When the COVID-19 Lockdown happened, millions of workers packed up their offices and went to work from home (WFH), but they left their printers behind. What do we do now that remote working may be here to stay? Let's dive into printing and the new normal.
Bernice Hynard, print solutions manager, Tarsus Distribution
Deloitte Global predicts that home printer sales across the world will grow by 15% in 2020 to about $5 billion or about 30 million units. The international home printer market is mainly made up of inkjet all-in-one printers costing less than USD400 and laser/LED multi-function printers (MFP) costing less than USD500. Here’s why.
Personal printing needs to be changed during lockdown as parents and their children found themselves stuck at home. While these needs are likely to change as COVID-19 restrictions are eased, more people will continue to work and learn from home than before.
This change in household printing and the need for hard copies is likely to contribute to a steady demand for ink, toner and replacement printers.
Think of it this way: for every person, WFH is essentially a micro-enterprise, which means they need products and devices to run a sustainable and productive home office. The investment spent on a home MFP will have a significant impact on their productivity (and profitability) in the future.
Many workers, from the SME environment to large corporates, will continue to WFH for the foreseeable future.
They will require fast, full colour, high-quality MFPs rather than entry-level devices. Although the digitisation of paper-based processes is likely to continue, this means that smart MFPs will be used for document capture and automated workflows.
A word of caution: when purchasing an MFP, it’s important to buy from an office technology company that can help you identify the decisions you should be making for your business and employees, and that will provide after-sales service and support.
“When we ‘turn the page’ on the pandemic, the ‘flip side’ will be a world where home printers matter more than they used to,” according to Deloitte’s report.
Now that we have moved to a distributed working environment, organisations will have to adapt to remote workers’ printing needs as part of a new approach.
Take a look at our Technology Partners to see what is out there: