Sharp Europe MFP and Print Predictions 2020: Cybersecurity & Cloud

As we look to the start of a new decade, we find that print and multifunctional printers (MFPs), still have a major role to play regardless the size of your business. It has been suggested that print will still be necessary in 64 per cent of businesses in 2025.

However, things are changing. As the MFP becomes an integral part of your digital transformation, there are trends businesses need to understand and adopt into their operations.

READ: Sharp Europe MFP and Print Predictions 2020: IoT, AI & The Environment

Here we take a look at two key print solution trends for 2020:

Making the Most of Serverless Printing

We predict that in 2020 the adoption of serverless printing will continue to increase due to rising demands in cloud-based infrastructure, as opposed to that of on-premise. However, network bandwidth is not unlimited, and printing via the cloud has the potential to drain this resource quickly.

That said, the trend to remove on-premise infrastructure makes serverless printing an attractive alternative, retaining secure printing capabilities without the need for servers or cloud.

Managing the cost of print within any business will always be important. That is why we’re continuing to see the move to cloud-based solutions – they offer versatility as well as cost savings. Adoption of cloud usage will continue to rise, with more businesses of all sizes making the move to secure cloud environments, such as AWS and Microsoft Azure.  Moving to the cloud is also allowing businesses of any size to utilise big data analytics and AI services, giving them greater business insights and helping them make better decisions.

MFP Cybersecurity for SMBs is Vital in 2020

As print solutions within SMBs become ever more connected, we continue to see MFPs becoming digital hubs rather than standalone devices; for example, the need to understand, implement and maintain security has never been more topical. While the understanding of cybersecurity is on the rise, there are still a significant number of small to medium sized businesses that need to take up the mantle. Too many think “it won’t happen to me, I’m too small”, which is dangerous and naïve. Cybercrime must be taken seriously at every level and even more so in the SMB community, where business owners should be doing everything in their power to ensure customer data and digital assets are safe.

As awareness of cybersecurity grows, we expect to see SMBs continue opting for fewer suppliers – not more – and the onus will be on current suppliers to provide a guarantee of security on top of their service. For example, businesses are increasingly looking to source connected MFPs from their IT suppliers and gain a more unified approach to infrastructure security. This is simpler and business leaders feel safer in the knowledge that suppliers already have the expertise and technology to protect them.