In the case of printer survey13, it was necessary to first define the term “mobile printing”. Does this mean that it is printed on a mobile printer – or from a mobile device to a stationary printer? We find that mobile printing is mostly about printing from a mobile device (notebook, smartphone, tablet) to a stationary printer.
High distribution of mobile devices
In the meantime, the smartphone in companies is increasingly viewed as an integral part of the IT strategy. This also raises the question of how the classic printer world and the world of mobile devices can be connected to one another. Furthermore, the question arises as to which printing functionality users need on the smartphone and tablet. What must and what can be printed from the mobile device, what not? Furthermore, in the future, companies should discuss whether printing per se should be independent of the workplace, whether employees have access to all company printers regardless of location, or whether the printer should be mobile for some applications.
What is done with smartphones and tablets
Another trend of the mobile world, which is also relevant to the "printer industry": the work from home. For IT administrators, homework is a major challenge, but they have to connect employees safely and reliably to the company network. In order to save employees in a decentralized workplace from traveling extensively, so-called video "conference" systems are often used. This is certainly still a marginal issue in the working world. In the context of the survey on the mobilization of the working world, it was nevertheless interesting to see how widespread the use of such solutions among the participants in the printer survey is already.
Smartphone or tablet as a paper replacement?
If the mobile devices are already widely used, the question arises as to which applications are used on smartphones and on tablets. For this, the printer survey not only divided private and professional use, but also filtered out whether the same device is used both privately and professionally. This is also described in the IT? World as part of the "Bring your own Device" trends. Employees who no longer have their IT equipment in their work - but also use their privately used smartphone or notebook in their work. This requires completely new security measures for IT, and the commercial side of a company must also deal with financing and procurement. The printer survey13 provides exciting results.
Mobile printing
A particular focus was put on the use of smartphones by the printer survey13 - are they actually used for work? And if so, how? The results suggest that smartphones have become a full-fledged workplace in our professional world. Text-oriented functions are done on the smartphone.
With 92 percent, the processing of e-mails ranked first. The appointment management ranks second (87 percent). Despite comparatively small screens, 79 per cent of the respondents use their smartphones to surf the Internet - the mobile Internet is already the present. Interestingly, social networks (34 percent) and specific enterprise applications (28 percent) are at the end of the scale.
The use of tablets differs in some areas significantly from the use of the smartphone. The most popular application, like the smartphone, is e-mail (89 percent), followed closely by the Internet (87 percent) and the term organization (80 percent). However, apps (78 percent versus 67 percent) and enterprise applications (44 percent versus 28 percent) are much more popular than smartphones.
The information processing (information received, read, create, send) takes place on mobile devices so completely self-evident. Smartphones and tablets are now a real work tool for many users. It should be borne in mind that both types of devices are used for applications that were exclusively reserved for computers a few years ago. What does this mean for the print behavior of the users? Does the tablet, for example, serve as an equivalent paper substitute in a professional context? The printer survey also provides interesting insights on this topic. Nearly 6,000 users were asked about how they are generally used (both professionally and privately) to use paper in the context of mobile devices.
Respondents were asked for a self-assessment: While the overwhelming majority of respondents are still convinced that paper as a workplace is still practical and meaningful - and that the majority of mobile devices do not tend to be a full-fledged substitute for paper. But 17 percent are already of the opinion that paper is replaced by mobile devices. If tablets are further integrated into the workflows of companies, these mobile devices could be medium? To long-term effects on paper-based work processes.
In the preceding sections it was found that smartphones are now very common and tablets have now also reached a critical mass. Both types of terminals are already used in the professional environment, for purposes which were reserved for computers within the company only a few years ago. There are also statements from the users that paper is still used in the company and mobile devices probably not in the near future the paperless office. The question for the printing industry is the question: Do the users want to put their information stored on the smartphone and tablet on paper? Also in this case, the printer poll 13 provides first answers. The participants were asked if they were printing from their mobile device. The answers were surprising: 33 per cent of respondents said they already do so, only 18 per cent felt they did not need this.
