Gary Tierney, head of HP’s printing division in
the UK & Ireland, explains how the company’s
new print devices reflect the four pillars of IT in
the twenty-first century
Pillar boxes
HP CEO Meg Whitman
likes to talk about the ‘new
style of IT’ being driven
by mobility, the cloud, big
data and security. These
four pillars are the building
blocks of HP innovation and
product development in all its
divisions, including print.
The impact these trends are
having are clearly evident in
recent HP printer innovations,
from the introduction of
scanner-optimised Flow MFPs
and the industry’s first MOPRIA-
certified printers to the launch
of Instant Ink subscriptions.
Against a backdrop of
declining print volumes in
developed economies these
developments are helping
to maintain the relevance
and value of print at a time
when content is increasingly
created, shared and stored
electronically.
Gary Tierney, head of HP’s
printing division in the UK &
Ireland, cites mobile printing
Interview
as an example of how HP has
been able to increase print
volumes by meeting the needs
of customers.
“There was a time when
photos were printed all the
time. Then, with the advent of
the smartphone, Snapchat,
Instagram and Facebook,
photos were shared in digital
form. Now, we are seeing
a resurgence in printing
as people are able to print
information from their phones
and tablets simply and easily.
We have made the process
intuitive, simple, driverless,”
he said.
“When we look at devices
that are connected to the web,
the feedback we get shows an
‘on top’ print volume where
users have Android/iOS versus
a device where nobody is using
a mobile. In general, people
print in the home at a certain
level, but when mobile printing
is brought in and made simple,
we see an exponential ‘on top’
growth, which is really positive.
People want to print things off
these devices.”
Through initiatives like HP
ePrint and WiFi Direct printing,
HP was one of the pioneers of
mobile printing. More recently,
it has become a driving force
behind MOPRIA, the Mobile
Printing Industry Alliance, which
has developed mobile printing
standards that, when adopted
across the printer, mobile
device and software industries,
will remove the need for users
to install manufacturer-specific
mobile print drivers.
Tierney likens HP’s work
with MOPRIA to its promotion
of multifunctional printers,
arguing that the benefits
of establishing an industry
standard outweigh any short-
term commercial advantages in
being a technology leader.
“We were the first to market
with all-in-ones. Then we
licensed quite a bit of that
technology to other vendors so
that they could come to market
with their own all-in-ones. Why
would we do that? Instead
of one person on their own
trying to drive a market, you
need a number of different
competitors and options for
customers to choose from,
which starts to raise the whole
market. The same goes for
MOPRIA. We could continue
our own development of ePrint,
ePrint Enterprise, WiFi Direct,
but in everything else HP has
been doing we talk to industry
standards. MOPRIA is a move
to get industry standards for
mobile printing,” he said.
Four pillars
Mobility is changing the way
people consume, create and
store data, but, as Tierney
points out, that is just one of
the trends HP is addressing
with its new print products.
“The three other key pillars
we see, apart from mobile,
are big data, the cloud and
security. All four are inter-
connected. How do we see
print linking into this change?
There was a time when print
meant print, copy, scan and
fax. Now, fax is pretty much
dead; print stable; and copying
has been in secular decline
for ever. Scanning, though, is
increasing. The future is moving
towards a scanning-centric
piece, which lends itself to big
data, lends itself to cloud, has
a huge impact on the mobility
side and brings security to the
fore. When you digitise your
data and your paper-based
documents and you share
them, all those things come to
bear,” he said.
Tierney concedes that
scanning could drive down
print volumes, but stresses
the importance of viewing the
bigger picture, which plays to
HP’s strength in workgroup
printing.
“Scanning is something
HP has embraced for years,
whether in a standalone
product or integrated in an MFP
environment. That functionality
is something we think will be
a differentiator for us. Does
it have an impact on printing
volume? Yes, I think it does,
by simplifying workflow and
processes for people. Account
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Gary Tierney, head of HP’s printing division in the UK & Ireland
