As digitalisation grows, there’s an expectation that print will become less relevant – but, as the recent pandemic highlighted, it’s not ready to go away just yet.
Indeed, the printer market is healthier now than it has been for years, says Yudheer Harbhajun, sales manager at Epson South Africa. “Yes, one would assume it would start falling back since there is an obvious intention for companies to cut back on print volumes. But, on the other hand, there is no much more information about now that we are still seeing an increase in printing.
“This is especially true in South Africa and in the broader African market,” he adds. “Paperless is a nice word, but we are very far from it.”
The pandemic forced people to work, learn and play from home and this drove business printing into the home, Harbhajun points out.
A new business survey commissioned by Epson shows that mixed and makeshift print fleets, lack of policy adherence, and home printing charged to businesses combined to create new challenges for IT leaders over the last years.
Driven by the explosive growth of hybrid working, IT managers witnessed a proliferation of printers introduced to organisations as employees self-sourced to support home working (according to 53% of respondents). As a result, the need to manage the volume of different printer brands introduced is now viewed as a key pressure by over a third (37%) of IT leaders. Others saw employees spend significant amounts of money on cartridges as a result of buying ‘off-the-shelf’ printers designed for home use (70%) and not distinguishing between business and personal print, for which organisations bore the cost (71%).
At the same time, over a third of respondents (38%) report printers being under great stress at key times when stored printing was being executed as people came into the office, with 64% stating that they had seen employees working extra hours due to printer downtime (lack of serviceability).
These experiences have led to almost two thirds (63%) now claiming they will make significant changes to how print should be managed in the future, with more than half (52%) citing a need to reduce printer maintenance needs, and (39%) stating a need to reduce costs while also focusing on meeting environmental targets.
Sustainability
A major tension revealed by respondents was the difficultly in prioritising sustainability concerns alongside managing new challenges caused by the sudden transition to hybrid working environments.
While 73% claim they’re now seeing a focus on sustainability considerations when looking to invest in printers, many are still unaware that inkjet technology offers a greater sustainable advantage than laser, and although 57% acknowledge that CO2 emission savings could be made by changing the type of printers in use, only 43% are considering heat-free solutions.
Ink is making an indelible mark in the printer market, demonstrating quality as good as – sometimes even better than – laser output with the added benefit of being more sustainable.
“We have had a lot of success in educating the market about the benefits of ink,” says Harbhajun. “We are coming out with business inkjets now that produce water-resistant output, can take highlighters, and will last 50 years. Today, we can print up to 100 pages per minute (ppm) with instant drying.”
And ink is a lot more sustainable than laser, he adds – a boast that is easy to substantiate.
Epson has launched a Optimisation Calculator that lets customers measure their savings in power consumption, total cost of ownership and environmental impact.
“This calculator is run by an independent company, and is customised for each region, so the results are totally relevant,” Harbhajun says. “It’s a vital tool today with so much pressure on companies to be sustainable.”
This is important for customers, who now rate sustainability as one of their key purchasing criteria. “Previously customers would have looked at the box price to make a decision. Today, they are more interested in the running costs and the environmental impact,” Harbhajun says.
“The work from home environment has had some influence on this thinking: when you bring the work environment into people’s homes, they become a lot more aware of the environmental concerns. This especially goes for power consumption: when it’s in your home, the fact that you could save 83% on power costs suddenly matters a lot more. As does the fact that you can run a printer on a small UPS if it isn’t drawing too much power.”
Control
Keeping control of printer hardware during remote working was cited as a key pressure by 75% of respondents, with 63% admitting that IT is losing control of the print fleet.
Regaining this control will be a major step towards redressing both cost and sustainability issues. When asked, 73% say that management and control of the printer fleet is a specific part of their environmental and sustainability policy, so seeking further clarity on sustainable printing solutions could be a quick way to address this challenge.
Gareth Jay from Epson Europe, comments: “IT leaders have faced unprecedented pressure over the last few years with teams very stretched in terms of time and resource, as they’ve grappled with adapting IT and printing needs to meet a new world of work.
