While describing print as a “maturing market” that is seeing print volumes declining, IT industry association CompTIA has recently released its Trends in Managed Print study in which 86 percent of managed print providers say they expect their print services to grow over the next 12 months. Of that group, a third anticipate “significant” growth of 10 percent or more. Why? “The near universality of workplace printing has managed print service providers feeling optimistic about growth opportunities,” says CompTIA.
Looking at the managed print market as a whole, Downers Grove, Ill.-based CompTIA pegs the penetration rate of managed print services at about 36 percent, based on self-reported adoption figures from the 600 U.S. and Canadian IT business executive respondents responsible for technical or strategic decisions affecting print or document management. Large firms with 500 or more employees have adopted managed print at more than twice the rate of small companies.
Within the U.S. IT channel, only about 10 percent of firms identify themselves specifically as managed print service providers. More broadly though, 42 percent of VARs and MSPs say they offer managed print as part of their solutions portfolio.
“There’s a slight but important distinction between strategic managed print providers and opportunistic providers,” says West McDonald, owner of FocusMPS and chair of the CompTIA Managed Print Services Community. “The data suggests that the former segment has been more proactive in building out a managed print practice. The latter has been more reactive, likely getting into managed print at the request of customers.”
On the other side of the equation are managed print users, who report a satisfaction rate of 84 percent with such services. So while a relatively small percentage of channel pros offer managed print, a high percentage of managed print customers are satisfied with the service.
