RESEARCH PAPER

Printing has left the desktop:

Why mobile printing and scanning can o er a more agile, service-based solution

March 2013
Sponsored by

Printing has left the desktop

CONTENTS
Executive summary Workers unite A new context for print Papers weight Conclusion About the sponsor, Brother p3 p3 p7 p9 p11 p11

This document is property of Incisive Media. Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden.

2 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother

Printing has left the desktop

Executive summary
Mobile working is on the rise. The concept of the workplace is rapidly becoming an outmoded idea for millions of people who have embraced mobile technologies and cloud-based platforms and placed them at the centre of their lives. As a result, many now work exibly and out of hours, conguring ad hoc workspaces as when they need them, at home, while travelling or in public places, such as cafes, airports and railway stations. For many other types of employees, including eld workers in the public and voluntary sectors, work has always been mobile and public-facing. But the rise of smartphones, tablets and hybrid devices, combined with broadband, wi-, Bluetooth and 3G/4G networks, means that computing power and networking speeds comparable to the most advanced desktop-based o ce are becoming available to them too. Increasingly, customer service is becoming a key di erentiator between organisations. Being able to scan and print documents such as invoices or manuals on site can mean faster processing times and a better customer experience. People are becoming aware that printing and scanning technologies have kept pace with the shift towards more agile, service-based working which has increased, rather than decreased, the need to print and scan. However, an exclusive Computing survey of 160 IT managers at organisations of between 50 and 1,000 sta across every sector of the economy nds that many still see printing as a peripheral, desktop-based issue, one that has nothing to do with strategic IT. They see it largely as a cost centre, and not a value-add, and many are happy for its responsibility to remain the domain of o ce managers and facilities teams. Such a view no longer has a place in forward-looking IT teams in any sector of the UK economy. Mobile print and scan technologies are now a viable option for many types of organisation, and they o er advantages that could help lower costs and encourage employees to be more responsive.

Workers unite
The concept of work being a 9-to-5, Monday to Friday occupation, in which people travel to an o ce to use desktop-based technology, is increasingly a relic of the past. This technology-driven change has had a knock-on e ect on the workplace itself, with more cost e cient alternatives to the traditional workplace being adopted, as the need to allocate o ce space for the entire workforce diminishes. While large workplaces still exist, xed premises can be a nancial burden on smaller or cloud-based enterprises and, in the current climate, on large organisations too. Meanwhile, other types of workers for example emergency services, construction teams, delivery people, eld sales executives and others - are constantly mobile, but may still need access to the kinds of technology o ered by head o ce and other desk-bound organisations. Other groups of workers, such as architects, civil engineers, designers and journalists, are often on the move. These groups often congure ad hoc, private workspaces for themselves in public places on the train, at conferences, in cafes, at airports, or out in the open.

Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother 3

Printing has left the desktop

Heavily project-based organisations are part of this picture too. They have mobile technology needs as they create pop-up o ces around a specic event, such as a construction project, a major conference, a sports event, or an exhibition. For teams like these, technology that can be brought together, connected rapidly and then disassembled and moved elsewhere is a must. After all, that level of service, mobility and access is a base requirement for them to be able to do their jobs properly. Home-workers are also on the rise, with emerging types of business needing no xed premises at all. Some successful enterprises exist simply as virtual networks of like-minded people who collaborate around a shared objective, occasionally convening for a face-to-face meeting if video- or phone-based conferences are insu cient. In environments such as these, technology is about service rather than hardware; it is about smart working, access and mobility. It is about being nimble and enabling workers to think on their feet, capitalising on every opportunity as and when it arises. Printing and scanning are very much part of this picture, with mobile, cloud-enabled devices now available. An exclusive Computing survey of 160 senior IT decision-makers found rising percentages of mobile workers across every sector of the UK economy. Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of organisations estimate that 6 to 15 percent of their workforce is either always or mainly mobile, while 14 percent of respondents say that 1630 percent of the workforce is not desk based. As many as 13 percent of respondents say that mobile workers now constitute 31-50 percent of their employees (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 : Please estimate the percentage of your workforce that is always or mainly mobile / not desk-based?
2% 4% 5% 13% 6% 32%
5% or less 6-15% 16-30% 31-50% 50%-75% 75%-99% All employees Other

14% 24%

4 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother

Printing has left the desktop

The survey found that these mobile, agile workers are spread across a variety of roles: eld sales agents (in 38 percent of organisations); general management (35 percent); consultancy (23 percent); maintenance (17 percent); technology design/coding (14 percent); and public-facing eld workers, such as inspectors, enforcement o cers and similar roles (13 percent). The full breakdown of ndings is below, with the sizeable category of Other (17 percent) itself including a diversity of roles, including teachers, advocates, volunteers and case or care workers (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 : Among those who are always or regularly mobile, what are their basic roles?
Sales General management Consultancy Maintenance Other (please specify) Technology design/coding Public-facing service workers (eg inspectors, enforcement o cers, etc) Construction / building or facilities design Leisure / tness Media (eg journalists, web designers, graphic designers, other media) Healthcare Food and drink

38% 35% 23% 17% 17% 14% 13% 6% 4% 3% 3% 1%

*Respondents could select multiple answers.

Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother 5

Printing has left the desktop

For large numbers of the workforce, then, the workplace is wherever they lay their laptop, their tablet or their phone: an agile, personal space that can move with them and connect them to their co-workers. Cloud-based platforms, applications and services are increasingly the core of such dispersed, exible teams. Even for workers whose role is still based at their employers HQ, hot-desking and exible workspaces are used to create a more agile working environment. This means that the IT team needs to think about technology as a service. As people bring their own devices into the o ce, work exibly or remotely, and use their own technology choices for work emails and calls out of o ce hours, the internal IT function also needs to work with and support a range of new platforms. The survey found that a large majority of organisations 80 percent in total o er workers remote access to their core IT systems (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3 Does your organisation provide remote IT access to your central systems to employees who work from home or mobile workers?
20%
Yes, for employees working from home Yes, for employees who are mobile (eg. eld sales/service) No

22%

58%

In 77 percent of the UK organisations that allow remote log-in to internal systems, employees are allowed access to centrally held les and documents, with a further 15 percent planning to allow this in future. Meanwhile, 43 percent of the pro-remote access organisations currently enable employee access to videoconferencing and 25 percent plan to do so (Fig. 4).

6 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother

Printing has left the desktop

Fig. 4 : Do you provide any of the following IT services within your organisation or do you plan to in the future?
Employee remote access to les and documents, in addition to emails? Employee access to video calls / conferencing Employee access to cloud-based printing?
0% 0
KEY:

20% 20
Yes Plan to

40% 40
No

60% 60

80% 80

100% 100

The results also show that cloud-based printing is emerging strongly, with 13 percent already o ering the facility, and a further 25 percent planning to in the future the same number as those moving towards video conferencing. Printing, it seems, has quietly become a more important feature of the agile working landscape than many people had realised.

A new context for print

Since the 1990s, the internet has promised a paperless workplace, but in fact the reverse has happened. The paper trail associated with digital transactions has got longer and more diverse, and yet printing and scanning are often overlooked in strategic IT decision-making. This is strange, given the range of mobile print/scan hardware choices now available for the agile, cloud servicesdriven workplace (and also given the negative environmental impact of some old-fashioned devices). With rising numbers of employees working away from the o ce or HQ, it is no surprise that over one-quarter of all UK organisations (26 percent) say that having a mobile printing capability is important for their workers. While that leaves 74 percent of organisations currently in the No camp, answers to another question suggest that the situation is changing. Asked if mobile printing and scanning might be benecial to their workforce in future, 61 percent of respondents said yes.

61 percent of survey correspondents said that mobile printing would be benecial to their organisation

Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother 7

Printing has left the desktop

Clearly, the time has come to reconsider printing and scanning in these new contexts, and for IT decision-makers to reacquaint themselves with the area. As some IT leaders commented during the survey, the need for mobile printing is something that they are being made aware of by their workforces, who understand that printing and scanning are an important part of the more exible working environment that is emerging across the economy. However, part of the challenge is that unlike the bulk of IT hardware, platform and service choices printers and scanners are perceived by well over one-third of IT managers (36 percent) as peripheral devices, as desk-bound commodities with little to di erentiate one from another beyond the terms of a resellers deals. A further 10 percent say that they have either never given printers any thought at all or only thought about them a long time ago. For them, the printer is the bulky thing in the corner, not the portable, nimble device in employees pockets or travel bags.

Fig. 5 : As an IT leader or senior IT manager, what is your general view of printers as a technology issue? Printers are...
An important strategic issue alongside other technology purchase decisions Tactical, not strategic, buys Peripheral, commodity pieces of kit Something that was considered a long time ago I have never given it any thought Not sure Other 31% 20% 36% 3% 7% 2% 1%

This perceived low-level status was reinforced by other survey ndings, with printers cost seen as the overriding concern in any decision to buy the cost of running them and the cost of purchase itself. Reliability and maintenance were also identied as key factors. Their environmental impact, meanwhile, barely ranked. With a widespread perception of printers adding little value to the organisation, it is no surprise that they have fallen outside the control of some IT functions, with 20 percent of IT leaders saying that they are simply not a strategic consideration. The Computing survey found that while printer choices fall under the direct control of senior IT managers in 37 percent of organisations (with a further 17 percent of devices being purchased by the IT team), 32 percent of organisations report that printer/scanner decisions are either made by facilities management (16 percent) or by o ce management and supplies (16 percent).

8 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother

Printing has left the desktop

In other words, printers are considered alongside desks, chairs, staplers and lighting, rather than as a key component of an overall IT strategy. It is no surprise, then, that 36 percent of IT decision-makers say they have never given the strategic aspects of printer purchasing and management any thought. As we have seen, this is a mistake, given the emerging importance of mobile printing and scanning across many sectors of the economy.

