With the increasing popularity of digital documentation, especially in the work-from-home era, printers may seem like a thing of the past. The truth is, office and workspace printers are very much still one of the most widely used devices in a business setting. 

In fact, millions of printers are still in operation, with more bought every year, and these devices are expected to get better and faster with time.

According to the Global Print 2025 report, which polled print industry executives and end users, the office printer continues to offer multiple uses that are still ideal for today’s business workflows. 

Respondents note that digitisation is becoming increasingly important in their organisations but that the ‘less-paper’ office is more likely than the paperless office.

Of those who participated in the study, 78% say printing is still relevant in their business today while 64% expect that they will still rely on printing in 2025. Overall, 41% expect print volumes to grow over the same period.

Organisations plan to put mobile user experience first when considering their printing infrastructure. More than 50% of organisations anticipate a growth in mobile print volumes; 41% are already taking advantage of mobile printing. The finance sector (60%) and larger organisations (57%) are expected to become the leading adopters of mobile printing.

Between now and 2025, security and the cloud will be prioritised as key areas for investment: 30% of respondents indicated that print security is important today. This figure rises to 47% of respondents who rated that print security will be paramount by 2025. 

When it comes to supplier consideration, 58% of organisations say that security expertise will be a top consideration. 

The report also recognised the role that managed print service (MPS) providers are expected to play by 2025. As printer manufacturers understand the need to innovate and evolve more rapidly to stay competitive, they believe that partnerships with MPS will help create the best future value. 

MPS received an average importance rating of 4.24 compared to traditional copier dealers (3.31) and IT resellers (3.27).

The findings of this survey shows that although there’s forward-facing optimism among key players in the industry, they acknowledge that significant adjustments are required in the face of digital acceleration.

“With technology advancing at an unprecedented pace, the print industry is poised for profound change as we head towards 2025. Automation, robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will become more pervasive,” the report said.

“Employees in the workplace of 2025 will always be connected, and the focus will be on driving wider collaboration beyond individual user productivity.”

As the print industry moves forward to meet a world of digital everything, it will need to become more software and services oriented.