“Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they frequently die from moving too slowly” Clayton Christensen
With a business model predicated on selling hardware and consumables, how can the print industry innovate in a market which may be rapidly reaching its sell by date?
By Louella Fernandes – There has been much talk about disruption in the print industry, particularly with the latest acquisition of Samsung’s printer business by HP, where HP boldly claims it will disrupt the copier market. The market has seen a wave of consolidation – HP now operates as two separate companies, Xerox has separated its technology business and its service business, now called Conduent. The Foxconn Technology Group acquired Sharp in August 2016 and Lexmark’s acquisition by a Chinese consortium led by Apex Technology is now approved. So what does the future hold for the print industry, one that is hardware-centric and reliant on the printed page? Can it truly reinvent itself for the digital age?
Surviving the digital onslaught
Change or die has long been the mantra in a technology landscape that is facing a range of disruptive forces – smartphones, cameras, sensors, social media, the cloud, analytics. Emerging technology such as 3D printing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are poised to create yet more disruption, while new models of service consumption have enabled companies such as Uber and Air BnB to re-write the rules of the markets they have entered.