{"id":306,"date":"2021-02-09T10:56:03","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T10:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/?p=306"},"modified":"2021-02-11T20:29:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T20:29:44","slug":"is-the-office-printer-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/2021\/02\/09\/is-the-office-printer-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the office printer dead?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been hearing about the paperless office for years \u2013 but the office printer isn\u2019t going anywhere soon. It\u2019s just changing to adapt to life in the digital age.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the prediction of Gareth Brenchley, Managing Director at managed business services company Itec<\/a><\/strong> Cape Town, who says that even in an age of sustainability, smart mobile working and digital collaboration, most companies still have print-reliant workplaces, and spend tens of thousands of Rand a year on print.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses are still extremely reliant on printing for their business processes, but the print environment has grown up. The printer isn\u2019t just a \u2018dumb device\u2019 in the corner of the office: it\u2019s become part of a connected, intelligent network, with modern multifunctional printers (MFPs) giving users new abilities to digitise their documents and manage their information,\u201d says Brenchley.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, it\u2019s not just the older generations that still use print. While online may be the channel of choice for the so-called \u2018millennial generation\u2019, Quocirca\u2019s 2018 Print2025 report<\/a><\/strong> showed that 77% of millennials think paper and physical documents will still be important in the workplace in 2025.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that paper usage is slowly dropping, though. As connected printers integrate with broader enterprise content management (ECM) platforms, they are becoming part of the evolution towards more digitised workplaces. Users don\u2019t have to print out a physical copy of a document: they can simply \u2018print\u2019 it to the cloud, where it is easily accessible at any time.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s generation of MFPs aren\u2019t just sophisticated document management hubs; they\u2019re also able to practically manage themselves. Brenchley says they use less paper, less ink and toner, and use device analytics to allow for better asset management, proactive maintenance and real-time reporting through what is known as managed print services (MPS).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe managed print services model gives businesses key insights into their printing environments, with a better ability to track activity, reduce unnecessary volumes, manage costs and secure their network printers,\u201d says Brenchley.<\/p>\n

However, this only happens when print vendors become strategic partners to the business. They must help identify what business units really need, offer services that satisfy those requirements, and respond to the growing security and control requirements of IT departments, says Brenchley.<\/p>\n

Security is becoming increasingly important in the print environment. User authentication can control user access and ensure that documents are only released into the correct recipient\u2019s hands. Document management systems often include technologies like biometrics, digital signatures, document security and general digitisation to ensure data and documents remain protected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that print has a continued role in the workplace \u2013 but it\u2019s changing to become more environmentally-conscious, digitised and mobile. The future isn\u2019t paperless office, it\u2019s paper-lite,\u201d says Brenchley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve been hearing about the paperless office for years \u2013 but the office printer isn\u2019t going anywhere soon. It\u2019s just changing to adapt to life in the digital age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/companies.mybroadband.co.za\/itec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}