Office automation: Multifunction printers get the wheels rolling

One of the most significant technological advancements in the peripherals space over the past 12 months has been in the development of multifunction printers.

Zandre Rudolph, HP product manager at Rectron, takes a look at the latest accessories that are once again making this market sector lucrative.

The concept of the multi-function printer, which combines fax and possibly a scanner in its specification, was first mooted when the major vendors became aware of the growing numbers of "telecommuters" and the increasing numbers of "home offices" springing up.

They reasoned, quite rightly, that a key advantage of a multifunction printer would be its ability to optimise the desktop space usually associated with a small home office.

Multifunction printers are the result of this type of innovative thinking, new technologies which facilitate a small foot, and digital convergence. According to the IDC research group, this new market has shown a significant 34% growth in 2002.

The earliest multifunction printers were primarily used to print and fax. But, with technology advances, scanning and copying were added. Today the multifunction printer is capable of handling many more tasks, such as e-mail broadcasts and direct digital camera-to-printer imaging.

One of the initial concerns about the multifunction printer was quality. Was a device that claimed to be an "all-in-one" solution capable of delivering the results of a purpose built machine? In many cases the answer was "no".

But these fears have gradually faded as another phase in the adoption of multifunction printers became evident in late 2002: They entered the domain of the best quality printer/copiers and superfast-multitiered fax machines commonly found in big company offices.

The earliest of multifunction printers were heavy on resources and users were asked to pay early and often for consumables, including ink, paper and servicing. Perhaps this was understandable when asking a device to handle four functions at once.

However, developments in design, ergonomics, engineering and all-round efficiency have led to the launch of new machines that boast better quality print engines and easier to use interfaces.

There are new-generation (2003 vintage) machines that deliver good colour prints and very speedy draft text printing of up to 90 pages per minute (ppm) as well as hi-resolution copying. When it comes to imaging, HP is among the leaders with good colour saturation and crisp detail.

Moreover, the `bells-and-whistles" features which appeared last year on the higher-end machines can now be expected to be integrated into many of the cheaper models and even budget priced examples.

The list includes "PC-less" integrated fax features and flash memory readers (for camera-to-printer imaging). This means the printer is no longer dependent on a PC with a modem. This thinking has also led to the direct attachment of the printer to the network.

The latest high-end offerings from HP, for example, boast features such as "send to LAN fax" and "send to Internet fax provider" and "send to Win2000 fax".

These machines are Internet enabled and have the ability to turn paper into e-mails and the capacity for powerful e-services printing. They also feature NT and Novell user authentication and are smart enough to interrogate the network server to - for example - obtain e-mail addresses from the database for mass e-mailing and marketing campaigns.

Optical character recognition (OCR) is also becoming a feature and document capture, processing and routing are now possible.

According to the IDC, the market for multifunction printers has shown a significant 34% growth in 2002. It predicts that this trend will continue with the market gaining momentum with both the consumer and the business buyer seeking cost and practical advantages.

The IDC identifies the key decision makers in this space as IT and facilities managers and owners of small businesses and Soho enterprises.

IDC has divided the market into segments, based on speed. At the end of 2002, it reported that the largest volumes of multifunction devices were being sold in the 45-69ppm segment. There was also strong growth at the low end (14-20ppm), which records 14% of sales, and the 21-30ppm sector which had nearly 19% market share.

Interestingly, there was significant support from the market extremities - below 14ppm (6.5%) and above 90ppm (10.5%).

Companies looking to meet individual employee needs and meet business priorities - such as lowering costs and increasing productivity while upgrading to fewer, more efficient devices - should strive to achieve a balance between single-function and multifunction devices within their organisations.

With this in mind, the printer sale has become a "high-touch" exercise with many customers requiring expert guidance when transitioning from single function devices to more sophisticated machines.

This has opened opportunities for dealers and resellers, many of whom have come up with innovative marketing ideas, such as flexible financing programmes and "one-stop-shops" enabling companies to procure all their printing/copying/faxing and networking needs - including hardware, print cartridges and technical support - from one source and be billed on one invoice.

Are there additional markets for the multifunction device to cannibalise? There are opportunities in workflow management and productivity enhancement and the better use of the power of the Internet. Progress is not stationary - the wheels are rolling rapidly indeed.