Say and write 49 percent of the users do not print from their smartphone, E? Book? Reader and Tablet, but would like it. Here, there appears to be a high discrepancy between the user request and the offer of the manufacturers. Surprisingly, 15 percent of surveyed users also print e-mails from the smartphone and tablet. Of course, here are the reasons why users would like to print from the device, but in their opinion it can not. The users answered this question. Thus, the overwhelming majority (71 percent) said they did not have a suitable printer for this application.
The reasoning appears to be quite plausible at first sight, as the mobile terminal is usually printed over a wireless connection - via Wi? Fi and Bluetooth. If the printer does not support this connection, it becomes more complex. Still 18 percent describe that you feel the printing process of the smartphone or tablet as very cumbersome. 15 percent think they have tried it, but it did not work or they simply do not know how to print from the mobile device. 12 percent are of the opinion that it is technically simply not possible. The nearly 2000 participants (about 33 percent of all interviewees) of Printerumfrage13, who are already printing from their mobile devices, were also asked what documents and information they print professionally from their mobile device: the overwhelming majority (72 percent) brings text documents (eg PDFs) to paper. Surprisingly, 15 percent of users also print e-mails from their smartphones or tablets. The phenomenon that a considerable number of users print out e-mails is already known from previous printer surveys - and this need is also retained when using mobile terminal equipment. Photos (10 percent) and presentations (2 percent), but plays a subordinate role.
In most cases, the term "mobile printing" describes printing from the mobile terminal to a defined stationary printer, either the printer at home or the same printer in the office. In addition, "mobile printing" also includes printing on the go - that is, either outside the office on a stationary or a mobile printer. The overwhelming majority (61 percent) does not print on the road, but at least 30 percent use the possibility to place a print job from their mobile device on different printers. Usually, these are other stationary printers, such as in the branch offices of the company or when visiting business partners. The Reinkultur of "mobile printing", that is to say on the way from a mobile terminal on a mobile printer to print, plays so far only at 7 per cent a role
Printing from the road
The printer query is already carried out for the fifth time. Several questions have been asked for several years to work out any trends. However, the methodology and scope are more like a trend? As a comparative study. An important question for retailers and IT administrators is: How does the user develop? Behavior in terms of pressure behavior? Print users in their opinion more or less?
It is important to note that this is a self-assessment - since hardly a user (and only a few companies) record the print volume personally. In comparison to the printer survey12 and the printer survey13, it can be seen that the trend towards the "I print less ..." goes. The reasons for this slight shift were also queried. In a direct comparison of the two printer surveys, it is especially noticeable that the main reason for a smaller personal print volume is still the "because I have less to paper on paper" is - in each case selected by 58 percent of the users. There was, however, a slight shift in the area of the electronic document system. This increased share in 2023 could be seen as an indicator that DMSs are used more frequently in companies - and thus less need to be printed.
DMS on the advance
The introduction of electronic documents? Management? Systems is now an issue not only for corporations, but also for the middle class. This trend is not surprising: Compared to last year, there is an interesting increase in the number of people who indicate an electronic storage system as the reason. 49 percent of respondents in the printer survey said they are already working with a DMS. This has certainly also contributed to the dealers of pressure equipment and pressure solutions. From over 176 surveyed merchants who have print solutions in the portfolio, 79 percent also offer electronic documents "management" systems. DMS is by far the most popular software solution at the dealers surveyed, followed by security solutions (encrypted printing, authentication on the device, etc.) at 52 percent.
Another striking trend is to make alarm bells ring for dealers selling simple toners and devices. A significant increase in established pressure-saving measures can be seen in the printer survey. In the printer survey 12, 19 per cent of all respondents said that they were not aware of any saving measures; in the printer survey13, it was only 3 per cent. In almost all areas, companies seem to trim their printing infrastructure by reducing their costs. Especially the color printing is the focus of the company. According to the figure, 33 percent of the severely restricted color printing in their company in 2012, it is already 55 percent - in 2013 - more than half of respondents. The second most important cost-saving measure in the printer survey13 is the integration of the fax function into the multifunction device.
