Printing Solutions: Is printing still necessary these days?

Digital transformation continues to progress and affects companies in all industries. In order to remain competitive, companies must engage with digitalization. Work steps, processes and even entire departments are increasingly being digitized. Modern work concepts such as New Work and new technologies are driving this change. It is to be expected that companies will continue to rely more on digitalization in the future and strive for the goal of having an office that is as paperless as possible.

Despite these important advances, one thing remains almost impossible: the complete digitalization of a company. In every company there are processes or work steps that cannot be completely digitalized and that is entirely justified. Because a completely paperless environment rarely makes sense. We will explain to you why printing will remain relevant in the future and why modern printing solutions are important to you.

 

Why print?

At first glance, the goal of a paperless office seems sensible and soon achievable thanks to constant digital change. The digitalization and optimization of the work environment is undoubtedly necessary and inevitable. However, completely eliminating all paper is usually simply not possible. Printers and complete printing systems are present in practically all offices and are used daily. This is not happening out of ignorance or an aversion to digitalization, but for good reasons. In this blog we will explain to you why printing solutions remain relevant.

 

Customer preferences

Many customers still prefer printed materials. Brochures, catalogs, invoices and other documents should therefore remain accessible to these customers and target groups.

 

Low cost-benefit ratio

The digitalization of workflows promises a significant increase in efficiency and cost savings, but the implementation of such projects also involves significant costs and a considerable amount of work. The cost-benefit ratio of a digitalization project may not be sufficiently high, especially for sporadic tasks that are only carried out infrequently. In such cases, it may make more sense to rely on physical documents instead of developing a digitalized process.

 

State requirements and legal boundaries

State institutions are also intensively dealing with digitalization and many processes can now be carried out digitally. However, there are still procedures that rely on physical documents. This is often due to highly complex and networked processes that cannot be easily digitized and therefore have to be carried out on a physical level for a longer period of time. In some cases, printed documents are also required for legal reasons to ensure certain security standards, such as original signatures.

 

Complex processes and workflows

In most cases, the digitalization of processes or workflows leads to an increase in efficiency. However, there are also very complex processes that are difficult to digitize. Even if these can be digitized, they may not result in increased efficiency or may even require more effort. Especially if many different systems are involved in the process, a digitalized process can suddenly take longer. In such cases, it is advisable to initially simplify the process and also sensibly integrate physical resources. We support you in assessing which (sub-)processes can be sensibly digitized and which printing solutions can help you. Contact please contact us!

 

High reliability and availability

There are work processes, departments or, depending on the industry, even entire companies that have to function continuously and reliably. An outage could be critical for both the company and other parties involved. Many systems already offer a high level of reliability and are constantly available. In some areas, however, paper protection makes sense or is even mandatory. Paper is and remains a reliable and always accessible alternative. Therefore, there are certain documents that must be physically present for security reasons. This is particularly relevant in industries such as healthcare. In general, printing solutions continue to play an important role in various industries.

 

 

In which industries is printing still most widespread?

Printing is even more established in certain industries, where some of the reasons already mentioned play a stronger role.

 

Education

Schools, universities and other educational institutions still rely on printed teaching materials. Particularly in compulsory education, physical books, worksheets and handouts continue to be used to ensure that all students have access to the material. Digital learning platforms are becoming increasingly popular and children learn how to use computers as digital tools at an early age. However, it is important that the materials are accessible to all students at all times, even if they do not have personal access to digital devices. In addition, the purchase of devices for all students is hardly financially feasible. For these reasons, the use of Printing Solutions to print documents remains necessary.

 

Health services

In healthcare, printed materials are used daily for patient information, medical reports, prescriptions and similar documents. The accessibility that must be guaranteed at all times is a decisive factor that encourages the healthcare sector to continue to rely on print solutions. In addition, legal framework conditions have a significant influence on digitalization in the healthcare system. However, that doesn't mean that it should be avoided completely. Here too, it is important to consider in which areas digitalization in combination with printing solutions is beneficial.

 

Legal system and government institutions

Legal documents, court records, contracts, and government forms are often printed and archived in physical form. Many legal systems require a handwritten signature on printed documents to be legally binding. In addition, government institutions often have to print documents due to legal regulations.

 

So we see that printing still has its place today and there are reasons to introduce an efficient printing solution in the company. This applies not only to the industries mentioned, but also to other companies. However, it is important to carry out a precise analysis of the IT and business processes in advance in order to identify which processes and areas can be digitized and how printing solutions also support efficient processes. We would be happy to advise you.

 

 

You would like to know more about in the future Printing solutions experience? Then keep checking out our blog. Next time we will clarify which approaches from Printing Solutions are available.