More and more clients are realizing that technology is forcing them to do business differently. Large enterprise organizations are now competing against smaller businesses that they didn’t expect were capable of competing against them in the past. Many small to medium businesses and green field businesses now have a large competitive advantage against their larger rivals in the form of speed and agility. Large businesses are attempting to de-couple their infrastructure and applications that have supported their large operations not only as it allows an improvement in responsiveness, but it is also very attractive to the bottom line. Cloud and mobility are two such factors that are driving organizations to rethink their operational and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) infrastructure.
The cost flexibility or more specifically the transition from capital expenditures to an operating cash flow balance sheet provides the business increased scope to better leverage their financing (funding and investment) alternatives. This point alone is now driving enterprises to rethink how they shape their operations going forward.
As businesses do, office printing will also now need to be on the radar and constantly reviewed. Office workers in many corporate environments will continue to print physical pages to their copiers and printers but this old world dance step will come into question more and more.
In fact it’s already in play. Office printing worldwide has and is continuing to fall. Automated digital workflow and business processes are liberating the back office of yesterday. No more holidays, vacation or sick forms to complete. No more paper based weekly, fortnightly or monthly pay forms to be printed. Training manuals, requisition forms, application forms, accounts payables, statement requisitions and the list goes on. Department after department are looking at ways to automate and eliminate paper based processes and output.
However, print providers shouldn’t despair just yet. There are still many businesses that have offices and departments that are still not integrated with other offices and departments, so paper is still rife in these businesses today.
Less Paper is a Reality
This ongoing paperless transition is not a phenomenon, users within large enterprise offices are printing less and this is driven by management as they understand both the inefficiency of building a paper based process within their business and the ongoing costs to support fixed assets that are becoming more and more redundant in the work place. We are not suggesting a totally paperless office. However, we are suggesting that larger enterprises need to be really clear on where and why paper exists within their existing operations. Although it is easy to not see office printing (or their assets) as a major problem or expense, it is potentially a virus that traps the business into a less agile and certainly into a less elegant business – this legacy will only weigh down the business as it grows or tries to compete.
The challenge for decision makers is to know who they can use or source to look at this aspect of not printing rather than printing. Today most providers make an income by selling the actual hardware devices that the business wants to get rid of or at least reduce. Many providers will claim they are independent, but this is not quite true or perhaps the message of independents is not clearly explained or understood. There are certainly some providers, who are doing a good job of looking at office printing outside the “box” sale, but many still see the box as “money for jam” and their own business model or sales capability has not moved beyond this point.
There lies the challenge the industry is facing. How does this great industry remain relevant in the face of a changing environment dynamic? How do the print providers maintain their value and importance as a service provider when their offering’s are becoming somewhat less critical in nature and customers are reducing their requirements to purchase and support an office printing environment. “Who will the customers go to, to get them out of printing” now and in the future?
For many print providers to change, they first have to protect their current business income (i.e. cash flows). If they don’t they will quickly be out of business. So how do print providers protect their business while they build internal capabilities to support a new business model? More on this later.
But first, today one of their greatest challenges is how they migrate away from a manufacturing-led unit (box/device) allocated revenue streams. This includes the toner consumables business as a function of print sales as well.
Although many providers around the world acknowledge that this is a critical issue and it will impact their future, many still seem somewhat transfixed on the ongoing revenue streams that this old fashioned business model supports.
So whose fault is it?
Is it the manufacturer who supplies the product? Is it the way they supply the product to the provider and the market? Is it the print provider who willingly takes this on and says it’s not up to them and blames the manufacturer? Is it the customers’ fault that’s driving you to supply it to them?
Well scary as it seems some would say this reads more like an addiction rather than apathy.
Could they be right?
