8/14/2019 Dell Thinks Outside the Box
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Dell Thinks Outside the BoxLouella Fernandes, Associate
Director, Print Services and Solutions
Quocirca Viewpoint
Dell Thi nks Outside the Box http://www.quocirca.com 2013
Quocirca L td
In a highly commoditised market and an evolving digital and
mobile workplace, printer
vendors are challenged with keeping their products relevant.
Dell is moving in the right
direction with an expanded portfolio that encompass solutions
beyond print, enabling its
latest multifunction printers (MFPs) to be used as cloud-centric
document processing devices.
2013 has marked Dells10 year anniversary in the printer market.
Dellsprinter strategy began with a
partnership with Lexmark and further expanded, Dell subsequently
using OEM partners that included
Samsung and Xerox. In those 10 years, Dell has gained a 10%
share of a market dominated by industry
stalwarts such as HP, Canon, Lexmark and Xerox. Dell has
significantly evolved its printing business from
just a few models to 19 unique products today.
As with other parts of the company, Dell is transitioning its
printer business from a hardware-centric to a
solutions-driven approach. Despite overall print volumes being
on a downward trajectory paper remains a
key element of document workflow for many businesses. Dell, like
other vendors, is seeing an
opportunity to help businesses drive more efficiency beyond
print, using the multifunction peripheral
(MFP) to bridge the paper to digital gap.
Today MFPs have evolved beyond print and copy devices to become
sophisticated document processing
hubs that can also capture and route documents whether its
through the cloud or to on-premise
applications. The growing use of cloud services such as Dropbox,
Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive
means that more of us have and want access to documents in the
cloud. By providing access to a
personal cloud space directly from the MFP and enabling the
digitisation of paper documents, businesses
can better utilise their MFPs as document productivity tools and
make them integral to automating paper
to digital workflows.
The introduction of the Dell Document Hub is certainly a step in
the right direction. It provides SMBs with
a simple and flexible approach to document collaboration
allowing users to share, create and print across
many common cloud document platforms including Box, Dropbox,
Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive and
Microsoft SharePoint Online from a single access point. Through
single-sign-on, users can search and
