Cloud print adoption driven by IT workload, says study

Konica Minolta Australia has released research showing that reducing IT workload is a leading driver of cloud print adoption in Australia and New Zealand. The findings are based on a survey of 408 IT and business decision-makers, conducted with Omdia.

Among Australian organisations, 47 per cent said reducing print server management and IT workload was a key reason for adopting cloud print, compared with 40 per cent in New Zealand. The research also found that more than half of IT budgets in both markets is spent maintaining and operating existing systems and processes.

That budget pressure comes as hybrid print has become the norm. Some 58 per cent of Australian organisations and 54 per cent of New Zealand organisations use a mix of on-premises servers and cloud, while primarily cloud-managed environments remain less common, at nine per cent in Australia and 14 per cent in New Zealand.

Plans for further migration suggest that balance may shift. In Australia, 42 per cent of organisations expect to move either from on-premises to hybrid or from hybrid to primarily cloud over the next 12 to 24 months. In New Zealand, 38 per cent said the same.

The reasons for that shift differ between the two countries. Australian respondents most often cited better support for hybrid and remote work, at 49 per cent, followed by reducing print server management and IT workload at 47 per cent. In New Zealand, lower total cost of ownership was the most common factor at 46 per cent, followed by reducing IT workload and print server management at 40 per cent.

John Harding, General Manager - Managed Services, Konica Minolta Australia, said: "IT workload has become an increasingly important part of our conversations with CIOs. The research confirms how strongly this pressure is influencing cloud print decisions. IT teams are managing increasingly complex environments with limited capacity, and print infrastructure is part of that workload.

"The cloud conversation is becoming much more operational. Organisations are looking at where cloud can reduce the day-to-day work associated with servers, drivers, queues and supporting systems, while giving IT teams more capacity to focus on broader business priorities."

Budget pressure

The study points to budget as the main obstacle to wider cloud print use. Half of Australian organisations cited budget constraints as the leading barrier, compared with 42 per cent in New Zealand.

Data sovereignty and location concerns were also prominent, cited by 39 per cent of Australian organisations and 41 per cent of New Zealand organisations. This suggests decisions about where systems and data sit remain part of the assessment.

Australian organisations allocate an average of 55.5 per cent of IT budgets to maintaining and operating existing systems and processes, leaving 44.5 per cent for innovation and transformation. In New Zealand, the split is 53.7 per cent for maintenance and operations and 46.3 per cent for innovation and transformation.

These figures suggest many IT teams are making cloud print decisions within broader limits on spending and internal capacity. The report indicates the route to cloud is likely to be gradual for many organisations, with decisions centred on which parts of the print environment should remain on-premises and which could move to cloud management.

Trevor Clarke, Chief Analyst, Omdia, said: "One of the most interesting findings from this research is the importance organisations are placing on reducing IT workload. Moving towards cloud printing can mean less management of infrastructure, licences and the wider print environment, giving IT teams an opportunity to reduce the effort involved in managing print.

"We're also seeing a clear shift towards greater cloud adoption over the next 12 to 24 months. Typically, seeing this proportion of the market moving in the same direction at the same time is rare, so it is a strong indicator of continued cloud print adoption."

Operational focus

The results indicate that cloud print is being assessed less as a stand-alone technology change and more as part of day-to-day operational management. Print infrastructure, including servers, drivers and queues, remains one of many systems competing for limited IT attention.

For organisations with hybrid working models, that operational focus also intersects with support for remote and office-based staff. In Australia in particular, this appears to be one of the main factors shaping interest in further migration.

Harding said: "This matters when IT teams are already spending so much of their budgets keeping existing systems running. The business case for cloud print needs to be grounded in operational value: reducing management effort, supporting users and creating an environment that can adapt as workplace needs change."