The 34 percent of IT managers that have considered printers strategically in the past year (and the 30 percent that considered them a year or more ago) perhaps recognise that printing is one of the many technologies that have responded to the impact of agile, cloud-enabled working. If they are not aware of this, then they ought to be.

Printers are considered alongside desks, chairs, staplers and lighting, rather than as a key component of an overall IT strategy

Papers weight
Despite the popularity of smartphones, tablets and hybrid devices, paper remains a mobile, reliable, recyclable and sustainable material that has countless applications and, as we have discussed, digital technologies have increased paper consumption in many organisations. At the same time, these same devices that have failed to sweep away the organisations need for paper have increased the popularity of scanning as an activity, via apps that enable mobile devices to scan QR codes and other data that has been embedded into the physical world. For all types of organisations, customer service and speed of response is a key di erentiator. The ability to produce documentation such as receipts or manuals on site can speed up a transaction by eliminating one stage in the process to the satisfaction of all. Also in some sectors, such as the NHS for example, transactional documents must be produced in hard copy for regulatory reasons. In short, both printing and scanning are on the increase, and the trend is towards agile solutions that workers have chosen to integrate into their lives. Lightweight, portable print/scanner solutions that can interface with cloud services are a boon for mobile workers, especially at a time when broadband, wi-, Bluetooth and 3G/4G networks have made exible workspaces and work habits a realistic alternative to o ce facilities. Mobile print hardware also promises a radical, greener alternative to bulky, expensive on-premise laser printers. Most IT leaders accept that reviewing their printer and scanner networks anew could have positive benets for their organisations. For example, two-thirds of respondents say it would lead to increased e ciency and cost savings, 36 percent identied increased productivity, and 20 percent that it would improve security. But a persistent group of naysayers just under one-quarter of IT leaders believes that the strategic impact would be negligible.

Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother 9

Printing has left the desktop

Bear in mind also that IT leaders are not in control of their printer estate in many organisations, and so any awareness they may have of the strategic advantages of good printer management may be going to waste.

Fig. 6 : Which of the following benets do you think your organisation could achieve by reviewing your printer network and working arrangements at a strategic level?
Increase e ciency (cost savings) Improved productivity None of the above Better level of security

66% 36% 24% 20%

*Respondents could select multiple answers.

However, as noted above, the idea of the o ce being a xed location that everyone travels to daily to sit at a desk no longer applies in many organisations. For example, nearly 30 percent of those surveyed say that they need to open o ce facilities for short, xed or project-specic time periods. That means being able to assemble and congure their IT needs quickly; not easy when the printers they are using are massive, bulky beasts with no cloud-networking ability. In many other organisations, there is also a clear awareness that the nature of work is changing forever, in part facilitated by mobile technologies and the widespread trend towards IT consumerisation. Printing and scanning are at the core of that service-driven technology model, and increasing numbers of IT managers recognise this. They also understand that small, lightweight, cloud-enabled print devices are now a viable option in many situations. Asked what drivers might provide the impetus for a strategic investment in mobile printing technologies, one-third of all respondents (33 percent) say that their increasingly mobile workforce is one, while 30 percent identify the growing use of hot-desking and exible workspaces. These results demonstrate that e ciency is another core factor for many IT leaders when it comes to their printer decisions: 34 percent say that lower costs might lead them to consider mobile printing technologies, while 27 percent recognise that a more e cient printing model or paradigm is emerging. The Computing survey also shows that IT leaders recognise that Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) schemes have a strategic impact on their roles and on their future technology buying choices. 40 percent of the organisations surveyed support BYOD for employees, either o cially or uno cially. In a signicant minority of cases, this creates problems with the existing printer estate, they say.

10 Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother

Increasing mobility, BYOD, cost savings and productivity gains were all mentioned as reasons to consider mobile printing and scanning

Printing has left the desktop

Conclusion
Printers and scanners are no longer just the cumbersome desktop devices that sit in the corner o ering little in the way of strategic advantage to hard-pressed IT teams. They have followed the trend towards smaller, smarter, cloud-service-based devices. As such, this enables a more e cient, more agile way of working for those employees who are constantly on the move or based in exible workspaces. For the customer, it means better, more timely service, with legal documents, invoices and receipts being made available straight away. IT leaders should recognise the strategic and cost/e ciency advantages that may arise from considering printing and scanning in this new light, and take control of the print eet as a strategic asset. Printing is no longer something that should be an afterthought, or left to the o ce management team, alongside the furniture costs and the stationery bills. After all, this is a message that is bubbling up from the frontline itself. As with other aspects of the mobile computing and communications age, IT leaders would do well to listen to sta and to be actively in involved in implementing change. The alternative is being forced to react to it passively when it is already too late.

About the sponsor, Brother

Brother is a leading o ce technology specialist, providing print, scan and communications solutions for businesses. With solutions available to facilitate working on the go and in the o ce, Brother is there for wherever business takes you. Brothers dedicated website features case studies, blogs and information on Brothers mobile print and scan products. For more information: Visit: www.brother.co.uk/mobile-workforce/

Computing | research paper | sponsored by Brother 11