The following appears on quocirca.com by Louella Fernandes
In a highly commoditised market and an evolving digital and mobile workplace, printer
vendors are challenged with keeping their products relevant. Dell is moving in the right
direction with an expanded portfolio that encompass solutions “beyond print”, enabling its
latest multifunction printers (MFPs) to be used as cloud-centric document processing devices.
2013 has marked Dell’s 10 year anniversary in the printer market. Dell’s printer strategy began with a partnership with Lexmark and further expanded, Dell subsequently using OEM partners that included Samsung and Xerox. In those 10 years, Dell has gained a 10% share of a market dominated by industry stalwarts such as HP, Canon, Lexmark and Xerox. Dell has significantly evolved its printing business from just a few models to 19 unique products today.
As with other parts of the company, Dell is transitioning its printer business from a hardware-centric to a solutions-driven approach. Despite overall print volumes being on a downward trajectory paper remains a key element of document workflow for many businesses. Dell, like other vendors, is seeing an opportunity to help businesses drive more efficiency beyond print, using the multifunction peripheral (MFP) to bridge the paper to digital gap.
Today MFPs have evolved beyond print and copy devices to become sophisticated document processing hubs that can also capture and route documents – whether it’s through the cloud or to on-premise applications. The growing use of cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive means that more of us have and want access to documents in the cloud. By providing access to a personal cloud space directly from the MFP and enabling the digitisation of paper documents, businesses can better utilise their MFPs as document productivity tools and make them integral to automating paper to digital workflows.
The introduction of the Dell Document Hub is certainly a step in the right direction. It provides SMBs with a simple and flexible approach to document collaboration allowing users to share, create and print across many common cloud document platforms including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive and Microsoft SharePoint Online from a single access point. Through single-sign-on, users can search and