European Headlines: Reflections, Readiness, Retirement
These trends will shape the worldwide imaging industry in 2020.
It’s getting dark earlier these days, and this means it’s time to reflect on another year of managed print services and ponder what will be next for the office imaging industry.
This is, roughly guessing, the fifth attempt to get this column written. All thanks to Xerox (again). Sometimes, I feel more like I’m watching a Shakespearean play rather than observing the news of the industry—who’s in bed with whom, stabbing whom in the back, going to war with, marrying, divorcing…you get the idea.
But let’s jump back to the 21st century and talk about some 2019 industry buzzwords and trends that will remain prevalent in 2020.
Ransomware, cyberattack, cybersecurity. There are sneaky buggers around every corner of the internet ready to infiltrate our local networks, computers, and printers/MFPs. No sword, dagger, or poison, like in the good old days, can come to our rescue here. Instead, firewalls, password managers, and education are some of the most obvious weapons we can turn to today. And if dealerships in our day and age think their services portfolio is complete without security offerings, think again.
Mergers & acquisitions. Will it ever end? At some point, probably, but for now, no. We are seeing bigger entities buying smaller entities or merging with equally big ones. Often, it makes a lot of sense. What do you do with your family business if the next generation doesn’t want to follow in your footsteps? You sell. Or, if you’re too small and your offerings are too limited, you sell or merge. Or, when you take a close look at your balance sheet, you might discover you are too small to get those big discounts, so you sell or merge. The list of reasons to sell or merge is long, and in many cases, a tough decision.
Digital transformation and disruption. We have excellent solutions to address almost any challenge office imaging may face; connected devices, workflow management solutions, document management solutions, touch screens, device and process integration, and network and security integration. The list is long, the new challenges are complex, and not everyone seems to understand the latest and finest in hardware and software. Catch up now, or you might be left behind (or opt for M&A).
Shipments and revenue. These are reportedly through the roof! Have you seen the financial reports that are circulating the internet, promising steady-to-growing box sales numbers and MPS revenue that will soon allow us to enjoy happy hour at 2 p.m. every day? I can understand some of the hardware numbers (replace/upgrade), but growth? And exorbitant MPS revenue? Please send anyone who is getting rich on just selling MPS these days my way, I want to understand how they’re doing it.
What’s in store for 2020?
More mergers (I’m not going to share my thoughts on the HP/Xerox rumors here. Time will tell and what a story it will be!), more security issues, more digital transformation, and growing portfolios that include process, change, and workplace culture management.
Some of the mergers will still be driven by age, more will be driven by the necessity to better serve a more demanding customer base pressing for more sophisticated security solutions and better technology, as they also feel the generational shift and go-with-the-digital-natives’ flow.
For many, 2020 will be the year they will find themselves standing at a crossroads: forward and upward, and change the way they do business; or forward and downhill, and reject change and keep doing business as usual for, well, as long as their customers are happy with them.
My buzzwords for the office imaging/MPS industry for 2020: everything-as-a-service (XaaS), shared economy, change management, customer journey mapping, user/customer experience (UX/CX), education and training, adoption of new technologies such as blockchain, augmented reality, and deep learning/predictive analytics.
Please visit The Cannata Report for more on the printing and office imaging industry.