The copier and multifunction printing device continues to grow and evolve to the point where end users are not as concerned with the specifications of a model as much as they are whether it can be tweaked to meet their individual needs. OEMs have raised the bar on speeds and feeds, and printing quality is not the concern it once was for users.
So when all the basic needs are provided by a copier/MFP, where else can manufacturers elevate their offerings to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack?
We’ve assembled an esteemed panel to answer some of the more compelling questions regarding hardware in the office environment. The panel consists of Shane Coffey, associate vice president, product management for Document Systems Products at Sharp Imaging & Information Company of America; Dino Pagliarello, vice president, product management and planning at Konica Minolta Business Solutions; Greg Chavers, vice president, North American Business Channels and SMB for Lexmark; Bill Melo, chief marketing executive for Toshiba America Business Solutions and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions; and Hiro Imamura, senior vice president and general manager, Business Imaging Solutions Group at Canon U.S.A.
In general, what trends are influencing the manner in which copiers and MFPs are being developed? What types of platform upgrades are proving most popular with end users?
Coffey: As technology is accelerating more quickly, extended gaps between hardware upgrades become problematic. To keep up with the increasingly fast pace of technology and mobile workforce trends, it is important to develop copiers and MFPs as a platform with the capacity to evolve through firmware upgrades.
Dino Pagliarello, Konica Minolta Business Solutions
Pagliarello: Customized product is important. One of the things we’re doing is continuing to develop applications utilizing the Konica Minolta Marketplace, where we’re offering customized apps for individual customers to have a more streamlined workflow. For example, some customers want to simplify their control panel, so we can offer one that has a very simple look and feel. By utilizing a product called Chameleon, we can configure the control panels to meet their needs.
Chavers: Security of the device, basic and wireless connectivity, cloud-based solutions capabilities and, as always, total cost of ownership are the key trends driving design decisions here at Lexmark. This focus allow us to build high quality yet affordable devices that deliver the most value to the customer. Many of these upgrades are becoming standard, along with OCR capabilities and print release functionality. The trend is to move these capabilities to the cloud to make implementation and delivery easier and more affordable, and to provide increased function and value over time.
Bill Melo, Toshiba
Melo: The types of experiences that we have with technology in our everyday lives with products like smartphones, virtual and augmented reality and cloud applications (including content streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix) create a set of heightened expectations about products in all categories, including business technology. For us, this means creating products that customers can personalize, that can be serviced instantly from the cloud and augmented on demand. Customers expect that their business machines provide a lot of the same benefits that the technology in their personal lives does.
We want our customers to have a meaningful connection to our devices in the same way that you do with your smartphone. The MFP needs to be an indispensable part of the office.
The most popular hardware upgrades are dual-sided document feeders, stapling finishers and extra paper capacity. These days, virtually all devices are connected to a network, so the software enhancements are often geared toward scanning to a workflow or a shared destination on the network.
Hiro Imamura, Canon
Imamura: An increase of data and content security breaches are impacting companies on a global scale. Today’s MFPs play an integral role in the larger, connected landscape and, as such, MFPs must incorporate an array of advanced security features to safeguard sensitive business information, help ensure employee and customer privacy, and assist in providing regulatory compliance. At Canon, the process to design and manufacture office products with advanced security features starts early and is continuous. We practice proper utilization of in-house security resources and use independent security consultants in the development and testing of connected office equipment to ensure our MFPs are equipped with an abundance of built-in cybersecurity features.
How are manufacturer updates to existing copier/MFP lines enhancing these devices while adding value?
Imamura: Smart technology is more prevalent than ever, with the use of smartphones and smart home devices. Expectations now exist that the technology device a customer purchases today will continue to evolve throughout its life with updates to operating systems and firmware. With the latest generation imageRUNNER ADVANCE platform, we bring this same “smart” concept to MFPs with the Unified Firmware Platform (UFP). Canon regularly releases a new version of the firmware that can be applied across the product line. This allows for updated firmware across the latest imageRUNNER ADVANCE line that may address vulnerabilities and add new functionality, including security features.
UFP allows for continuous improvement and additional value-add throughout the life of the product. It also provides consistency across the product line for fleet environments. For example, an MFP that was purchased last year can be upgraded to include features introduced with the most current model.
Melo: Our focus is on three areas: rapid customization, on-demand feature upgrades and remote management and repair. Our approach is to make the MFP a perfect and unique fit for each customer. We understand that every business uses their MFP differently. They have a unique language and utilize business applications and processes that are their own. We don’t believe in the one-size-fits-all commodity products that have been the norm in our industry.
We want to deliver products that fit the way that you work, that can be enhanced or modified on-demand, that offer proactive service capability and can be addressed remotely for configuration, diagnosis and repair.
Pagliarello: We continue to be a leader in the security business. We offer three versions of bizhub Secure: Classic, Healthcare and Platinum. Platinum, the latest version, allows for the highest level of security against the highest level of ISO standards that exist: ISO 15408 is the standard for security and we comply 100 percent with it. We’re able to offer the ability from a professional services perspective to work with the customer during installation to configure the product to their liking, behind the firewall, offering protection from internal and external threats.
Chavers: The MFP platform continues to evolve to be a much more valuable asset to organizations in terms of cutting costs by printing less, improving their efficiencies through scanning capability, and helping protect small and medium businesses with enterprise-class security.
Shane Coffey, Sharp
Coffey: In the past, manufacturer updates were implemented to keep up with bugs, new certifications or the newest operating system. Traditionally, a customer would need to purchase a new machine in order to obtain the latest features. Now, a simple firmware upgrade can provide your year-old MFP with a variety of powerful new capabilities. On our most recent Sharp firmware upgrade we added features such as support for box cloud storage, Sharepoint enhancements, 365 Exchange online, Sharpdesk Mobile, etc. This provides additional value to customer purchases, since you are able to get significant feature upgrades during the life of the hardware without the need to replace devices.
