The office print industry’s identity crisis
June 2, 2025
Artificial Intelligence, Security, Managed Print Services, Digital Transformation, Article, Trends
The print industry, once the backbone of the traditional office, finds itself at a pivotal crossroads. In a landscape reshaped by technological advancements, shifting consumer expectations and intense competition, the sector is wrestling with fundamental questions about its future direction.
While the market demonstrates resilience in the face of ongoing disruption, Quocirca’s recent State of the Industry 2025 study, conducted among office print industry executives, reveals a sector grappling with its transformation – yet offering significant opportunities.
The study highlights a persistent struggle within the industry to decisively pivot towards a services and software-centric model. This challenge is underscored by a projected dramatic shift in customer relationships: while currently, 36% of industry executives identify print manufacturers as holding the strongest relationship with customers regarding print infrastructure, this figure is anticipated to plummet to just 9% by 2030. Conversely, IT services providers are expected to capture this influence, rising from 3% today to 38% within the same timeframe.
Ultimately, the industry’s long-term success relies on its ability to redefine its relevance in today’s digital landscape. This demands a strategic acceleration beyond traditional business models.
The evolving landscape of office print
Traditionally, the office print sector was defined by the presence of ‘boxes’. From individual desktop units to departmental multifunction printers or peripherals (MFPs), physical devices were integral to daily business operations.
Office workflows revolved around physical documents for communication, process management, and record-keeping, making printing an indispensable activity. The market was based on the sale of hardware devices and associated service contracts, with managed print services (MPS) emerging as a pioneering – albeit hardware-centric – business model.
However, this is no longer sufficient to sustain growth in the digital environment.
Declining print volumes (due to digitisation, hybrid work, changing customer behaviour, and rising sustainability priorities) created a shift to paperless or ‘less paper’ environments – and a need for the office print sector to redefine its core offering. It needed to shift emphasis from hardware and pages to integrated document services, secure information management, and the crucial role of capture (scanning) within a predominantly digital ecosystem.
How industry challenges are creating an identity crisis
The industry’s identity crisis can be linked to the following key areas:
Intense competition and market commoditisation
The print industry operates within a highly competitive landscape. This is characterised by established traditional players, as well as aggressive new entrants, such as Fujifilm Business Innovation and Katun; mergers and acquisitions, such as Xerox/Lexmark; and joint ventures, such as ETRIA, which includes Ricoh, Toshiba, and OKI.
This dynamic environment exerts pressure on pricing for core services, consequently eroding profitability across the sector. Such conditions compel OEMs and their partners to either pursue innovation or consider consolidation.
Quocirca’s research shows that 55% of respondents believe that the future for OEMs lies in extending and consolidating alliances with other companies.
The transition from a product-centric to a service-centric model
Moving from a product-centric to a service-centric model continues to be an uphill battle for industry players. 36% of respondents in Quocirca’s ‘State of the Industry 2025’ study say this is their top challenge, along with expanding software and digital services (36%) and ahead of cost reduction (28%).
While MPS has been foundational to business models for some time, this is not sustainable when focused solely on hardware and consumables-based contracts.
Success demands a software and services-oriented identity. This includes advanced MPS that encompasses document capture, management solutions, workflow automation, digitisation expertise, and cybersecurity offerings.
Crucially, all these expanded offerings must be developed and delivered with an inherent commitment to environmental sustainability.
Legacy thinking and inertia
The traditional focus on hardware innovation, coupled with complex, slow-moving internal structures, made it difficult for some OEMs to pivot quickly to software and services models.
An initial reluctance to fully embrace software expertise and see the MFP as an evolving platform, rather than a standalone device, has led to a perception of lagging behind agile tech giants.
Overcoming this legacy thinking requires not just technological investment, but also a profound cultural and strategic re-orientation, shedding past successes to embrace an uncertain yet potentially more relevant future.
Talent and skills gap
The rapid technological evolution within the print industry, particularly in areas such as AI, cybersecurity, and cloud architecture, creates a significant demand for new skills. Yet, many print OEMs face challenges in attracting, retaining, and upskilling talent, impeding their transformation efforts.
Few seem to accept that the battle for talent should concern them; only 12% of research respondents stated that talent acquisition and retention would be an issue for them between now and 2030.
But at the same time, over two thirds (68%) stated that AI is critical or very important to their company. This suggests there is a strong need to ensure that the right skills are in place – skills that are already being fought over by organisations across the supply and user environments.
Only 9% of respondents see themselves as being leaders in AI, against 59% seeing themselves as leaders in their company’s overall strategy. To maintain or grow that level of AI leadership will require deep skills investments.
Environmental impact
Like all major industries, print is under increasing pressure to address its environmental footprint. This includes reducing energy consumption from manufacturing, improving waste management, and adopting greener technologies. While efforts are underway, managing and reporting on sustainability remains a key challenge.
