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PRINT.IT
Mobile Printing
print directly to any printer or
MFD in the network without the
need to load any Apps.”
Printing for remote workers
For Phil Jones, managing director
of Brother UK, it is just as
important to enable printing from
mobile devices when employees
are away from the office.
Research by Brother shows
that a third of corporate IT
decision-makers employing up
to 1,000 people are considering
investing in mobile printing
technology, with 26% describing
the capability to print remotely
as important for their mobile
workers.
When asked if mobile and
portable printing capabilities
might be beneficial to their
workforce, 61% of IT buyers said
that they could see the benefits.
Phil Jones, managing
director of Brother UK, said:
“Mobile printing and scanning
technology isn’t necessarily new
but it’s definitely experiencing a
resurgence thanks to the growing
use of smartphones and tablet
devices in business.
“As more workers use
business apps to do their jobs
from smartphones, the missing
link is often being able to print out
a document when they are on the
move. We’re seeing interest from
small and large companies for
simple solutions that enable their
workers to print from wherever
they are working on any given day.
“We have printers and
scanners that can fit in any
briefcase. By connecting them to
a smartphone or tablet, people
can create a complete portable
office. With the world’s mobile
workforce set to hit 1.3bn in
2015 (source IDC), businesses
need to consider the productivity
benefits of equipping staff with
the right technology to help them
work efficiently on the move.”
No print reduction
Charles Stones, Professional
Services Consultant at
Altodigital, argues that growing
use of mobile devices has not
had the effect on print volumes
that many thought it would.
“At Altodigital, we’re seeing
increasing demand for mobile
print solutions from companies
of all sizes, as BYOD becomes
more common in the workplace
and workforces become
increasingly mobile. Much of
this demand is originating with
employees themselves: they can
work where they want, so why not
print? IT departments are quite
rightly looking to organisations
like ourselves to put in place
secure and powerful mobile print
systems to effectively manage
this process. Mobile printing is
about accessibility – we’re now
living in a technology age where
we have the capability to obtain
information 24x7, and there is
still very much a place for print.
“As a business we divide
mobile print into two categories.
Firstly, there is public printing
through specific print apps and
public hotspots with the facility to
print to devices in airport lounges
or hotels, typically when travelling
or in a field-based role. Secondly,
Continued...
What the Customer Thinks
1. Are Tablets Bad for Print?
On the all-important question of whether the use of tablets reduces the need for printing, the vast majority
(64%) said that it did.
2. How Easy is it to Print?
One reason why respondents expect tablets to reduce print volumes is that, despite some interest in doing so,
few MPS customers have fully integrated mobile printing into their enterprise printing infrastructure: less than
a third have already implemented or are in the process of investigating such solutions.
3. Who calls the shots?
BYOD is often cited as a catalyst for mobile printing, but in the large enterprises surveyed by Quocirca,
mobile printing is largely being driven by users of business-owned tablets and smartphones. Organisations
are less inclined to support employee-owned devices, although a significant 63% wish to provide mobile print
capabilities for visitors to their premises.
Q:
What are your views on the following statement:
‘The use of tablets in the office is reducing
the need for printing’?
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neither Agree
nor Disagree
Yes, we have already deployed some
mobile device printing solutions
Increased need to provide smartphone printing
support for business-owned smartphones
Increased prevalence of business-owned
iPads and other tablets
Increased need to provide printing support
for guests/external users
Increased need to provide smartphone printing
support for employee-owned smartphones
Increased prevalence of employee-owned iPads
Yes, we would like this
capability but we are not
investigating solutions
Yes, we would like this capability
and we are investigating solutions
No, there is no
requirement for printing
from mobile devices in
our organisation
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Q:
What is your level of interest in including mobile print capabilities within your MPS contract
i.e. printing from smartphones or tablets?
Q:
What are the main drivers for considering a mobile printing capability?
(responses from the 62% who said they would like a mobile printing capability)
Last year Quocirca surveyed 100 organisations with 1,000+ employees about their attitudes
to mobile printing, as part of the
Quocirca Enterprise MPS Study, 2012
. The international
sample was split evenly across the UK, USA, France and Germany, with 25 organisations from
each country. All were MPS users.
82.3%
31%
15%
20%
44%
16%
38%
15%
16%
5%
71.0%
62.9%
37.1%
29%
20% 40%
60% 80% 100%
...Continued