| Document Solutions Will Become a Key Product Differentiator as Competition in the Hardcopy Hardware Market Intensifies, IDC Says
24 April, 2007
Singapore and Hong Kong, April 24, 2007 – According to findings from IDC's Asia/Pacific Enterprise Imaging and Printing Survey, 2006 ( Doc #AP126103P), the increasing page volume opportunities will see many organizations harnessing the power and value of IT to deal with their document needs and problems. With 68.2% of respondents indicating that they have not purchased and implemented a document solution in their organization, many hardcopy vendors are nonetheless doubtful that they can drive significant revenue on software sales, at least in the next one to two years, in this big potential market.
“Many end-users are unaware of the opportunity cost of basic document scanning and distribution applications and the amount of time one can save each day if knowledge tasks can be completed much quicker”, said Natasha Tan, Associate Director for IDC’s Asia/Pacific Hardcopy Peripherals Research. In fact, a sizeable 27.7% of respondents surveyed currently do not use an application like scan-and-distribute.
Clearly, the document solutions opportunity in Asia/Pacific is still in its growth phase. Of those respondents whose organizations do not use or deploy a document or content management software application, only 31.5% expressed the possibility to use and deploy document solutions in the next one to two years. 56.4% of the respondents said they would not and the remainder said they did not know.
IDC believes hardcopy vendors should seek value-added, differentiation opportunities for their hardware by integrating the solutions with their multifunction peripherals (MFP) platforms to jumpstart the awareness of document solutions. IDC observes that document solutions have the potential to help these organizations save substantial resources by alleviating workflow and tracking bottlenecks. Organizations in the media, legal, and financial industries that have to manage a large amount of content could benefit from adopting a document or content management application to help with document workflow and tracking.
To target those companies who are ready to deploy document solutions, both document solution vendors and service providers must be able to identify the key factors end-user organizations value in the selection of a document solutions vendor. Contrary to popular belief, the survey indicates that cost is not the most important factor. Other criteria like the provision of good technical maintenance and support, ease of use, flexibility to customize to meet business needs and support for open standards are more important for businesses and enterprises in the Asia/Pacific region.
Importance of Paper to Business Operations by Vertical Industry Category
For more information about purchasing the research, please contact Selina Ang at +65-6829-7717 or sang@idc.com. For press enquiries, please contact Holly Fung at +852-2905-4225 or hfung@idc.com. Contact
For more
information, contact:
Holly Fung
Marketing & Events Executive
Tel: +65-2905-4225
Email: hfung@idc.com
Chong Chee Kian
Events & Marketing Executive
Tel: +603-2169-7521
Fax : +603-2163-5098
Email:ckchong@idc.com
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