Quocirca’s research shows that while 83% say it’s important that print suppliers provide environmental data, lack of environmental information on the print infrastructure is a top three concern.
Meanwhile, 44% of organisations are reducing paper usage to lower their environmental impact.
Quocirca sees continued advancements in areas such as low-power usage in print devices, increased use of recycled materials, and lower usage of first-use materials.
Looking forward, a significant opportunity lies in applying artificial intelligence (AI) to further enhance sustainability initiatives. This includes AI-driven optimisation of print management to reduce waste, predictive maintenance to extend equipment lifespan, and intelligent supply chain management to minimise carbon footprint.
Legacy brand perception
External perception and ongoing relevance present critical hurdles for the office print sector.
Once synonymous with business efficiency, the sector is now often seen as outdated, carrying a significant environmental footprint. Its paper-dependent processes are widely perceived as operationally inefficient relative to agile digital alternatives. This negative external perception could impact brand image, hamper recruitment efforts, and even deter investor confidence.
There is an urgent need for the industry to redefine and reframe its relevance in the modern digital landscape.
Shifting identity
Despite these challenges, the print industry possesses unique assets that could accelerate a powerful identity redefinition.
This will involve a fundamental overhaul of organisational structures, core competencies, and business models. It could create possible internal frictions and a perception gap as it struggles to shed its ‘box-sellers’ legacy. The industry’s future transformation relies on maximising its existing strengths and developing deep, IT-centric partnerships with customers to guide them through their evolving digital journeys. Key opportunities include:
Bridging the print to digital gap
The sector is already working to redefine workplace productivity, where MFPs shift from an output-centric model to an input-centric one by being used as powerful scanning and digitisation hubs enabled by AI. This involves repositioning smart, AI-enabled MFPs as indispensable on-ramps for information entering digital workflows. The focus must be on advanced document capture, intelligent workflow automation, and seamless integration with cloud platforms and enterprise content management systems. This enables organisations to efficiently digitise physical documents, automate processes, and ensure data flows smoothly between paper and digital environments.
Information governance and assurance
With data breaches posing significant risks, the industry must expand its security offerings beyond device hardening to encompass comprehensive information security. This includes endpoint security for all connected devices, robust document security from creation to disposal, and intelligent content security throughout the information lifecycle. This should include the secure disposal of confidential paper to adhere to protocols and prevent data breaches. Providing secure print release, user authentication, and data encryption and ensuring compliance with evolving data privacy regulations positions the industry as a trusted guardian of sensitive information.
Enabler of hybrid workflows and collaboration
The office print sector can strategically redefine its role by enabling seamless collaboration across physical and digital work environments to support the needs of decentralised teams.
This involves developing solutions that integrate physical print into leading collaborative platforms such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Google Workspace. MFPs can even serve as shared digital and dynamic collaboration hubs, directly supporting flexible working and enhancing team efficiency, regardless of physical location.
Analytics and data-driven insights
A key opportunity lies in leveraging the vast amounts of data generated by print and document infrastructure. This goes beyond simple device telemetry to encompass comprehensive analytics on document usage patterns, workflow efficiencies, cost optimisation, and environmental impact. By translating raw data into strategic business intelligence, the industry can advise customers on process improvements, resource allocation, and achieving better business outcomes.
Several OEMs are ahead in this space, many MPS providers offer advanced analytics services, and print management vendors continue to enhance their analytics capabilities.
Building credibility through IT services
Print OEMs and their partners must extend their expertise beyond traditional print management to offer comprehensive IT solutions. This encompasses network integration, cloud services management, cybersecurity consulting, and IT infrastructure optimisation. By becoming credible IT service providers, the industry can leverage existing client relationships and address a wider spectrum of customer technology needs, evolving into true technology powerhouses.
This strategic shift is already underway, highlighted by strategic investments such as Xerox’s acquisition of ITsavvy. While the expansion into broader IT services represents a key avenue for reinvention, it poses a significant challenge for print OEMs and their traditional MPS partners. Gaining credibility in a space historically dominated by dedicated IT service providers requires a fundamental shift in perception and capability.
Enhancing personalised experiences
The industry has a compelling opportunity to focus on areas where physical print still offers value rooted in emotional connection, tangibility, and memorability. This entails specialising in high-value, personalised print applications such as bespoke marketing collateral, highly targeted direct mail campaigns, unique internal communications, or speciality media printing.
This focuses on delivering impactful communications that cut through digital noise, foster stronger brand connections, and cater to specific demands for authentic, tangible experiences.
The path forward
The print industry faces an urgent imperative to adapt, addressing ongoing challenges such as declining print volumes, hardware commoditisation, extensive digital transformation, and the burden of its legacy perception. By strategically navigating these hurdles and pursuing emerging opportunities, the office print sector can fundamentally redefine and reposition its identity as a key enabler of secure, sustainable, and intelligent information management within the modern, hybrid workplace.
Find out more in Quocirca’s State of the Industry 2025 study here.
