Printing is still a crucial part of everyday operations for education providers, and multifunctional printers provide an effective option – but their demands are evolving, which resellers should be alive to.
While schools, colleges and universities are increasingly embracing digitalisation across their operations, there is nonetheless still high demand for printed materials from teaching and administrative staff alike, and for many a multifunctional printer (MFP) is a preferred option, which presents opportunities for resellers.
Rick Dove, pre-sales technical specialist at Epson UK, says that demand for MFPs from education providers remains consistently high. “This reflects the ongoing need for shared and centralised print environments across schools, colleges and universities,” he explains. “Despite ongoing digital initiatives, printed materials continue to play an important role in teaching and in administration, from lesson resources and exam papers to safeguarding records.
“The latest research by Epson highlights this need, with 29% of UK teachers saying they do not have enough printers in their school to provide hard-copy resources whenever they are needed. The same research found that 80% of teachers believe printers should be considered when policymakers make decisions about improving educational outcomes, reinforcing the growing demand for robust, centrally managed print solutions such as MFPs.”
Deyon Antione, product marketing manager at Toshiba Tec, agrees that despite ongoing digitisation in schools, MFPs remain widely used for teaching packs, reprographics and high‑stakes assessment administration. “While digital tools, such as classroom devices and cloud services, are rapidly growing in adoption, this does not signal a move to a fully paperless environment,” he adds.
“Instead, digital solutions sit alongside long‑established paper‑based workflows. Although print volumes are gradually declining, very few organisations are paperless; most are accelerating their digitisation efforts, increasing the need for scanning and workflow processes. As a result, MFPs continue to be essential tools.”
Gary Organ, head of device technology sales UK at Fujifilm, says the company is are seeing interest in MFPs from across different types of education providers. “Not only because print still matters to them, but because customers are increasingly looking for MFPs that support secure, sustainable, smart and adaptive ways of working,” he says. “From Fujifilm’s perspective, it’s a clear shift in what customers are asking for and it’s shaping how we support the sector.”
Advantages of MFPs
There are various advantages of using MFPs for education providers. Deyon notes that education providers appreciate how one device has multiple functions such as A3/A4 print, copy, scan and finishing. “Central reprographics can handle high volume jobs (booklets, stapling, labels) that single function A4 printers cannot do cost effectively or reliably,” he adds.
“There is also lower total cost per page at scale. Consolidating individuals’ desktop printers into shared MFPs typically reduces unnecessary colour printing and enables duplex defaults and policy controls via MPS software analytics. MFPs are the capture gateway from paper to digital.”
With security an increasing concern, MFPs also offer functions such as secure release and auditable scanning. “Card/PIN release cuts abandoned prints; integrated scan workflows to cloud repositories and back-office systems support compliance requirements,” Deyon adds.
Rick adds that MFPs’ ability to combine printing, scanning and copying in a single, centrally managed device designed for shared use is important. “This makes them well suited to education settings like schools and universities that deal with high volumes of documents – ranging from lesson materials to exam papers – often under time pressure,” he says.
“Compared with single-function printers, MFPs support lower overall running costs through simplified fleet management and reduced energy consumption.”
Gary adds that MFPs are the hub of an organisation, giving it the ability to control and manage not only print and copy processes but kick off any process related to paper-based documents, scanning or archiving. “This can enable automation and process improvements, saving time and money,” he says. “As a school governor of a MAT [multi academy trust], I know only too well the importance of maintaining security in educational budgets. Reliability is also key; laser MFP technology is established and reliable, which gives schools the reassurance that they have a long-term solution.”
Trends
But while MFPs remain popular among education providers, what customers want from them is changing. “Requirements are shifting from ‘hardware’ to outcomes across security, sustainability and digitisation,” says Deyon.
This includes cloud MPS and integrated scan-to-workflow, he adds. “Schools want simpler deployment, identity based secure release and automated capture and intelligent document processing into content/records systems.”
Security and compliance by design are also sought. “With the DfE’s security and cyber standards push, leaders expect secure release, user authentication, logging and auditable scanning/retention that aligns to the Data Protection in Schools toolkit and ICO guidance,” Deyon says.
