Modernisation of print infrastructure creates major opportunity for MPS providers
Print volumes stabilise at 52% of pre-pandemic levels as organisations pursue long term cost-control, security, sustainability, and digitisation goals
London, UK, 19th September 2023: The managed print services market is on the verge of a significant phase of opportunity as businesses embark on initiatives to modernise their print environment. Lowering environmental impact, enhancing security and lowering costs are key drivers as organisations rethink print technology needs to support distributed, hybrid work environment.
Quocirca’s Managed Print Services Market Landscape 2023 study* finds that, after a period of relative stagnation, expenditure on MPS is set to increase this year, with 25% of businesses planning to invest significantly more. However, the study also reveals a drop in satisfaction with MPS providers, who must focus on meeting increased customer expectations if they are to capitalise.
The upturn in investment is being driven by changing office footprints and technology requirements. As organisations adapt their workspaces to the new status quo, they are refreshing and rationalising their printer fleets in a bid to control costs, while also prioritising security. The use of MPS to reduce environmental impact has also jumped up the agenda, with almost half (48%) now rating it a very important benefit, and 31% identifying it as a key challenge related to managing their print infrastructure.
Key findings include:
- Office footprints are changing. 59% expect their office real estate footprint to increase, and 26% anticipate a reduction, as businesses seek to right-size their workspaces and optimise expenditure.
- Overall print volumes have settled at 52% of pre-pandemic levels. This varies between regions and vertical sectors – UK respondents expect it will rise to 60% by 2024 while French respondents believe it will plateau at 48%.
- One-quarter plan to invest significantly more in MPS in the next year. This rises to 36% in the professional services sector.
- MPS is seen as key to digitisation initiatives: 55% believe MPS will be key to digitisation by 2025, rising from 36% today.
- Sustainability has grown in importance as an MPS driver. 48% say reducing the environmental impact of the print infrastructure is a very important benefit of using MPS, up from 37% in 2022.
- Satisfaction with MPS providers has dropped year on year. 31% say they are very satisfied, down from 47% in 2022.
- Workplace services are a growth area: Two-thirds of respondents say the provision of workplace services would make them more likely to choose a specific MPS provider in future.
Louella Fernandes, Research Director, Quocirca said:
“Businesses now have a better understanding of how to adapt their workplace infrastructure to support permanent post-pandemic changes. Now, they are looking to MPS providers for solutions that solve the three key challenges of cost, security, and sustainability, while also enabling the drive for digitisation. There’s an undoubted opportunity here, but MPS providers must ensure they are offering the right services and consultancy in response to rising expectations. They must also address the satisfaction gaps that are starting to appear.”
MPS satisfaction has fallen as expectations rise
Overall, the percentage of businesses reporting they are very satisfied with their MPS provider has dropped, from 47% in 2022 to 31% in this year’s study. This drops further to just 25% in both France and Germany.
The biggest satisfaction gap occurs around reducing environmental impact. With this a growing priority for buyers, providers should act urgently to ensure they offer solutions that deliver measurable impact reductions. Other areas of concern include service reliability and reducing costs.
Solutions must be closely tailored to buyer priorities
Organisations are undertaking a range of initiatives in a bid to drive efficiency and control costs and their priorities vary by industry sector and organisation size.
42% say they are moving to a centralised model using more A3 MFPs, while almost the same percentage (41%) are taking the opposite approach and introducing more A4 printers of MFPs in a more distributed fleet model. The retail sector (with its branch-based structure) and industrial businesses lean towards a distributed A4 fleet, while public sector and professional service companies favour A3 machines.
Implementing security solutions was the third most common priority in the coming year, and cybersecurity expertise is also the top supplier selection criteria.
There is also evidence that inkjet technology is continuing to make inroads into the office environment, with 36% of respondents planning to introduce more inkjet devices in the coming year, rising to 45% among respondents in the retail sector.
Louella continues:
“A consultative approach and tailored data-driven solutions that closely align with buyer priorities have never been more important than they are today. Businesses are becoming increasingly diverse, even within the same sector, so it is critical that MPS providers can develop solutions – including distributed collaboration systems and data security systems – that closely align with the customer organisation’s strategic goals.”
Workplace services are a strong growth area
As buyers continue to reconfigure their office environment, demand for related services is set to rise. Workplace services that include redesign of physical workspaces, audio-visual solutions, and workplace productivity tools are seen as a key service offering that will influence MPS supplier selection in future. Overall, 66% of respondents indicate that they are interested in workplace service offerings from MPS providers, rising to 75% in the US. This is followed by 45% that are interested in cloud print services and 42% for collaboration services.
Louella continues:
“There is a real drive among businesses to optimise their print infrastructure and achieve the right balance between productivity and efficiency. At the same time, the economic climate is prompting closer focus on costs, while rising expectations around sustainability performance and growing environmental regulations are also influencing buyer priorities.
“MPS providers have a major opportunity to harness this momentum and help customers transform their print and digital infrastructure through cloud-based, secure, and sustainable solutions and services.”
Quocirca’s Managed Print Services Market Landscape report contains recommendations and insight for MPS buyers and suppliers, together with assessments and in-depth profiles of key vendors: Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Ricoh, Xerox.
Access more information about Quocirca’s Managed Print services Market Landscape Report, including a free executive summary, here: https://print2025.com/reports/managed-print-services-2023-landscape/
*Methodology:
Quocirca conducted this study among IT decision makers in 208 organisations using managed print services in the UK, France, Germany, and the US in May 2023.
