More and more each day I see reports that this printer/MFD manufacturer continue to buy up solutions related to manipulating (Desktop Document Management), capturing and routing documents (Intelligent Scanning/Middleware from MFD to file repository), searching and finding documents (enterprise content management), cloud storage applications (Software as a Service/SaaS), and Print Governance solution to help help reduce a customer's amount of cost related to print or printing less. With the shrinking margins on toner, supplies, and the MFD due to the commodity of these things, manufacturers are looking for other rich opportunities to grow their revenue with managed print services, solutions and professional services. Customer are looking for ways to cut cost. Paper is a very untapped market. Solutions help reduce that paper need by automating those processes.
With many of these great solutions out there, many MFD manufacturers that are cash rich, are buying up these companies in order to capture the workflow around the page, as they are concerned with mobile users wanting to be less paper intensive and looking to reduce operating costs to increase the bottom line.
Companies are merging too, and they are needing flexible solutions to allow the workflow of an order, invoice, contract to move within an organization electronically to help bridge that gap between their merging companies.
One of the hurdles for manufacturers of output devices is that they do not always sell their own intelligent scanning software, enterprise content management system, or desktop document management, or digital signature software to be able to keep documents in the electronic format. That is one of the reasons we are still seeing an explosion of paper in the U.S. As more MFD manufacturers partner or buy up these companies to keep documents in digital.
Keep an eye out for more MFD manufacturers taking those cash reserves, as the economy picks back up, to invest in enterprise content management systems, desktop document management, print governance, and intelligent scanning solutions. If not buy, solidify their relationships in solutions to help grow their revenue.
Lexmark is one of those companies trying to compete with Xerox in the Gartner Magic Quadrant. In the past few years they have downsized their desire to build solutions, instead buying companies like Perceptive, BrainWare, and now Acuo Technologies. See the latest article.
http://www.lexmarknewsblog.com/lexmark-acquires-acuo-technologies/
