The rate at which organisations are adopting cloud print services has surged over the past year, with 69% of respondents now using a cloud print management solution, up from 55% in 2023, according to Quocirca’s Cloud Print Services 2024 Landscape 2024 study.
However, the study also shows that businesses are not fully committed to a cloud-only print environment, with print server deployment continuing to increase.
Key findings from the study include:
• 74% of respondents are taking a hybrid approach to print management using a mix of on-premise and cloud
• Only 4% currently manage their print environment fully in the cloud; 16% believe print will be fully managed in the cloud by 2026
• Despite the cloud transition, 58% of organisations plan to install more print servers in the coming year. This figure rises to 68% of those operating a multivendor fleet
• Data protection concerns are the top barrier to cloud print adoption (cited by 32%), followed by functionality (25%) and cost (24%).
“Right now there is a paradox in the cloud print environment,” said Louella Fernandes, CEO, Quocirca. “Despite accelerating adoption, we are also seeing more print servers being deployed and continuing concerns about security. It seems that providers are not positioning cloud-based solutions strongly enough and are failing to articulate the significant administrative and cost benefits cloud print management delivers.”
Despite 58% planning to deploy more print servers, customers are aware of the difficulties surrounding traditional on-premise print management. In addition, 49% say the IT administrative burden of managing print drivers is a top challenge, 42% cite the complexity of print driver deployment, and 38% note risks around outdated print drivers.
“Cloud print management solutions can address all these challenges, and providers should be leveraging this to deliver more cloud print solutions,” adds Louella. “For distributed working environments that need to be both agile and closely monitored, cloud print management makes a lot of sense.”
Protecting company data remains the top barrier to cloud print management adoption, although it has dropped from 36% in 2023 to 32% in 2024. A quarter of respondents are concerned about the perceived loss of functionality when switching to cloud print solutions, and this rises to 28% for the largest companies.
Cost is a key concern for 24% of organisations, rising to 32% for smaller businesses. The same proportion is worried about performance, consistency across multi-vendor fleets and data governance/sovereignty concerns.
“Cloud print service providers must focus on addressing these areas of customer concern and articulating the cost, efficiency and agility advantages of moving print management to the cloud,” said Louella. “Many earlier concerns have been resolved through, for example, advances in universal print driver sophistication and improvements in cloud print functionality, but there is still work to be done to convince buyers.”
