Analysis: The myth of managed print

But this is much easier said than done.

Ultimately it comes down to who has the smartest software, with a number of larger vendors making significant investments in companies with strong document management suites over the past few years.

Unlike most software suites provided by printer/copier companies, Canon’s Uniflow now boasts a universal driver which allows companies to manage contracts and technical monitoring of a range of different brands.

A year ago Lexmark bought US ECM specialists Perceptive Software for $US280 million. The main reason for the buyout was Perceptive’s ImageNow enterprise document management suite.
HP Open Extensibility Platform (HP OXP) is an enterprise software development platform providing a device layer, management layer and workflow layer. HP OXP was bolstered two years ago when the company bought Exstream Software solution from American Capital Strategies.

Gartner notes that it will be some years before MPS software matures enough to deliver the sort of integration and management that most organisations demand. Meanwhile, interest is increasing in so-called open- platform, or “smart” MFPs, which are essentially devices which sit between an organisation’s paper and digital work processes.

“As MFPs become more accepted by IT organisations, clients will demand more applications and more seamless integration with their other corporate systems and workflows,” according to Gartner.
Meanwhile, the print industry locally and internationally continues to see more and
more consolidation as companies seek faster routes to market while growing their
customer bases.

There has been a fair amount of consolidation in the local and international printing market over the
past few years, with more to come. The most prolific acquirer, CSG, last year bought up Xerox dealerships in its home town of Darwin as well as in Brisbane. Last year it bought the subcontracting
rights to around 10,000 Canon machines in Australia in an unprecedented deal worth around $31 million.

In 2008 it bought Canberra-based MPS veterans ATI, and last year bought Konica Minolta New Zealand. Also in the local market, Fuji Xerox Australia last year bought Upstream, one of Australia’s largest independent MPS specialists.

Several major vendors have also made significant strategic investments over the past few years in a bid to augment their technology portfolios and extend their customer bases. One of the biggest plays was Ricoh’s $US1.6 billion acquisition of US print distributor Ikon in 2008.

However the MPS landscape evolves over coming years, one certainty is that it will be very different to how it looks today.

“Our industry is in significant state of change,” notes Upstream’s Tilley. “And it will continue to evolve faster in the next couple of years than it has in the last 20.”