Big name brands pile into the managed print services (MPS) sector, with cost-cutting measures fueling market boom. Global trends see analysts forecast 10.57% growth rate but confusion over service level agreements could threaten the market moving forward, warns industry report.
The recent Global MPS market 2012-2016 report, published by Infiniti Research, pins market growth conditions down to a need for cost reductions. Analysts forecast the market to grow at a CAGR of 10.75% over the 2012-2016 period, with industry giants Canon, HP, Ricoh and Xerox noted as key vendors in this developing space. According to the report, there is an increased demand by businesses for automated processes to offer greater flexibility in the changing market environment.
The report warns that a lack of transparency on service level agreements (SLA) could pose a issue to growth in the market. Confusion over types of services to include, and inconsistency on the part of the providers are mentioned as key challenges. The report emphasises the importance of SLAs to both customers and providers, and suggests that stricter and clearer adherence to agreement terms are a priority for the forecast growth to be achieved.
Commenting on the report, an analyst from the team said: “Currently, the acceptance of the cloud-based MPS model is increasing at a tremendous pace and is expected to continue during the forecast period. There appears to be a decent market for managed cloud services for printing in SMEs in the near future. Given the advantages of cloud services, many end-users prefer cloud-based solutions. Further, with advantages such as reduced costs and ease of installation and operations, SMEs identify cloud services as more useful than other traditional-based service offerings.”