{"id":9165,"date":"2013-10-01T20:40:39","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T00:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=9165"},"modified":"2014-11-01T20:46:49","modified_gmt":"2014-11-02T00:46:49","slug":"embracing-the-mobile-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/state-of-the-industry\/2013\/10\/embracing-the-mobile-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing the Mobile Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any time, any place. That could very well be the mantra of the mobile workforce.\u00a0 As growing numbers of businesses embrace mobility and the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend, this is having an impact across the office technology landscape, from the R&D centers of the OEMs to the sales and service operations of office technology dealers.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0We recently spoke with representatives from six OEMs to find out how the mobile workforce and the BYOD movement is affecting their product development and what this trend means to the dealer channel.<\/p>\n

As more workers embrace smart phones and tablets like the iPad, OEMs such as Sharp Imaging and Information Company are looking to recreate that same navigation experience on traditional office devices. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"mob\"<\/p>\n

\"mob2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"mob3\"<\/p>\n

\"mob4\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clearly impacted how we\u2019ve designed our touch interfaces,\u201d reports Mike Marusic, senior vice president, Marketing & Business Solutions Group for Sharp. \u201cEverybody in the industry is looking at how we can make it more user-friendly. People are using their mobile devices more often and we want to adjust to what that look and feel is because it will be more natural for people. They\u2019re used to using a portable device that\u2019s icon based and only takes two touches to get to where they want to be; that\u2019s driving what we\u2019re doing on the R&D side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharp, like many other manufacturers, is also ensuring that service and support information for their products is now available on mobile devices, placing that information in easy reach of dealer service techs in the field. Plus they now have a mobile version of their Website, which allows for better viewing on smart phones.<\/p>\n

In November Sharp will unveil MICAS (Machine Intelligence Call Avoidance System), a mobile servicing system that reads data off the MFP on a cloud-based system and provides specific information on machine status, including predictive maintenance, all of it communicated through a mobile device. The system will also provide translations of error codes and information on how to repair the device, including how-to videos. \u201cThe goal is to improve efficiency,\u201d says Marusic.<\/p>\n

Another recent introduction is SharpDesk Mobile Version 3.1, a mobile version of SharpDesk, its desktop-based, personal document management application. SharpDesk Mobile will also support some new technology that will be introduced at Sharp\u2019s dealer meeting in November.<\/p>\n

As more dealers rely on tablets for presentations, manufacturers are moving beyond the traditional printed product brochures and more into digital media. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of phasing out and people are doing it in a more intimate setting with a tablet,\u201d states Marusic.<\/p>\n

At Sharp the entire sales organization is equipped with a Sharp-provided iPad. \u201cThat allows us to overcome some of the concerns with security and access to information because we\u2019re the provider of the device and we have more control,\u201d says Marusic, who adds that these days he\u2019s more prone to respond to e-mails on his phone rather than his computer.<\/p>\n

At a recent Canon press event, Sam Yoshida, vice president and general manager, Marketing & Business Imaging Solutions, Canon U.S.A., presented an overview of Canon\u2019s core strategies for the future, noting that mobile and cloud are key within the office side of the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years ago we wouldn\u2019t have said that,\u201d says Dennis Amorosano, senior director, Solutions Marketing, Canon U.S.A. \u201cIn a very short time period the rapid expansion of utilization of mobile technology has driven a significant amount of change in how we\u2019re driving R&D activities and that\u2019s true whether it\u2019s ensuring our hardware technology and software is capable of supporting mobile use, or depending on the applications,\u00a0 extending those applications so that they can be leveraged on traditional PC-based platforms or leveraged via tablet or smart phone. The speed of the impact is what\u2019s even more startling; it\u2019s forced us to step on the accelerator pedal in terms of our development activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canon has an extensive portfolio of technologies with connectivity or mobile use capability associated with them. \u201cIf we look at mobile print or mobile document capture for example, we have everything from basic peer-to-peer applications that you would use on a smart phone up to our uniFlow technology that is more enterprise in scope and has mobile print and capture abilities,\u201d says Amorosano. \u201cThey\u2019re all having some effect in the channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like other OEMs, he notes that it\u2019s hard to find a situation where they\u2019re dealing with a customer of any size where mobile or mobile use doesn\u2019t become part of the conversation. \u201cEverybody wants to provide their users with mobile print and others who want to go beyond and do mobile capture and then monitor and secure those activities as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The growing demand for mobile printing is driving a lot of Muratec\u2019s current R&D efforts. \u201cThat\u2019s the first piece for a lot of our dealers, enabling print from their mobile devices,\u201d states Lou Stricklin, director of marketing. \u201cWe have some solutions on the market for that and for connecting our machines into the cloud for scanning and document sharing.<\/p>\n

