PRINT.IT
17
CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY
Continued...
PrintIT:
What are some of the
key developments in education
technology and what effect are
they having on print?
David Harrison:
“One of the big
developments we’ve seen is the
adoption of mobile devices, and that
does have an impact print volumes.
On one hand, mobile devices move
you towards a paperless environment,
but on the other, they produce hard
copy, so it also has the potential to
drive print volumes.
“Also, the adoption of interactive
display technologies used in the
teaching environment and the
connection of iPad devices to
those screens means there is more
interaction with information that is
visual and electronic rather than in
printed format.
“As well as wider adoption of
mobile technology, schools are
adopting managed print solutions.
They are taking a look at their print
fleets and print environments, gaining
control of them and understanding
what they are printing and in what
volumes. They may be acquiring
technology from lots of different
suppliers and saying to themselves
‘we really need to be dealing with
one supplier who can meet all of
our needs’. We provide services like
print audits and assessments to help
them understand their costs; and we
show them a way to a better solution,
based on print management, that
helps them maintain control, so that
a later adoption of mobile print, say,
isn’t out of control or out of sync with
that strategy.”
PrintIT:
What proportion of schools
already have an MPS? It must be
quite high.
David Harrison:
“Schools are very
savvy these days and there is a
lot of sharing of information on
social websites, so we are seeing
an almost daily implementation
of print management solutions in
schools. There’s still a considerable
number out there that just renew
their contracts and replace, but
even they have taken advantage of
built-in features of MFDs to record
usage and keep some track of it. We
are seeing quite a substantial move
of schools towards implementing
software solutions to bring their print
under control.”
Bob Taswell:
“An average secondary
school would produce something
in the region of 2 to 2.3 million A4
sheets of paper per year, which splits
down to 75% copies and 25% prints.
Schools, academies, secondaries and
primaries are very keen to control the
amount of paper they consume and
the cost of consuming it.”
PrintIT:
That’s 2 to 2.3 million
pages today. Do you have figures
for five years ago? How have print
volumes changed over this period?
Bob Taswell:
“There has
unquestionably been an increase in
both copy and print volumes. That’s
partly driven by curriculum-based
activity, but also by flourishing colour-
rich software that is increasing
volumes.
“Traditionally, every school has
needed a photocopying facility for
What impact will new technologies have on printing in education?
To find out,
PrintIT
spoke to David Harrison, UK Sales Manager,
Sharp Business Systems and Bob Taswell, Senior Solutions
Consultant, Sharp Business Systems.
The future of
print in education
Top trends in
educational
technology
Martin McKay, Chief Technology
Officer of Texthelp Ltd,
highlights 7 worldwide trends
in educational technology
coming soon to a school, college
or university near you...
1. The freemium business
model is here to stay
The dynamics of purchasing in the
education sector are set to change
with the mass adoption of Freemium,
a business model in which suppliers
of digital content give learners
something that is genuinely useful
that they can use every day for free.
Sales are secured at a later date
when that supplier approaches users,
who psychologically have already
started to think as customers, with
premium ‘value add’ offerings that
can be purchased for a fee.
A well known example is 29-year-
old Brian DeChesare, former
investment banker and founder of
Mergers & Inquisitions and Breaking
Into Wall Street (educational
websites aimed at students and
entry-level professionals keen to
pursue careers in banking and money
management). DeChesare built a
profitable, seven-figure revenue
business with 20,000 customers in
less than four years by offering free
content, including newsletters, expert
interviews and case studies, along
with paid, interactive video courses
on everything from financial modelling
to job interviewing.
This model has worked for
Texthelp, too. Over a seven month
period from Sept 2013 to May 2014,
we grew our worldwide customer
base for literacy support software
Read&Write for Google to 450,000
users – loyal clientele who are now
actively purchasing our premium
value add-ons. Read&Write for Google
provides support when working with
documents (Google Docs, PDFs and
ePubs) within Google Drive in Chrome
on PCs, Macs and Chromebooks.
Users benefit from access to powerful
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