Inkjet Wholesale News aims to provide updates on the latest significant occurrences in the field of printing. Whether it’s the launch of a new technology or volatility of market prices, we’ll be here to give you the lowdown on what happened, when it happened, and what it means!
Market Research Company Pegs 0.9% Printer Market Growth for the Next Two Years
You’ll hear both sides of the story. On one, you’ll be told that the printing industry is gradually on the decline because of better digital technologies more focus on environment friendly practices by people and businesses alike. On the other side, you may have heard that the death of the printing industry is greatly exaggerated and that it is only going through an extended lean period. People in both these camps, however, will agree on one thing unanimously – the last few years haven’t been good for the global printing industry on the whole.
This is one of the reasons why Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) involved in the industry are going through a fire fighting period after the decades of printer market growth at the turn of the century. Consider the fact that Lexmark was acquired by a consortium comprising various Asian corporations; HP was split into HP Inc. and HP Enterprise, and of course the other half of this news update which concerns the Xerox split. A large part of why all these OEMs are restructuring, transforming their business operations, or going leaner is dropping printer sales. An earlier post on Office Hacks by Inkjet Wholesale highlighted the 11 percent decline in global printer sales, as per the International Data Corporate (IDC).
The entire printer industry, however, hasn’t been declining drastically. For example, at the end of last year, we reported on another report of this type from the IDC. In this report, the IDC categorically specified printer market growth in particular segments of the overall sector such as the business inkjet segment. Now, another report released by another market research company has gone one step further from specific market segments to the entire segment. The highlight of this particular report is an expected printer market growth of about 0.9 percent by 2018. The report specifies driving factors as well as variables inhibiting the expected Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 0.9 percent.
The primary driving force behind the expected printer market growth, as per the research company, will be the demand and consumption of inkjet printers. The impact of the performance of inkjet printers will be augmented by the multifunction printer segment, an area that is also expected to see growth in the future. With respect to elements restricting printer market growth, the research company states that the biggest problem for the printer industry will be the global economic slowdown. The global economic slowdown is a result of the 2008 recession that has shrunk the profit margins of many OEMs in the printing industry. It, combined with currency volatility, has resulted in the operating capital of many of these businesses dropping significantly.
The market research company responsible for the printer market growth report is known as Radiant Insights which operates out of the US. The company uses a patented research methodology to cater to various market segments such as technology, chemicals, and even the manufacturing sector.
Xerox Spin Off: Details about the Spun Entities Announced
With the HP split out of the way and no fresh news about the restructure coming out of either of the two new entities, the focus of all printing industry watchers has shifted to the next great OEM split i.e. Xerox’s strategic review of business operations. The strategic review was kicked off in October last year and was completed by January, 2016. The completion of that strategic review resulted in the announcement of the Xerox spin off project.
The Xerox spin off project was announced by the Chairman and Chief Executive of Xerox herself, Ursula Burns. The two entities due to be created by the Xerox spin off project will be the Document Technology divisions and the Business Process Outsourcing divisions. The Xerox restructuring process is expected to be complete by the end of the current year. The announcement of the Xerox spin off project sparked off the rumour mill which is surprisingly active all the time in the printing industry. There were even worries in the industry of Xerox resulting like Kodak after its own infamous restructuring.
However, it seems that parallels drawn between the Xerox spin off project and the Kodak restructuring were on the doom and gloom end of the spectrum. More importantly, announcements from the OEM itself show that everything is moving smoothly on track. The latest announcements from the technology giant state that the Document Technology entity will retain the brand name Xerox. Furthermore, the board of this new entity will be chaired by Ursula Burns herself while its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will be Jeff Jacobson, once the separation is complete. Jacobson is currently the President of Xerox Technology, a post that he has held since 2014. Jacobson became a part of Xerox in 2012.
Since the entity responsible for the Document Technology divisions of the OEM will retain the iconic Xerox brand, the other entity created by the Xerox spin off project will have to be rebranded. The OEM has also revealed that Business Process Outsourcing entity will be rebranded to “Conduent”. According to the company, the name Conduent was chosen because it represents that nature of this new entity i.e. “connecting clients and their constituents through seamless transactions at massive scale”.
The Chief Executive of Conduent has also been selected by the board of Xerox. Ashok Vemuri will be heading the new BPO entity. Conduent will be taking on 96,000 employees while the smaller Xerox entity will have a staff of 39,000 people. For the rest of the year up until the formalisation of the split, the OEM will be working hard to rebrand Conduent. The company has revealed that it is focusing on doing this so as to position the new brand as well as possible for the future post-split.
The Xerox spin off will result in two independent, publicly traded company that will also be market leaders in their respective industries. The smaller Xerox will be able to lead the market on the back of its unique and well regarded document management technologies and solutions based around innovations. Conduent will facilitate large scale processes revolving around transactions between businesses or governments and their target audiences. The sectors Conduent will target include government services, commercial services, healthcare, and transportation.
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