Executive Summary

Quocirca Print Security Landscape 2020

Key Findings

COVID-19 has accelerated the move to remote working and cloud computing. Before the pandemic, an estimated 39% of employees worked from home all or part of the time; this is expected to rise to 48% after offices fully reopen. The crisis has also embedded confidence in the use of cloud services – 34% of organisations are currently using cloud for all their IT requirements, rising to 43% of organisations by the end of 2021.

IT security remains the top investment priority over the next 12 months. 67% of ITDMs say IT security is one of their top three investment priorities. Cloud is second in importance (44%) followed by managed IT services (42%) and managed print services (35%). Today 63% of organisations are using an MPS, while half report that they are using a Cloud Print Service.

An ongoing reliance on printing creates the need for effective print security. 28% of organisations indicate that printing will be critical to their business in the next 12 months. Once offices reopen, 73% expect home printing volumes to increase, with 59% anticipating that office printing volumes will do likewise. As the hybrid workplace evolves to encompass both home and office printing, ITDMs need effective print security tools in place to minimise the risk of this expanded threat landscape.

Adoption of print security measures varies widely by region. The most commonly implemented measure is a formal procedure for responding to print security incidents (48%). 43% of ITDMs have revised their BYOD policy for home printers; this is most likely to be the case in the US (48%) and least likely in the UK (33%). Pull printing, where output can only be released to authenticated users, is least common in France. Overall, 34% of organisations overall have adopted a zero trust model, rising to 44% in the US.

According to Quocirca’s Print Security Maturity Index, only 19% of the organisations can be classed as Print Security Leaders. These organisations have implemented six or more security measures, and report higher levels of confidence in the security of their print infrastructure. This rises to 28% in the US and falls to 12% in the UK and Germany. Print Security Leaders are more likely to spend a higher amount on print security and report higher levels of confidence.

Confidence in how well the print infrastructure is protected against security breaches has decreased since the onset of COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, 33% of ITDMs said they were completely confident, compared to 21% now. The steepest drops are in the US (50% to 33%) and the professional services sector (43% to 27%).
In the past six months two thirds of organisations have experienced data losses due to unsecure printing practices. This rises to 74% in the US and drops to 57% in Germany. This has led to a mean cost per data breach of £1,023,168 (£1,238,411 in US and £825,243 in Europe). SMEs are more likely to have suffered a print-related data loss in the past six months (69%), with professional services the most affected sector.

Just over a third (37%) of ITDMs are very satisfied with their suppliers’ print security capabilities. This drops to 31% amongst SMEs, and 23% within the public sector. Just 18% of organisations in Germany are very satisfied, compared to 55% in the US. Notably, just 17% of ITDMs overall would turn to an MPS provider for print security guidance, while 23% would consult a print manufacturer.

Almost 40% turn to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) for print security advice. 37% indicate that MSSPs are their primary source of guidance, rising to 45% in the US and 40% among SMEs. 23% would turn to a print manufacturer and 17% would consult an MPS provider. This points to an opportunity for MPS providers and channel partners to collaborate more strongly with MSSPs.