Two years ago Muratec\u2019s parent company in Japan acquired Silex Technology, a wireless company based in Kyoto, with the intention of incorporating Silex\u2019s wireless technology and patents across the company\u2019s divisions in order to better play in the mobile environment. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of R&D being done not only to enable our machines to print in mobile environments, but for adjusting our equipment to meet the needs of users as they get more embedded with mobile applications,\u201d says Stricklin.<\/p>\n

One example is the ability of Muratec\u2019s new MFP series to connect and scan into Evernote with Evernote functioning as a document repository and basic workflow solution. By scanning to the cloud from the Muratec device, users can access those documents from their smart phone, laptop, iPad or traditional PC wherever they may be.<\/p>\n

Toshiba has been focusing on how its MFPs can be adapted to some of the mobile technology on the market. \u201cWe\u2019ve allocated more resources to some of the applications we can incorporate in our MFPs to meet some of the customer needs we\u2019re hearing from dealers and the sales team,\u201d states Tony Venice, manager of strategic product development.<\/p>\n

Toshiba recently introduced a mobile scan and print application and Venice reports that the company will continue to add to that and enhance that application. Additionally, the company is placing greater importance on cloud storage and scanning into cloud storage services such as Googledocs, Dropbox, and Box.com.<\/p>\n

Doug Frazier, who manages the solutions team at Lexmark, says the mobile trend is significantly affecting what Lexmark is doing from an R&D perspective. As well it should.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe statistics around the growth of mobile technology is staggering,\u201d states Frazier. \u201cCouple that with what we\u2019re working towards anyway, if you look at Lexmark\u2019s overall solutions platform, and how we help customers capture and print and share data across the board, it\u2019s a core component of every solution we provide.\u201d<\/p>\n

One example of Lexmark\u2019s offerings in the mobile realm is its Mobile Capture solution that allows users to use the capabilities on a mobile device to initiate mobile capture and intelligent routing. More recently, Lexmark introduced a hosted print release solution called Lexmark Print Management\u00a0 that offers an extended platform for clients to print from any mobile device and retrieve from anywhere, not just on a corporate network.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were to look at what we\u2019re offering across the entire dealer channel, we have to answer the dealer\u2019s needs from the simple network-type capability to something more comprehensive,\u201d adds Phil Boatman, manager of business development, North American Business Channels for Lexmark.<\/p>\n

Lexmark also offers AirPrint support across their entire lineup with out-of-the box functionality and no special drivers needed. Outside of the output environment, Lexmark has a mobile print app that runs across both platforms and allows users to print not only within a local environment but a business-oriented network as well. That mobile print app ties into the Lexmark Print Management solution for users who need to print outside the corporate firewall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe demand for mobile, I don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s every customer, but it\u2019s certainly a part of most conversations,\u201d adds Sam Errigo, senior vice president, Business Intelligence Services, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.<\/p>\n

