help businesses become ‘paper-lite’, by providing products and services that help them be smarter about how they print and the amount of paper they use. There will also be an increased demand for more sophisticated document capture and management solutions, which will create new opportunities to supply integrated scanners, mobile technology, cloud storage and file-sharing platforms.” Joe Doyle, Group Marketing Director, Kyocera Document Solutions UK : “Digitisation certainly presents some challenges for the print industry, but it’s as much as an opportunity as it is a threat. What’s clear to us is that organisations are looking to share, store and manage their information in new ways and are looking to digital technologies to help them make better sense of their data, improve collaboration and enable more flexible ways of working. However, printers aren’t going anywhere soon. Five years ago, there was a lot of discussion about the paperless office but, while many organisations have started digitising workflows and automating processes, print will be important for the running of most organisations for some time to come. “That said, organisations want to get smarter about how they print, and this comes at the same time when the margins in print are getting tighter, so those resellers that can’t adapt and facilitate this will be having a hard time. “Digitisation means that print resellers can’t expect to be successful The desire to reduce consumption presents a significant opportunity for the print industry to help businesses become ‘paper-lite’ Mark Ash Carlo Longhi