Please keep in mind that predictions are just that. In most cases I'm having fun with coming up with some extreme prognostications that may never come to fruition. However they do offer up some interesting "what ifs".
Dang, just realized I did not post my predictions for 2024! Would it be too late to add that Xerox will acquire Lexmark?
However I did post this for 2023, guess I was a year short.
1. Every year for the past ten years I've predicted consolidation of our copier manufacturers. Every one of those predictions have failed to come to fruition. Even though every manufacturer tries to put on a good face, it's my belief that we'll finally have a major consolidation with either Xerox or KonicaMinolta giving up the ghost.
Change is constant and change is something that we need to embellish, how boring would our lives or industry would be without change.
Top Ten Copier & Imaging Industry Predictions for 2025
1. Xerox will change their A3 Fuji Film based MFPs to the Lexmark A4 MFPs and they will keep their production print devices with Fuji Film.
2. All of the copier manufacturers will add AI to their MFPs. The addition will be cloud based AI apps rather than embedding AI chips in their MFPs.
3. Another major consolidation of the industry this year. I'm leaning towards Ricoh and Toshiba, however I would not rule out Canon buying Konica Minolta.
4. This is more of wish rather than a prognostication, however it would make sense to me for copier manufacturers to partner with TWAIN Working Group for their TWAIN direct software. This will allow developers to create more robust scanning applications within the MFPs.
5. Buzzwords: Gone is digital transformation and to be replaced with IDP (Intelligent Document Processing).
6. Speed & Color Licensing for the last few years I've also predicting that some copier manufacturer will move to speed licensing for their MFPs. Manufacturers will finally see the light and reduce the office style A3 devices to two MFPs. One device will will be capable of speeds from 20-60 pages per minute and the other will offer 65 to 100 pages per minute. The dealer can them configure any speed that the client desires and then offer a subscription service if the client needs color.
7. Mega Dealers: The pace of acquisition continues in our industry and the flow of PE acquisitions in 2024 was incredible. We will see one of these MEGA Dealers purchase another Mega here in the US to offer a real national footprint in the continental US.
8. One OEM Copier manufacturer will only offer color MFPs in 2025 for the SMB market place. This also goes in line with my thoughts of having only one MFP for the SMB marketplace.
9. Declining demand for traditional print due to digitalization will lead companies to pivot towards value-added services and digital workflow solutions.
- Subscription and Pay-per-Use Models
- Sustainability Consulting
- Security Services
10. Office equipment dealers and reps will rely more on using AI services for prospecting, lead targeting, personalized communication, time savings and training,
I enjoy writing these and please keep in mind that these predictions are intended to be more entertaining than factual. But, you never know what tomorrow will bring. Would love to hear comments!
-=Good Selling=-
Here's a link for our past predictions
Please post your predictions as well
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