Konica Minolta has been involved in the mobile world for some time with its PageScope Mobile, an app that allows users to connect their mobile device to Konica Minolta MFPs. \u201cWhere we continue to invest time, energy and effort is around the enterprise, coming up with applications that allow mobility regardless of device,\u201d explains Errigo. \u201cThat\u2019s the key; the ability to print to Konica Minolta only devices is half the equation, you need an open architecture and have universal technology to print to all devices. That\u2019s just becoming table stakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second development he sees driving R&D efforts is the expectation that the handheld device or tablet must do more than just print. \u201cWe\u2019re looking towards applications that allow you to communicate effectively with devices so if you\u2019re scanning they can also scan back to the handheld device,\u201d notes Errigo. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to print in MS Word or Excel they have to be able to print directly from handheld devices. That expectation is growing. From an R&D standpoint it\u2019s building in that level of compatibility so that a mobile professional can work as seamlessly as possible almost as if they\u2019re at a connected device.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to concerns, Toshiba\u2019s Venice contends it depends on whom you\u2019re speaking with. \u201cIf it\u2019s someone from the IT side of the house, security is usually part of the conversation. The question usually focuses on how do I control all of my devices and access to my wireless network?\u00a0 When talking to someone outside of IT the security question doesn\u2019t come up initially; usually they want ease of use and don\u2019t want a lot of software installed on the device.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re developing ways dealers can address the security piece of the equation when it comes to utilizing mobile devices and accessing sensitive business documents remotely,\u201d reveals Muratec\u2019s Stricklin. \u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019re currently working on and will have a big impact on the dealer channel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amorosano sees huge implications in terms of what\u2019s happening from a cloud perspective. \u201cEven today there are many customers in the marketplace, and depending on the application, who have a preference for deploying that application within a cloud infrastructure just given some of the economies it provides and the lack of administrative requirements. Those trends are going to continue and will have major implications for mobility as well. As a manufacturer we need to make sure whether it\u2019s our hardware or our software that we can effectively live within those ecosystems and provide users of mobile technology with the same level of effective access to the tools they need to conduct business whether they\u2019re tethered to a desktop PC or accessing content off an iPhone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lexmark\u2019s Frazier is aware of all those concerns while also noting that initial mobile technology and mobile platforms haven\u2019t been as robust in terms of security as traditional desktop platforms although he sees that changing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is development undergoing from an AirPrint standpoint as well as future Wi-Fi technologies that will go a long way towards addressing some of that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Beyond those challenges, one that\u2019s arguably of utmost importance for the dealer channel is monetizing mobility.\u00a0 Indeed, going mobile presents a new set of challenges to the OEMs and the dealer channel primarily because of its impact on the printed document. Documents can now be accessed on mobile devices and with the advent of iPad-like devices why bother to print when you can view the document on your device?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big challenge for dealers is how to get access to that revenue stream and how do you do the integrations, work with your customers to not only make it from a printed document to a stored document to a mobile document and how do you put your dealership in the middle of that workflow?\u201d says Marusic. \u201cAs all of us in the industry talk more about cloud services and storage, in the end a lot of those cloud services best apply to a mobile device.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn cases where you\u2019re providing a free utility that the user can put on their smart phone or tablet, the dealer is offering the services to in effect integrate into the device and configure the appropriate settings both at a user and device level to ensure those operate as intended,\u201d says Canon\u2019s Amorosano. \u201cThere\u2019s some revenue opportunity there. Security is another opportunity where dealers have an opportunity to provide additional value-added services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toshiba\u2019s Venice doesn\u2019t foresee the trend toward mobility generating a huge amount of revenue for the dealer channel. \u201cWhere we see the opportunity is maintaining the installed base and providing some differentiation from our competitors for the hardware sale. That\u2019s the view today and I\u2019m not sure if that will change anytime soon. Like our competitors we\u2019re giving away a basic application for free and then there\u2019s an up sell to add more capabilities and functionality at a minimal cost to the end user.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Lexmark\u2019s Frazier isn\u2019t ready to concede traditional prints to mobile devices. He references IDC research that shows a correlation between overall page growth when mobile technologies are in play. \u201cPages associated with mobility, contrary to what one might think are growing and IDC expects double-digit growth through 2016,\u201d he notes. \u201cI think there\u2019s an opportunity there as dealers try to incorporate more mobile technologies in their MPS arrangements in the solutions that they\u2019re selling, they\u2019re serving themselves well in terms of capturing those pages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Any time, any place. That could very well be the mantra of the mobile workforce.