Quocirca: AI is a managed print services opportunity

The printing channel is set to benefit from widespread customer investment in products and services that can tap into artificial intelligence (AI).

Research underlining increasing rates of AI adoption by customers has been piling up, but so far there has not been much insight into what it could mean specifically for print players.

Quocirca’s AI vendor landscape study 2025 remedies that situation, making it clear there are opportunities for the channel.

The analyst house found that 64% of the organisations it quizzed are looking to increase investments over the coming year, and almost three-quarters are expecting their managhed print service providers to offer guidance around the impact and possibilities generated by AI.

The Quocirca study unearthed a number of characteristics that were common in market leaders looking to integrate and support AI.

Among these was an increase in the use of AI-driven intelligent document processing (IDP) to automate the extraction, classification and analysis of data from various document types.

Using AI and machine learning, leaning on natural language processing (NLP), there will be further improvements in the ability to understand document content from numerous sources.

AI also provides print specialists with the ability to incorporate more AI and automation into managed services to increase efficiencies. Predictive maintenance and servicing are also areas being improved by AI.

Vendors are also taking steps to ensure they can maintain high levels of device and document security in the face of evolving AI-driven threats.

The final trait displayed by AI market leaders is a willingness to use the technology as part of sustainability efforts. Vendors are using AI to improve product design and monitor supply chain management to improve knowledge of products during their lifecycle.

“Vendors are rapidly developing and bringing to market AI-powered solutions, drawing on data expertise and enhancing workflow and service offerings. As the market quickly evolves, they will need to ensure they are also building an AI partnership ecosystem, both by engaging with AI experts and by supporting the channel to develop AI confidence in customer engagements,” said Quocirca CEO Louella Fernandes.

The Quocirca report also shone a light on the position independent software vendors (ISVs) play in the market, with many incorporating AI capabilities within IDP solutions. The developer community was also found to have spotted the potential of unlocking content analysis to offer services that could identify sensitive data.

There are indications that cloud giants are also getting involved with IDP to offer more document classification options, which could also benefit those in the channel looking to add their own services to that foundational offering.

The channel has been put on alert that this year is going to be a significant one from an AI customer investment standpoint. Last month, Softcat shared findings from its annual business tech report that stressed the shift by customers towards adopting the technology. 

The channel player found that security remained the top technology priority, but there was a doubling of the number of respondents that had adopted AI in the past year. Generative AI was seen by many as a route to improving productivity, enhancing customer experience and generating data analytics.