New Trends In Printing Technology

The printing industry, much like any other industry, has gone through continuous evolution and transformation. New trends are progressively affecting the landscape of global businesses leaving no industry off the hook, with digital disruption being on the upswing ushering in the rise of digital technologies such as IoT, AI and more. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has propelled a wave of digital disruption like never before, forcing industries at large to adopt these trends into their ways of working with the printing industry being no exception.

As per reports, the global printing market size is expected to grow from $311.53 billion in 2021 to $322.43 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5 per cent. The printing market is expected to grow to $350.2 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 2.1 per cent. Whereas, the Africa Printers Market is expected to cross the value of $235.3 Mn by the end of 2031. These strong numbers suggest that the printing industry globally as well as in Africa is opening doors to embracing new trends and technologies.

The Digital Printing Boom

The African continent has seen an uptick in the use of digital inkjet printers given its faster printing rate as compared to the traditional printers.

“The beauty of digital printing lies in the fact that it requires no manual setup which makes it an extremely efficient and fast process. This is particularly beneficial for low-volume projects as compared to offset printing, which is why we see a big demand for these printers in the market.

There is also plenty of scope to introduce customization without any real turnaround time, making digital printing a popular choice given the fast paced world we live in,” commented Eiji Ota, Business Unit Director, Canon Central and North Africa

The Inkjet print market is right now worth $80.4 billion which is likely to reach $118.2 billion in 2025 according to latest Smithers’ report. Canon recently showcased its stellar line-up of digital inkjet printers at Gulf Print and Pack 2022 GPP.

The Color Printing Revolution

The past few years have seen a rapid upsurge in the demand for color printing all across Africa, thus paving the way for growth in the demand for Laser and Inkjet Printers across the continent.

The massive shift from black and white printing to color printing has enabled the expansion of the laser and inkjet printers market, which consequently has driven the printers market in Africa.

With an estimated 2,000 commercial printing companies operating in Africa, majority of which are small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs), this demand is predicted to intensify even further, contributing to the high growth of the printing market in Africa.

Canon’s newly launched imagePRESS V1000 places a strong emphasis on automation, tasks such as color repeatability and registration alignment are simplified for print establishments looking to produce a wide range of applications, from direct mail and business cards to booklets, posters, and other creative marketing collateral

The Significance of Security

Cyber security has emerged to be one of the top priorities for businesses, as industries are still struggling to come to terms with the after-effects of the pandemic. In the coming years, we will see print service providers prioritizing on print security given the fact that they deal with multiple stakeholders for print projects.

Hybrid ways of working are here to stay and have introduced new challenges when it comes to security, hackers are increasingly adopting innovative ways of cyber-attacks, making organization data more vulnerable. The threat of regulatory fines and subsequent loss of business has the potential to cause ongoing damage to organizations.

“The transition to hybrid and remote ways of working has highlighted a very important issue for organizations which was majorly overlooked in the past and that being Cyber Security. The efficient and secure management of data and information is vital to the health of any organization. Similar to any device connected to your network, your printers could be endangering your information security if not implemented and managed carefully. At Canon, our third generation imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices introduce security information event management (SIEM) integration, which makes it easier for enterprises to include printers in their existing security monitoring systems,” remarked Eiji Ota, Business Unit Director, Canon Central and North Africa

Going Green

The wave of sustainability has taken most if not all industries by storm and for the right reasons. Businesses are placing emphasis on reducing their environmental impact as well as increasing their scores on the sustainability index.

The current trends forecast a mounting demand for products that can offer both high functionality and low environmental impact. Canon’s Managed Print Services combine industry-leading technologies and services to seamlessly that have supported customers in reducing their environmental impacts by up to 60 per cent. Recycling of printing products such as ink cartridges will play a big role in reducing the impact on the environment and local communities in the future.

Cloud and Connectivity

As digital disruption continues to intensify, we are witnessing an upswing in cloud computing where applications and products are no longer hosted on the desktops or on laptops and instead, the users can directly access such services from the “cloud”. Consequentially, cloud printing is emerging to be one of the hot trends in the industry with 67 per cent of organizations expecting to increase their use of cloud print management, with a further 5 per cent planning to move completely to cloud printing.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has completely transformed business priorities and ways of working around the globe, people now prefer to work in the cloud as it has benefits such as flexibility, the potential to increase productivity and efficiency while delivering real cost benefits. Providing cloud-managed print services is no longer an add-on but a prerequisite.

Printing services that are convenient, cost-effective, environment friendly while delivering a great quality output will pave the path for future trends in the printing industry across Africa,” summarized Eiji Ota, Business Unit Director, Canon Central and North Africa