July 2014 Observations - Mopria Alliance grows while its latest research reflects IT managers valuing mobile tech, appreciating print, and defying age perceptions
by Jim Lyons
July 31, 2014
Early in July, I wrote a very brief post at JimLyonsObservations.blogspot.com (http://jimlyonsobservations.blogspot.com/2014/07/impact-of-mobile-in-workplace-as-viewed.html), excited about a just-released marketing research report sponsored by Mopria, the mobile printing alliance I have covered since its inception in 2013. The research and resulting report, conducted and compiled by The Economist, was commissioned with the goal of shedding further light on the impact of mobile technology on the enterprise by surveying high-level IT managers. The research is a treasure trove of interesting findings that include the high value IT managers place on mobile technology for its impact on collaboration and gains in productivity, their appreciation of the importance of paper and printers/scanners, and, by looking a little more deeply, data that seems to defy perceptions about differences in age/generation with respect to these attitudes.
At the time of the report’s release, I took a rather quick look at the research results (contained in a 14-page report entitled “Untethered employees – The evolution of a wireless workplace” and available for free download via http://www.economistinsights.com/technology-innovation/analysis/untethered-employees.) And I also had a pending interview with Mopria executives (actually executives from representative companies who make up the alliance), to discuss their views on the study and share any alliance news beyond that. So I concluded that July 8 blog post by stating that I would be publishing an update with more findings and results of my conversations within “a day or so”. And now, here it is the end of July, and I'm just now getting to that update! Part of the delay I can honestly blame on, “it's just one of those summers”. But I also must say I have had, with the fascinating research results particularly, much more to chew on than anticipated!
The Research
Going back to that first look at the survey results, which were gathered from 332 members of The Economist’s executive panel, from all over the world and in senior positions in IT management roles (over half “C” level), I was particularly impressed with the broad-based nature of the questions, or more specifically, the study was not overly print- and hardcopy-focused, as by definition the Mopria Alliance is. The research goes far beyond the relatively narrow aspect of the why’s and when’s of printing from mobile devices, i..e. smartphones and tablets, instead, seeking to further understanding of the current and future impacts of mobile technology on the enterprise – which of course ultimately will drive the narrower concerns.
Also, that “first look” showed me I had little to fear that this would feature questions leading to results along the lines of, “I want to print from my device - I didn't know that I can print from my device. If I could print from my device I would do it”, then further leading to optimistic forecasts about the future of mobile printing that is just around the corner. (And that's not to belittle that stage of research, but just recognizing there was a time for, and a place for that, and we need to move beyond that.) What the industry needs now is meaningful understanding of user needs, market segments, and, from this research, IT management’s vision. Happily, The Economist and Mopria have gone a long way with this study in satisfying the latter.
Before getting into print and hardcopy, the research makes
it clear – that the application of mobile technology in the office is all about
increasing collaboration and productivity, at least, in the view of these
executives. Combining the categories of “very positively affect” and “somewhat
positively affect”, huge majorities of the respondents in the survey (pushing 9
out of 10) cited the categories of collaboration and productivity has being most
affected. Innovation, idea generation and creativity followed, still all with
large majorities on the plus side (see illustration above). Note – The breakdown
on these responses between groups represented in the survey, is material enough
for at least one more post of its own, so look for my analysis coming from me in
the future.
The appendix of the report provides more responses to more
detailed questions and results of probes on the importance of printers,
scanners, and paper itself in the mobile-influenced office (some of those results
can be see above).
It is interesting that printers/scanners and paper are right
up there relative to laptops and smartphones in their importance ratings, per
the 332 respondents. (It is also interesting to note the much lower numbers for
“Tablets (e.g. iPads and similar devices)”, in light of the recent Apple earnings announcement and the admission that their tablet business has beenweakening in quarterly unit sales. With the also recently announced agreementwith IBM seen as a potential lift to iPads by boosting them in enterprises –
the Mopria/Economist results seem
somewhat prescient!)
Having access to cross tabs not available in the summary, I
was anxious to see what the oft-cited “age”, or generation factor, might have
on responses on these questions. As might be expected given the senior nature
of the executive positions sought out for the survey, the 332 respondents
skewed older, with just under half age 50+, and only 16 percent age 40 and
below. The remainder (36%) in the age 40-50 bracket. But on the “importance to
you” and “importance to your employees” questions, the younger respondents
actually recorded the highest percentages on the combined “very” and “somewhat”
important percentages. (See graph below.) While findings like these are far
from conclusive, they do offer encouragement for the industry that the
relevance of print and paper will not fade away with the Baby Boomers.
(Proportion of respondents within age ranges, responding,
“very important” or “somewhat important” to “How important are each of the
following office tools to the performance of your employees’/your jobs?” –
source Mopria/The Economist data, July 2014.)
Mopria Executive
Update
To get a firsthand Mopria perspective, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with two Xerox vice presidents, Karl Dueland and Carl Langsenkamp. Dueland has been one of my regular contacts during the launch and then the development of the Mopria alliance and updated me on the latest stats, noting the number of member companies now stands at 23, representing 93 percent of the market share of all printers, and the ever-growing number of supported printers and MFPs now stands at an ever-growing 245 models. An even more impressive number is the 19 million units in the field which a currently Mopria compliant, either having been purchased this year when that list of 245 started (with the HP Color LaserJet M476, the first Mopria compliant printer), or having been purchased previously but field-upgraded since. He pointed out that beyond printer OEMs, other members included applications and hardware companies. And as far as the research report, he pointed with pride to some of the points I’ve already covered here. “The study hits on the printing world and the mobile world, with C-Level respondents from all around the world. Some of the timely topics we included that of the trend in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and related trends.”
Coming Attractions
I mentioned near the beginning of this post that I have had
a lot to chew on, especially with all the data that has been made available to
me. And I continue to chew! I will conclude my summary here with the promise
that even if it's not “in the next day or so” I will return with more reporting
and analysis which include insights from this research. And special thanks to
my colleagues from the partner companies of Mopria, Edelman and The Economist for taking special care to
answer some of my detailed questions and also provide access to the data. It is
much appreciated and hopefully it will be of considerable value to my readers
as well, as together we continue to understand and in response, innovate in the
ever-growing and ever-changing world of mobile, and its subtle and not so
subtle impacts on printing and imaging.
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