For as long as the photocopier has existed, it has been at the centre of the office, with small businesses particularly reliant on the benefits of a dependable all-in-one printing solution.
Despite claims for years that the traditional office is going paperless, the truth is that, whilst many businesses can use less paper, there are often regulatory and business requirements that necessitate keeping a printer around.
If anything, the new year will see an enhancement of the role of the photocopier, as it forms a physical connection between office and hybrid staff, allowing for increasingly versatile ways of working, and pushing the meaning of the “all-in-one” ever further.
Here are some of the biggest photocopier trends of next year and how they could affect your office or your business.
A Cloud-First Approach
The 2020s have seen a radical reimagining of the office in a way not seen since before the establishment of the personal computer and the print server nearly half a century ago.
The rise of cloud computing has enabled businesses to streamline their resources, access a wider pool of talent than ever before and work in increasingly flexible ways.
To accommodate this, the photocopier has to accommodate this approach and allow hybrid workers to print and easily access scanned files.
This means integration to SharePoint, Google Drive and other cloud server platforms without relying on someone in the office to give hybrid workers access manually.
Photocopier And Print Server Security
Nearly a decade ago, a teenager hacked 150,000 printers and caused them to print crude images of robots to highlight how easily they could be hijacked by bad actors.
This was a considerable wake-up call for offices to prioritise the security of all of their internet-connected devices, but as the photocopier becomes a critical centrepiece of the hybrid office, security is no longer an option.
Newer photocopiers offer encryption for print jobs, greater options to control settings and access, as well as greater options for proving a user is who they claim before the job is launched.
More integrally, modern MFDs are more like computers than ever before, complete with security and internal scanning features that can detect and stop malicious code from being executed and spreading across an office network.
Smart Printers For Every Business
Historically, smart printer systems were limited to larger multi-function devices, which could sometimes be too large for small businesses to realistically justify. If you have less than a dozen staff members and only one room, a hallway or a copy room unit is often unnecessary.
However, every business needs a printer for invoicing, scanning documents and all of the small print jobs that we often do not even think about, even if they do not need to print the hundreds of thousands of pages per year, which would make a larger machine more justifiable.
A key trend going forward is to incorporate the smart technology that is central to modern hybrid offices into progressively smaller form factors, all of which provide a consistent user interface, whether you are in the office or remotely accessing it from across the world.
This includes not only the features on the printer itself but the managed print services that accompany it. Everything from diagnostic monitoring to cost control and automatic replacement of worn-out consumables and components can be undertaken by a single partner.
Sustainability As Standard
Similarly, sustainability is a fundamental business need that every single company needs to be prioritising. Neglecting your responsibility to your local community is not only unethical, but it can cost you financially.
Photocopiers are becoming increasingly focused on sustainability, with automated duplex printing as standard, a wide range of energy and toner-efficient printing modes that allow for a more economical use of resources, and recycling programmes to ensure electronic waste avoids ending up in a landfill.
One Printer, Every Need
Every generation of photocopiers has innovated with time-saving functionality that went from revolutionary to necessary.
From auto-collation of documents, stapling, simultaneous scanning and photocopying, integration of access control and automatic loading of paper, photocopiers have continued to innovate in a lot of ways that we take for granted.
This will go further, with printers becoming increasingly capable of printing labels, high-quality marketing materials, laminated documents and even print solutions onto branded equipment such as pens, pencils and pen drives, sidestepping the need for an outsourced white-label provider.
What Are The Biggest Trends Affecting Photocopiers Next Year?
- Cloud-by-default.
- Enhances photocopier and print server security.
- Every printer is a smart printer.
- Sustainability-as-standard.
- Enhanced printing options.