A Look at Current Printer Trends from the Mopria Alliance

In a recent blog post for the Mopria Alliance, Mike Scrutton discussed some interesting current printer trends. One key trend is that because home printers are typically limited in terms of paper size and document finishing, more sophisticated jobs are being outsourced to print service providers.

Scurtton first notes that, over the past year, printing in the office naturally dropped dramatically because there was little going on there, as many offices were closed. “Conversely, there was and is a much higher volume of materials being printed in the home. The ‘family’ printer that wasn’t considered much before, is now a central resource,” says Scrutton.

Following are some trends that have arisen:

• There is much more demand on the home printer. Rather than an occasional use device, it’s now being used by all members of the household, be it for work, home, or homework.
• The quality of print and ease of printing has become more important than ever before.
• Apps such as the Mopria Print Service App are helping to enable printing directly from a smartphone, tablet, PC, etc., and enhance the printing experience.
• Print jobs at home are more basic printing. Conversely, at the office, print jobs often include collating, stapling, and printing sizes other than standard letter size. This typically isn’t possible with home printers.
• If more sophisticated printing is required, then an online service or quick printing service is required. Remote shipping services can print items remotely and mail them to a destination, be it back to the author or directly to a client.
• “Domestic” printers and “light production” printers will see increased sales. “Workgroup” printers will see reduced demand, due to the smaller number of people working from offices.
• Disposable, on-demand printing is increasing. While this may sound like a step back in terms of ecology, it’s not overall. For instance, a restaurant owner can print single-use menus that can change from day-to-day or week-to-week. This saves on waste because instead of printing thousands of copies of a menu (or a company’s product brochure) that can quickly become obsolete, users can print where and when they need them on demand, which saves on warehousing and shipping, energy, and pollution.

Here to Stay

Of all the trends that will affect printing in both the home and office is that remote work, or at least the option for remote work, is here to stay. PWC conducted a Remote Work Survey that showed more than half of employees want to work remotely three days a week or more. That means the printer will continue to be one of the most important shared technology resources at the home.