Some manufacturers have established a vertical trend in hardware being configured to address the needs of specific industries. Can we expect to see more of this and why?
Greg Chavers, Lexmark
Chavers: Lexmark has a long history of implementing vertical solutions based on our deep industry expertise. In fact, industry analysts point to this as one of our strengths. Our years of experience in an industry allows us to effectively tailor products to solve industry-specific problems. We’ve announced a number of new industry solutions this year, including Lexmark Smart Document Capture for Banking and the In-Store Capture Solution for Retail.
Coffey: We find that the needs of the customer are too diverse to try to make “fixed” vertical models. That is the value that our dealers add to our business model. By combining hardware, software and services tailored to meet the unique needs of a particular customer in a given market, our dealers can better tailor specific solutions to each type of customer, as opposed to pre-fixed offerings.
Imamura: This trend toward vertically-driven solutions will continue, and we should see increased penetration into the small- and medium-sized business areas. Many of the key vertical markets still have critical document-intensive processes that are prime candidates for optimization through a combination of MFP hardware and software. These solutions can help streamline and improve operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and improve customer outcomes, whether for patients in a health care settings, students and faculty in school systems, or clients in legal or financial services.
Pagliarello: Every vertical market has a unique need, which we can address with the utilization of our customized control panel and third-party software. RightFax is a server-based fax solution that can be combined with the MFP on a third-party server, which in a legal environment allows for the distribution of faxes electronically throughout an organization. Another example is health care, which through our relationship with third-party vendor Kno2, allows us to customize the control panel for the transmission of medical information.
Melo: I think that every manufacturer is dealing with reduced page volume and an increasingly distributed office place by looking to differentiate their products and thereby increase their value to the customer. The focus on vertical markets is an effort to provide additional value by creating a good fit between the solution and the unique needs of the customer. While I think this trend will continue, companies are going about it in very different ways.
Inkjet has made significant inroads within the commercial printing space. How do you see it playing out in the office technology sector?
Imamura: While inkjet technology is a proven game-changer for the commercial printing space for its ease of use, convenience and cost-effectiveness, the adoption challenges are even greater in the office technology sector due to long-held biases for laser technology. Ultimately, the technology will need to demonstrate it can yield tangible advantages while keeping on par with existing technology with respect to durability, serviceability, uptime performance and total cost of ownership.
Melo: High speed, quick-drying inkjet has been available commercially for a long time. The PageWide products from HP have been well received and have a place in low-volume environments, but I don’t see them as a threat to us or other A3 manufacturers.
Coffey: There are still issues with speed and quality. There’s always a tradeoff between those two – if you want to print at optimal speed via inkjet, you still end up with draft print quality. Conversely, if you want optimal image quality, it is significantly less productive and requires special paper types. When printing on plain paper, the weaknesses are amplified, and even more so when printing on both sides of the paper with heavy saturation colors, such as those used for PowerPoint backgrounds or brochures.
Chavers: We believe inkjet is a legitimate part of the market to monitor, but there are inherent differences between inkjet and laser technology that makes us believe the majority of the distributed output market will continue to be laser based. The quality of inkjet output and its limited capability is a major issue in the office technology sector.
Moving forward, what variables will play a role in dictating the design and manufacture of copiers and MFPs?
Melo: We are always looking to enhance customer value by providing products with improved functionality, better usability and increased reliability. The current generation of e-STUDIO products, for example, greatly surpasses their predecessors in all three of these categories. We will continue to build better products that offer superior performance and exceptional value.
Chavers: Variables that play a role include connectivity with wireless and mobile solutions, making sure there are high-end scanning capabilities to drive workflow to the MFP, and ensuring the device is secure. It will become increasingly important to block malicious activity, whether that be internal or external – with a renewed emphasis on internal.
Coffey: The nomadic workforce, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data will all play a significant role. For instance, in order to sift through big data, you need AI. A good example of how you can use AI with MFPs is Sharp’s Machine Intelligence Call Avoidance System, or MICAS. This is an electronics troubleshooting/monitoring technology that is currently installed on more than 100,000 Sharp MFP units sold to our customers. It monitors every sensor, motor and PCU in a device in real time. MICAS can proactively communicate to a service group to alert technicians to any potential problems. In essence, by parsing through and translating the big data, MICAS is able to help our dealers save on service costs and ultimately make them more profitable and cost effective.
Imamura: Some variables include the need for increased network and device security in a connected world, cloud computing and accessibility. Today’s workers crave flexibility and ease of use, while today’s employers seek the ability to safeguard confidential information as work becomes increasingly mobile. MFPs and copiers, therefore, need to meet both demands, and incorporate capabilities that support such advanced features through cloud workflow and storage solutions. These include our Therefore Online solution and integrations through our partners like Box, as well as network and device security. Manufacturers may also show a renewed focus on serviceability, stressing solutions’ machine-learning capabilities to ensure that their equipment has the most uptime possible, as well as using predictive maintenance to try to pinpoint and address any potential issues before they even arise.
Pagliarello: Environmentally-conscious solutions is certainly one of the top variables for us. Konica Minolta has a long-term environmental strategy that goes out to 2050. Every year we work towards the strategy of lowering our CO2 emissions. Our environmental strategies include recycled plastics, making sure that we have a low typical electrical consumption value and utilizing organic substances in our toner technologies. We continue to utilize less power and raw materials in order to produce our toner. Another area is accessibility, manufacturing product that keeps people with disabilities in mind, from the handles on the trays to clear windows that allow you to clearly see paper levels.