“Some of our survey’s findings expose how far we still need to educate on the range of benefits offered by our of heat-free business inkjets that can help support the challenges identified — whether it’s saving time and money, using less energy and emitting less CO2, requiring less intervention, or using fewer consumables than lasers.
“But there’s hope and opportunity in these findings too. Many respondents are now looking at how to mitigate future disruptions and become more resilient. There’s opportunity to invest in new print technologies and seek added capability from existing print fleets. Adapting to better support workforces needn’t be a headache, could deliver significant efficiency and productivity gains, and help companies get back on track with sustainability goals.”
Harbhajun adds that remote working has highlighted the need for a new approach to things like device management. “When your user or device – or even your technician – is remote, you need to have creative solutions.”
Epson’s cloud-based device management has proved its worth. The reseller is able to remotely log on to a managed device to check meter readings and consumables levels, keep an eye on the estimated life expectancy of components and more.
“This way, they are able to solve problems remotely and, if they do have to make a physical call, can ensure they have the right parts and consumables to hand.
“This fits with the Epson move to fewer moving parts, which translates to fewer callouts,” Harbhajun points out. “With our remote software, the technician can do head cleans, firmware updates and more.”
Results of the survey
Key findings from the Epson State of the Market Survey include the following:
- Escalating costs: The vast majority of organisations (89%) saw an increase in their print costs over the last 12 – 18 months, with an average increase of 14%.
- Loss of control: Keeping control of printer hardware during remote working was identified as the number one pressure, with only 42% saying they – to some degree – had the right level of control over the decision on printer purchases and management. While the vast majority of organisations (93%) imposed some form of restrictions on which printers employees could purchase for home working during the pandemic and most (76%) introducing new guidelines, 42% admit that adherence was limited. Main concerns around home printing include security, being accountable for assets outside the office environment and receiving maintenance requests for products bought individually by employees.
- Emergence of hybrid habits: Printing behaviour itself is also changing. There is an increased focus on only printing important documents and printers being under great stress at key times when stored printing was executed as people came into the offices. Almost half (44%) believe they will move to more centralised banks of printers inside the next two years as a result, while around two thirds (64%) of organisations are already running a centralised group of printers within the normal office/work environment. For around a quarter of organisations (23%), respondents believe there will be more devices available for fewer users. Forecasted workplace patterns vary; just over a third (36%) of respondent’s report that employees will be brought back into the workplace incrementally, and 27% report that a rotation system will be used. In South Africa, some organisations still haven’t brought their employees back into he office, Harbhajun points out. “These companies are still investing in tools to make it easier for employees to work from home.”
- Increasing importance of print, with demand for speed and reliability: Half of respondents (49%) believe print and print technology will become more important to their organisation over the next 12 months. Following the pandemic, the majority (72%) of respondent’s report continuing to need greater reliability of printers, 61% believe that printing will remain important with regards to managing critical data, and 53% state they will need faster print speeds to meet demand.
- Sustainability goals at risk: A majority of respondents (69%) believe environmental and social impact considerations will become more important to their organisations in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, but half admitted sustainability has taken a back seat during the last 12-18 months. While 60% of respondents expect to see a drive to more sustainable printing as a result of hybrid working, almost two thirds (61%) believe that the proliferation of new printers to support home working means that they will not hit their sustainability goals.
- Energy usage is a key challenge: Although 95% of organisations monitor their printer fleet’s energy consumption, only 35% have a clear view. There is, however, a strong desire to improve understanding of savings that could be made by changing the way the print fleet is managed (66%) and by changing the types of printers in use (57%).
- Widespread misperceptions: While the survey exposed an education gap on the range of business benefits delivered by inkjet, respondents did identify them as easier to maintain, providing better quality of print, and being cheaper to run.
Global supply chain issues have impacted printer supplies, but Harbhajun says Epson has helped to alleviate the issue in South Africa with its own local warehouse, which feeds stock to the distributors.
“Some products are experiencing a 12-week lead time between ordering and delivery,” he says. “But, with our local warehouse, we have been able to reduce that to a one- or two-week lead time. Although the pandemic has affected production we have been able to keep a healthy inventory in our warehouse.”