Rumors about the death of print media have been circulating for a long time – the term “paperless office” was first mentioned in 1975. Even though print media may look a little different in the digital age, the end is far from near.
So why isn’t printing dead? Well, even though some paper work has already gone digital, we’re not going to see printers disappear anytime soon. That’s because there are so many more reasons for paper. So when printing dies out, it’s going to be a really long, slow, drawn-out death – and certainly not the sudden leap over a cliff that people have been talking about for nearly 50 years.
There is no doubt that the world of printing has changed rapidly in recent years. Digitalisation is increasing efficiency and sustainability and has helped to replace many paper-based processes. However, there are still areas where paper is still indispensable. In fact, research firm IDC recently found that 63% of survey respondents say that printing is either important or very important to their business.
When print management solutions are integrated into a printing environment, their ease of use can paradoxically lead to an increase in print jobs. This is because in the past it was difficult for employees to print. Today they just press a button and the result comes.
Larger companies are finding that their digitization programs are creating an inverse relationship between printing and scanning. The reason for scanning is that they are now beginning to work through huge repositories of information, all stored on paper, thus reducing their dependence on printing.
While companies may be focusing on automating and digitizing their most common processes, they are still likely to deal with paper invoices from suppliers they only deal with occasionally, say once or twice a year. Many companies print out a PDF invoice they received via email, scan it in, and have someone else do the data entry.
But the generational shift will push companies to further reduce their paper consumption. If you look at younger employees joining companies, you will see that they do not print at all – for them, it is a foreign concept.
Willem Groenewald
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Senior Product Manager, PaperCut.
We have also seen a return to the office – and to printing
The sudden shift to remote work during the global pandemic led to a decline in all print-related interactions, including printing, scanning and copying. But since employees have returned to the office, the trend has quickly reversed. We’ve found that many customers are increasing the number of printers and devices in their business. So they’re actually expanding their printer inventory as employees return.
Prolonged lockdowns also led to a shortage of chips, as the boom in Chromebooks and portable laptops created unprecedented demand from chipmakers, leading to a backlog of devices – including printers – around the world. According to copier resellers and manufacturers, their customers had to wait months for copier deliveries due to the production backlog caused by the chip shortage. But the number of printer and copier launches has definitely picked up again, and that wouldn’t be the case if the demand for printers wasn’t there.
With many employers adopting a hybrid work model since the pandemic, employees need the ability to do their work from anywhere – driving the trend towards remote printing solutions. This flexibility to print however you want is crucial. And we’re seeing a big trend in this direction.
As companies look to optimize their resources, IT teams have become smaller and have a broader range of tasks. Without a dedicated team to handle the company’s printing needs, print management software is increasingly being used. They want a solution that makes it very easy – both managing all the printing and getting the end users’ work done.
Industries driving demand for printing services
Despite gradual downward trends, there are certain sectors where demand for print products remains stable. Education is one of the industries that most commonly uses print management solutions, as physical paper continues to be used in classrooms alongside laptops and iPads.
There are some activities that children simply learn better on paper, such as spelling and developing fine motor skills in writing. Schools print several thousand pages per student per year, so in a school district with 100,000 students, that’s a lot of printing work.
Despite efforts to modernize patient records, healthcare is still reliant on paper, even as organizations try to make their document workflow processes more efficient. They look for anything that makes the job easier for doctors or nurses. When a doctor goes to a computer, they want a printer right next to them so they can press a button and the appropriate record or report comes out. It’s all about efficiency.
There is growth in the printing business in both retail and manufacturing, while traditional documentation bases such as delivery notes remain widely used.
Even professional services such as legal, accounting and financial services are still heavily paper-based because they have to meet strict compliance obligations.
In fact, the legal industry is interesting because although law firms are interested in digitization, its use often depends on the individual preferences of a judge or justice of the peace hearing a case. Some of these judges who prefer paper could stay in office for another 20 years or more.
So is printing dead?
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of printing are greatly exaggerated. The downward trend is still here, but it will be quite some time before it ends—long enough for companies to invest in better, more efficient printing methods.
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