Print Features Heavily in Organizations’ Overall Cloud Strategy

The Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance has released the results of its 2023 ‘State of the Digital Workspace’ survey.

The study surveyed 2,660 digital workspace professionals globally and found that the benefits of moving print to the cloud are now clearer than ever in IT leaders’ minds. The findings clearly show that the cloudification of print is integral to organizations’ digital workspace strategies. An overwhelming majority (93.1%) of respondents said their cloud strategy involved printing.

David Jenkins, CEO at directprint.io, a founding member of the Digital Workspace Ecosystem Alliance (DWEA) said: “It’s clear that print remains an indispensable part of many workflows. 97% of the organizations surveyed said they manage printing/scanning in-house. So, it’s reassuring to see that moving print to the cloud now features heavily in organizations’ overall cloud strategies.”

Hybrid working is here to stay for 58% of organizations, which brings the issue of how best to support a hybrid and remote workforce to the fore. In remote and hybrid environments, the complexity of network printing increases exponentially so it’s not surprising that managing printing/scanning at remote locations because of a hybrid workforce was cited as the top challenge for over half (53.5%), of respondents.

“People want to print wherever they are – and from multiple devices – and that’s where cloud print management comes into its own,” Jenkins said. “With features such as Edge Print, end-users can print on their phone, tablet, Chromebook, PC and any other web-connected device – whether they’re at home, on a guest network, or even between offices.”

Driver management (31.1%) and supporting end-users’ (22.1%) printing and scanning needs in the digital workspace are two further challenges survey participants ranked highly.

“Cloud print management platforms such as directprint.io combine a unique universal driver and cloud administration platform to provide granular print access control to administrators, simplify printer provisioning and ongoing management,” Jenkins explained.

The commitment to long-term hybrid work has accelerated the need to move print management to the cloud and it’s clear that organizations are reaping the reward. After making the switch to cloud print management, 54.6% of survey respondents said their IT teams were either spending less time on print-related support or enjoying a combination of a superior print experience, lower costs and less time investment.

Jenkins continued: “The business case for migrating print management to the cloud is compelling. IT teams spend less time supporting print; end-users benefit from a better print experience; and organizations save money on print-related costs.

“Cloud services are billed and consumed as-a-service – freeing up CapEx budgets to be allocated elsewhere. Plus, a subscription-based pricing model is predictable and flexible, allowing organizations to scale up or down in line with their business needs,” he concluded.

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