D. C. Printers Sees Decline in Printing on Paper As Many Companies Switch to Paperless Business
With the downturn economy, D. C. printers are seeing printing demands changing on both consumer and corporate levels of the business. This is mainly happening because many printing companies are slashing payrolls and their customers are going to a paperless business. At the same time, millions of consumers who once may have kept photographs in a box or a photo album now upload their pictures to a photo website.
The research firm IDC forecasts the amount of printed pages worldwide will be reduced for the first time this year from approximately 1.5 trillion in 2008 to 1.47 trillion. This is a trend that will continue as companies hop on the paperless bandwagon to save money and the environment.
This unwelcoming outlook is causing a spectacular shift in the way printing companies think about their business. By linking their printing equipment straight to computers, online applications and services, printing companies could improve their customer’s printing experience.
To boost sales, printer companies have eliminated unnecessary buttons and confusing drop-down menus in addition to making touch screen menus less complicated and user friendly. The first all-in-one printers and copiers with Web browsing smarts generally had too many drop down menus and buttons.
An Arlington printing company tested two different approaches to Web-enabled printer markets, which were both easy to use and likely to reduce printing costs for their customers. With TouchSmart Web, HP’s Photosmart Premium has a 4.3 inch touchscreen and is geared more toward customers who can press icons to access applications such as maps, news, recipes, personal calendars and movie tickets. With a more business-minded approach, Lexmark rolled out four new professional all-in-one and home office printers designed to be used by groups of people; of course print shops also take advantage of these newer machines.
Web-based printing is not revolutionary and it won’t get people to print more; however as many consumers shift their focus to activities online through new websites, these new capabilities will at least help printers preserve their relevance in the world.