IDC highlights Colour Communications as an IT issue

In its March 2003 White Paper, an insight into the evolution of business colour communications, IDC reveals that European firms need to adopt a smarter approach to managing workflow if they want to get the most out of today's colour devices.

The Intelligent Use of Colour in the Office, a paper commissioned by Canon Europe for CeBIT 2003, predicts that the procurement and ownership of enterprise colour printers and printer/copiers (known as multifunctional peripherals or MFPs) will increasingly become the responsibility of the IT department. Only once these devices are connected into the corporate IT network and become an integral part of a company-wide document workflow strategy, will businesses benefit from their full potential. IDC also suggests that once the IT manager takes ownership of workgroup colour, and works more closely with Finance management to understand and communicate its true value, will the "intelligent" use of colour truly begin.

The key benefits of using workgroup colour communications intelligently as outlined in the IDC analysis, include:

• The IT function remains in charge - enabling organisations to control runaway costs
• File processing is handled efficiently - protecting network speed and stability
• Consolidation of functions onto one device - reduces cost, saves space, increases ROI
• Efficient, speedy distribution of colour documents - whether originated in hard copy or electronic format, a document created at one source can be distributed to thousands of locations quickly and painlessly.

Yet, despite only a small minority (8%) of European IT managers* indicating that they have no current need for colour in the office, businesses have been slow to adopt the technology and the penetration of workgroup colour devices has been relatively shallow.

The IDC White Paper reveals that cost issues remain a significant barrier in the mind of the IT manager. Despite a sixteen-fold fall in hardware costs for workgroup colour devices over the last seven years, almost one in five (19%) of European IT managers still cite cost of hardware as a key barrier when it comes to adopting workgroup and departmental colour strategies. IDC predicts, however, that some of these fears will be allayed as the next generation of workgroup devices will continue to fall in price, enabling adoption of colour communications tools across the board - by larger and smaller workgroups alike.

In addition, 20% of IT managers claim that the cost to print a colour page is their main worry. Even though the advent of software packages that allow the IT and Finance departments to monitor and control device output (and thus reduce costs) has helped to eliminate this concern for many others.

As a result, many companies continue to purchase standalone printers - IDC's research indicates that, during 2002, an astounding 3.76 million low-cost inkjet printers were purchased by European businesses for use by individuals.

The report alerts IT Managers to the huge problems that can arise in the ongoing relationship between end-users, IT support and Finance when this kind of distributed procurement takes place. The IT department can lose control of disparate colour devices, and the impact on service/maintenance resource as well as the cost of unchecked or 'hidden' consumable use can be substantial.

"Canon believes that those businesses who adopt a smarter colour communications strategy will be the ones to reap the rewards that colour brings," says Marc Ranner, Product Marketing Manager, Canon Europe. "Our range of intelligent MFPs, which we're strengthening with today's launch of the iRC3200N, a new high-speed colour printer/copier for general business use, have been developed with smarter business workflow in mind. Today's colour MFPs should be an inherent part of any business IT network, enabling the benefits of colour communications to be shared, costs to be controlled, and powerful, intelligent applications to be exploited to the benefit of the whole organisation."

The IDC document also has stark advice for vendors:
"The colour MFP, when used to its full ability, has the potential to be the most productive piece of hardware in the office, and it doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive," says Phil Sargeant, Senior Research Analyst at IDC. "However, the convergence of the printer and copier, and the addition of workgroup colour communications to the organisation can result in the purchasing process experiencing a similar degree of convergence between a number of stakeholders. While purchase and ownership will ultimately fall into the domain of the IT manager, in the short-term a number of individuals - from IT, office management and finance departments - will need to work together to understand and communicate the true value and productivity offered by colour communications devices. Successful vendors will need to appreciate this convergence of stakeholders, and an intelligent approach to consultative selling will be key to the intelligent adoption of colour communications within today's and tomorrow's businesses."

*300 European IT managers interviewed by IDC in 2002.