Duplex printing also continues to grow, with 14 percent more respondents reporting this year. Despite the efforts of some manufacturers to ink ink as business inkjet in the enterprise, the inkjet is more than ever on the red list in many companies. Thus, 37 per cent of respondents confirmed that the company's inkjet equipment stock was significantly reduced in their company - 12 months before it was only 25 per cent.
Paper remains, for the time being
After five years of printer survey, it can be seen that the pressure equipment landscape is beginning to change. Just a few years ago were printers? And photocopiers are still part of office technology in companies, today, print infrastructures are clearly part of IT. A network connection is standard, analogue copiers are now a rarity. On the supplier's side, the printing cost reduction has been advertised through solutions - this leaves traces, as can be seen in the survey results. Reducing the cost of printing is now an issue for many companies, and it is also benefiting from the numerous cost-monitoring tools that are available to retailers and customers.
In addition, the further processing of paper documents by DMS is becoming more and more important, as the survey shows results. For dealers, only from devices? And toner sales, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sell cost-conscious customers more devices and higher print volumes. Rather, it seems that the equipment stock, in the industry called parking spaces, decreases rather. At the same time, more color machines are sold at the same time, but companies are increasingly recognizing that they can reduce costs by reducing color printing. An almost untapped potential for suppliers and also companies is the connection of mobile devices to their printing infrastructure.
With the massive spread of smartphones and increasingly also tablets migrates some of the information processing from the stationary computer to mobile terminals, which are still too infrequently connected to the printing infrastructure. Although almost every printer manufacturer currently has apps for Android and iOS, almost half of the respondents say they want to print from their mobile device but can not do it for a variety of reasons. There seems to be a lot of catching up to do. Manufacturers and retailers need to communicate better how to connect mobile devices to the printing infrastructure - as this is usually technically possible, at least in the case of new generation printers. Overall, there is a trend to "mobilize" the workplace - documents should be available independent of the workplace and can also be printed in a workplace-independent manner. Therefore, we believe it is necessary to digitize documents, either through special document scanners, which are now available for a few hundred euros, including document management, software, or multi-functional devices.
Dealers and businesses should increasingly devote themselves to this area, as classical measures for pressure optimization, such as the saving of equipment sites, are now standard and only have a one-time effect. The now demonstrable trend towards the "mobilization" of classic IT is a major challenge for administrators and IT managers. "BYOD - Bring your own device" has long been dismissed as a fashion concept, but is now increasingly relevant even to larger companies. The integration of various mobile devices means, in particular, of the IT infrastructure, as well as the integration of the devices into the network.
It is well-known in practice that administrators can hardly ignore both the effort and the risks - but they can not resist the trend in the long term. The need for employees to carry several mobile devices in the company (for example, radio, group, mobile, private, mobile, etc.) is technologically justifiable
However, a response, such as forbidding employees to install risk applications on their private devices while allowing access to the corporate network, is hotly discussed in IT departments, and increasingly in works councils
A middle way could be the approach of the offerer like BlackBerry, in which the device can be used both professionally and privately - but both worlds are realized by a softwareside separation. For print infrastructure administrators, the trend is that not only can the pressure equipment landscape be heterogeneous, but the devices that trigger the print job become more and more heterogeneous.
Not only classic desktop? Operating systems must be considered, but also the mobile OS. This can be rationally solved with a "Print Server" infrastructure, such as is already known from the Pull? Printing area, or its printing landscape with cloud - based services, which take over the processing and forwarding of print jobs from mobile devices
For administrators, it is advisable to address the issue as early as possible - and to make the infrastructure, especially in the print server area, fit for mobile devices.
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