Demand for mobile scanners continues to increase thanks to the rise of home and hybrid working, and the technology means that they are now as powerful and have the functionality of their static counterparts.
With hybrid working becoming the norm for many employees in administrative and sales roles, the importance of having equipment that can be used anywhere – be that at home or on the go – without compromising on quality or productivity has risen exponentially.
For those that work regularly with documents and contracts, scanning has been a vital tool for many years, and now mobile versions have come of age as increasingly people work from places other than the traditional office.
As Andrew Cowling, channel marketing manager at PFU (EMEA) Ltd, notes, mobile portable scanners are a relatively new invention, made possible by developments in Wi-Fi, battery and miniaturisation of these technologies in recent years. “The very latest of these scanners, such as the ScanSnap iX100, is barely wider than a sheet of A4 paper and can scan 200 A4 documents on a full charge,” he says.
Sales of mobile scanners exploded during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 as many employees had no option but to work from home. But sales of mobile scanners have continued to trend upwards since social restrictions were eased, Andrew notes.
“Portability, quality and convenience are the biggest drivers of these types of scanners and sales continue to rise, even post-pandemic, as users require the quality and flexibility of a desktop scanner that they use in an office, but in a portable package they can also use at home and on the road,” he says.
“These scanners go beyond simply scanning, as it’s possible for them to scan directly to cloud services such as Evernote, Dropbox and Google Drive, without the need for a computer or phone. They can increase productivity by quickly scanning receipts, business cards and statements, while software can convert the typed text into searchable digital text, enabling documents to be found with just a few keystrokes.
“Cloud storage can also make document sharing simple. For example, a customer may need to sign a contract on site, which can then be instantly transferred via the cloud to head office and the transaction can take place immediately. This synergy between device and cloud is what makes these scanners unique, convenient and adaptable.”
Demand for ease-of-use
Kevin Dobson, product manager for business scan at Epson UK, adds that some of the bigger trends are for end users to want mobile scanners that are lightweight, small and therefore ultra portable, easy to use, and stress-free to set up and transport. “Epson’s space-saving designs mean that whether workers are at home, in the office or on the road they can quickly scan two-sided documents, business cards, receipts, sketches etc,” he says. “For extra convenience, our portable scanners have batteries included or can be powered by a single USB cable via a laptop, which makes customers’ lives easier too.
“Mobile software solutions such as Epson DocumentScan then allow customers to easily access and share scans using a smartphone, tablet or laptop that can be sent on email or straight to applications or cloud services such as Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive.”
Kevin too expects demand for mobile scanners to continue to rise in the coming 18 months and beyond. “The home office will still play a concrete role for the working professional and they need to bring the optimised functionality of the office to their home environment,” he says. “These homeworking needs require a range of office equipment, from dedicated scanners, sustainable printers, and even projectors for more immersive engagement over Teams or Zoom.”
Selling to the max
With this kind of expected demand, dealers should be talking to their customers about the benefits of mobile scanners as an integral part of their print and home office solutions.
Kevin recommends that in sales pitches dealers highlight mobile scanners’ ease-of-use, portability, cost savings, increased productivity and reduced environmental impacts. “These are benefits that everyone wants to see from the technology they use and delivering all this without compromise differentiates our range.”
Speed is another benefit to emphasise, he adds. “Seamlessly linking data from scanners to smart devices is also beneficial as workers can quickly input and collaborate on documents in enterprise applications or cloud services such as Evernote and Google Drive – leading to faster decision making, response times and end customer interactions.”
Continually developing sector
One element that will continue to drive sales of mobile scanners is that it is a continually developing market, with manufacturers refining existing models and developing new ones with greater functionality and smaller footprint, as Andrew explains: “Looking to the future, you can expect to see physical changes to the scanners, with more connectivity and a decrease in size,”
he says.
“More excitingly, future developments will see a deeper integration with artificial intelligence, allowing scanners to further intelligently improve the scan process, improve image quality, and manipulate scanned data in ever more sophisticated ways, making life even easier and more convenient for the customer.”
With the market for mobile scanners set to grow for the foreseeable future, thanks to increasing demand from businesses across the board and new innovations from manufacturers, these can be an important seller for dealers
