Egham, February 2016 – Document-related challenges are wasting employees’ time and contributing to a 20% loss in productivity each year, the equivalent to over 2 working months, according to a new IDC whitepaper. This is linked to exponential growth in information access, according to the report, one of three key trends IDC says are driving initiatives to improve business process efficiency.

Entitled ‘Are your business processes stifling your market opportunity? Cost-efficient print and document management through smart MFPs’, the whitepaper was written by Jacqui Hendriks, IDC's Head of European Managed Print Services and Document Solutions research and consulting practice.

It shows a series of key trends driving today’s evolving workplaces. The report reveals that, in recent years, there has been an explosion in the growth of both information access capability and delivery. In fact, IDC predicts that the volume of data businesses receive will have increased six-fold over the past five years to 2015 and is set to continue at a similar rate. The challenge for businesses is making sense of the information accessed and delivering it in the most cost-effective and time-efficient way.

“In the cloud era, the advanced level of functionality the new generation of smart MFPs brings to the market can play a key role in helping businesses meet the changing demands of the evolving workplace,” confirms Terry Kawashima, managing director, OKI Europe Ltd.

Balancing the need for operational cost reduction while increasing productivity is a further key driver of many workplace initiatives, with more companies paying closer attention to their print-related operating costs and looking for ways to streamline their activities.

The third significant evolving workplace trend identified in the whitepaper is the impact of the growing mobile workforce, with IDC estimating that, by 2018, 75% of employees will be working from mobile devices at home, on the road, from business premises or at customer premises. This growing mobile workforce has in turn created a critical need for ‘anytime and anywhere’ access to secure and accurate information.

In addressing these requirements, the IDC whitepaper says smart MFPs must be able to print seamlessly from all types of mobile devices. They must also offer secure printing from mobile devices to guard against any threats or viruses, control access and protect a company’s intellectual property.

Devices that meet these and other key criteria can automate diverse processes and quickly deliver productivity gains for the business, according to IDC. This aligns smart MFPs with the buying criteria of 70% of European businesses which would adopt business automation tools to increase employee productivity.

OKI Europe’s extensive portfolio of smart MFPs offers businesses a range of tools to improve the way that documents are handled, managed and processed through an organisation to help increase efficiency. Responding to the key workplace trends identified by IDC, these powerful multifunctional printers combine sophisticated software with advanced technology to ensure the highest level of support for printing securely from tablet and smartphones and enhance productivity while improving document input, throughput and output using OKI’s embedded sXP (smart Extendable Platform).

For further information and to receive a copy of the whitepaper and infographic, visit www.okieurope.com/smartmfps