The Internet of Things Is Heating Up in Digital Imaging. But Who Will Benefit?

The Internet of Things (IoT) has begun to make an impact on digital imaging. Many printers now sold are Internet-enabled to perform basic tasks such as replenishing ink supplies or auto-printing items like coupons or crossword puzzles. Recently, companies such as Canon and Hewlett-Packard have announced a tighter embrace of IoT with commitments to build products and infrastructure to better support it, potentially opening up IoT-enabled opportunities in the business markets.

This might actually be good news for companies that provide managed print services (MPS) remotely, as a better IoT infrastructure for printing could remove complexity and allow for greater automation. Like any other new technology, however, IoT promises to be disruptive to the digital imaging industry as both new and familiar competitors find innovative ways to leverage the technology and deliver more value to customers.

Briefly, IoT is just what it sounds like: a network or mesh of smart devices connected to the Web for the purpose of remote monitoring and management. Each device has the software, hardware, and sensors needed to acquire, store, and send data about its physical location, how it is being used and who is using it, operating conditions and status, or in some cases local environmental conditions. With IoT, connected devices can also communicate machine to machine (M2M).

Data coming from the network of IoT devices is sometimes overlayed with data from other sources. For example, weather data might tell a Coca-Cola distributor that a heat wave is coming, likey spiking demand for cold drinks. This data might then override information about current consumption rates coming from Web-connected vending machines, prompting more frequent refills.

Again, IoT is being used in the hardcopy industry mainly to automate supplies replenishment, anticipate required service, or acquire and print documents that a user pre-selects and schedules. Almost all of this is happening at the consumer level. Examples of IoT in hardcopy are HP’s Instant Ink and Brother International’s support of the Amazon Dash Replenishment Service (DRS).

These programs provide only a portion of what many corporate customers get with MPS. So, what might MPS providers get out of IoT? To get to the answer, it’s important to understand the limitations of MPS. David Morrow, author of PrintFleet’s The Internet of Printers blog, has done a pretty good job of summarizing those limitations:

“Traditional MPS is an incremental cost of doing business. Traditional MPS means a lot of reports and virtually no automation. Traditional MPS is a rear-view mirror, not a predictive analytics engine. Traditional MPS is table-stakes, not a differentiator. Traditional MPS promises “actionable information” from your device data. The degree to which that information is truly actionable (useful) depends on your own capacity to process, analyze and operationalize it.”

“MPS is more about integration,” said Elise McFarlane, marketing manager at PrintFleet, which provides process automation software to the imaging industry. “IoT is about connectedness and true automation.” The difference between integration and connectivity is really a blurry matter of degree to which different systems are woven together to share data and processes. With IoT, much the work that goes into getting one system sharing information with another to enable MPS is eliminated.

For example, PrintFleet’s Data Collector Agent (DCA) is Internet-enabled and can be installed on some devices, eliminating the need for a server. This reduces the number of on-site visits needed to set up and maintain the system.

Connecting rather than integrating translates into less on-site time for the MPS provider and greater automation of services. It also means that you can more easily perform analysis to, for example, define usage patterns that help predict supplies consumption rates. And that data and analysis is more easily shared with the client.

Risks of IoT

The risk to companies that now provide MPS is that IoT lowers the barrier to entry for providing similar services while at the same time opening up the possibility for new or enhanced services.

Take Amazon’s new Dash Replenishment Service, for example. Right now, it simply automates the ordering of supplies when a device detects they are at a certain level. DRS works with a variety of devices other than printers, but Brother International is an early participant in the program. I have seen no indication that Amazon has broader plans for DRS, but given Amazon’s infrastructure, OEM relationships, and technical capabilities, it’s not hard to imagine that service expanding to provide MPS-like benefits.

At its Canon Expo last September, Canon Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai talked about his vision of IoT, and how IoT depends on the “imaging of things.” He did not provide many specifics, except to say that it involved building an infrastructure to connect all devices that capture, store, edit or print images or data. To meet the challenge that the imaging of things concept presents, Mitarai said that Canon is building “a network of Canon companies” that will form an ecosystem to realize new possibilities.

The type of infrastructure that Mitarai describes makes sense, and it also suggests that the MPS concept may need to expand to keep pace. With so many devices now capable of sending images and documents to be printed–cameras, smartphones, tablets, scanners–it may be an opportunity for companies to provide services that help companies better manage those connections. It also begs the question whether OEMs like Canon that produce many of those devices will offer some kind of data services themselves.

Expanding the market for MPS-like services is both an opportunity and risk for current providers. MPS makes the most sense for clients with a relatively large installed base of devices. IoT should allow providers to scale or modify those services to make them more appealing to clients with dozens rather than hundreds of devices.

Or, IoT could allow smaller companies to better replenish and service themselves. “[With IoT] a machine can connect with any number of partners, order based on price, and seamlessly deliver to the end user,” said PrintFleet’s McFarlane. “You won’t have to spend human hours figuring out the best deal deal or when to place the order.” She noted that this automation takes place on both ends of the transaction–buyer and seller.

Summary

It’s too early to predict exactly how IoT plays out in the imaging industry. What’s known is that IoT will simplify the implementation and delivery of MPS-like services, consequently lowering the cost to provide them. It will also open up new services as more devices become Internet-enabled and IoT platforms like Amazon Dash or infrastructures like Canon envisions are built.

The owners of those platforms and infrastructure might become competitors of MPS providers, or they might be new partners. At the very least, IoT gives MPS providers the opportunity to expand and enhance their current offerings as long as they stay informed about the technology and are willing to rethink the services they deliver and how they do so.