Sustainability is also a scored criteria, he adds. “Buyers increasingly probe energy use, device longevity, remanufacture/refurb and recycled materials.”
Analytics, policy control and resilience – especially for exam season – are also requisites. “Fleet data to reduce colour/one-off jobs, enforce duplex, and evidence savings/environmental impact is now expected, not ‘nice to have’,” Deyon says. “Centres also need predictable throughput, finishing/label printing and secure workflows that map to JCQ/Ofqual processes.”
Gary notes that the Fujifilm is working with a lot of educational organisations about the benefits of quality in print. “High-quality images and output can have a huge impact on communication, especially between educational establishments and students or parents,” he says. “At the same time, security has become a bigger priority; we are seeing even more customers looking to lock down the MFP and ensure that it is treated like any other IT asset on the network.
“Alongside that, sustainability is increasingly part of procurement conversations, as well as the push for smart, adaptive features that reduce admin and help teams handle mixed digital/print requirements across campus environments.”
Reseller approach
When taking to customers in the education sector, there are various things resellers should be highlighting.
Deyon says resellers should lead with outcomes, not ‘speeds and feeds’ and that security and compliance come first. “Highlight secure print release (ID-based), encrypted storage/transport, audit trails, and data loss prevention controls; how scan workflows enforce retention and access controls,” he says.
Digitisation and workflow should also be prominent in the conversation. “Pitch the MFP as a ‘smart hub’ that is the bridge from paper to cloud, show prebuilt connectors for cloud repositories, OCR/IDP options, and how pastoral/SEND/HR files flow into records with metadata and access control,” he says.
“Also highlight eco-features of the MFPs, i.e. energy ratings, sleep mode, power consumption, circular economy, longevity, PCR plastics, toner reclaim.”
Exam readiness and reprographics reliability should also be mentioned. “Explain throughput for mock/exam seasons, finishing, label/seating plan runs, and contingency measures that reflect Joint Council for Qualifications and Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation practice,” Deyon says.
Cost, procurement and simplicity of management should also be highlighted. “Show TCO with fleet rationalisation (reduce desktop or underutilised printers), print policies, secure release, waste reduction; map your offer to CCS (RM6361),” says Deyon. “Talk about control and reduction of burden, fewer on-premise print servers, policy from the cloud, automated driverless print, analytics dashboards.”
Resellers should also be looking to understand the goals of the education facility, related to their improvement plans and what impact technology could have on those plans, says Gary. “Understanding the make-up of the education facility, its processes, periods and trends that influence busy print times, and how the end users (students and staff) consume print is critical,” he adds.
“From there, the conversation should move to the things education teams are increasingly prioritising, like secure use and management of the device as part of the IT estate, sustainable operation to reduce waste and cost, smart workflow capabilities that simplify scanning and document handling, and an adaptive approach that fits different sites, user groups and term-time patterns.
“From Fujifilm’s perspective, we support our partners to take that more consultative approach that aligns the MFP conversation to real operational pressures rather than treating it as a standalone hardware discussion.”
Bright prospects
There is an expectation that demand for print solutions will continue to evolve and grow in the short- to medium-term. “There is a requirement for all education establishments to do more with less, but not at the expense of service provision, quality or security,” says Gary.
“Looking through the remainder of 2026 and into 2027, we expect budgets to stay under pressure, which will keep the focus on solutions that are secure, sustainable, smart and adaptive that will help with reducing waste and admin time, protecting data, and flexing around term-time peaks without adding complexity for IT or staff.”
Deyon adds that, while it is expected that page volumes will continue to decline due to digitisation momentum, device refresh and MPS spend will remain steady as schools modernise fleets, migrate to cloud print, and expand capture/records workflows.
“Security and compliance will drive upgrades,” he adds. “With DfE security guidance and cyber standards gaining traction, more schools will require secure release, identity, firmware lifecycle support and logging, favouring newer cloud manageable MFP platforms and managed services.
“Sustainability will influence awards. Expect tighter scoring on energy, circularity and device longevity (remanufacture/refurb), which benefits vendors and resellers that can quantify environmental impact.”