\u00a0 As growing numbers of businesses embrace mobility and the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend, this is having an impact across the office technology landscape, from the R&D centers of the OEMs to the sales and service operations of office technology dealers. \u00a0We recently spoke with representatives from six OEMs to find out how the mobile workforce and the BYOD movement is affecting their product development and what this trend means to the dealer channel. As more workers embrace smart phones and tablets like the iPad, OEMs such as Sharp Imaging and Information Company are looking to recreate that same navigation experience on traditional office devices. \u201cIt\u2019s clearly impacted how we\u2019ve designed our touch interfaces,\u201d reports Mike Marusic, senior vice president, Marketing & Business Solutions Group for Sharp. \u201cEverybody in the industry is looking at how we can make it more user-friendly. People are using their mobile devices more often and we want to adjust to what that look and feel is because it will be more natural for people. They\u2019re used to using a portable device that\u2019s icon based and only takes two touches to get to where they want to be; that\u2019s driving what we\u2019re doing on the R&D side.\u201d Sharp, like many other manufacturers, is also ensuring that service and support information for their products is now available on mobile devices, placing that information in easy reach of dealer service techs in the field. Plus they now have a mobile version of their Website, which allows for better viewing on smart phones. In November Sharp will unveil MICAS (Machine Intelligence Call Avoidance System), a mobile servicing system that reads data off the MFP on a cloud-based system and provides specific information on machine status, including predictive maintenance, all of it communicated through a mobile device. The system will also provide translations of error codes and information on how to repair the device, including how-to videos. \u201cThe goal is to improve efficiency,\u201d says Marusic. Another recent introduction is SharpDesk Mobile Version 3.1, a mobile version of SharpDesk, its desktop-based, personal document management application. SharpDesk Mobile will also support some new technology that will be introduced at Sharp\u2019s dealer meeting in November. As more dealers rely on tablets for presentations, manufacturers are moving beyond the traditional printed product brochures and more into digital media. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of phasing out and people are doing it in a more intimate setting with a tablet,\u201d states Marusic. At Sharp the entire sales organization is equipped with a Sharp-provided iPad. \u201cThat allows us to overcome some of the concerns with security and access to information because we\u2019re the provider of the device and we have more control,\u201d says Marusic, who adds that these days he\u2019s more prone to respond to e-mails on his phone rather than his computer. At a recent Canon press event, Sam Yoshida, vice president and general manager, Marketing & Business Imaging Solutions, Canon U.S.A., presented an overview of Canon\u2019s core strategies for the future, noting that mobile and cloud are key within the office side of the business. \u201cFive years ago we wouldn\u2019t have said that,\u201d says Dennis Amorosano, senior director, Solutions Marketing, Canon U.S.A. \u201cIn a very short time period the rapid expansion of utilization of mobile technology has driven a significant amount of change in how we\u2019re driving R&D activities and that\u2019s true whether it\u2019s ensuring our hardware technology and software is capable of supporting mobile use, or depending on the applications,\u00a0 extending those applications so that they can be leveraged on traditional PC-based platforms or leveraged via tablet or smart phone. The speed of the impact is what\u2019s even more startling; it\u2019s forced us to step on the accelerator pedal in terms of our development activities.\u201d Canon has an extensive portfolio of technologies with connectivity or mobile use capability associated with them. \u201cIf we look at mobile print or mobile document capture for example, we have everything from basic peer-to-peer applications that you would use on a smart phone up to our uniFlow technology that is more enterprise in scope and has mobile print and capture abilities,\u201d says Amorosano. \u201cThey\u2019re all having some effect in the channels.\u201d Like other OEMs, he notes that it\u2019s hard to find a situation where they\u2019re dealing with a customer of any size where mobile or mobile use doesn\u2019t become part of the conversation. \u201cEverybody wants to provide their users with mobile print and others who want to go beyond and do mobile capture and then monitor and secure those activities as well.\u201d The growing demand for mobile printing is driving a lot of Muratec\u2019s current R&D efforts. \u201cThat\u2019s the first piece for a lot of our dealers, enabling print from their mobile devices,\u201d states Lou Stricklin, director of marketing. \u201cWe have some solutions on the market for that and for connecting our machines into the cloud for scanning and document sharing. Two years ago Muratec\u2019s parent company in Japan acquired Silex Technology, a wireless company based in Kyoto, with the intention of incorporating Silex\u2019s wireless technology and patents across the company\u2019s divisions in order to better play in the mobile environment. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of R&D being done not only to enable our machines to print in mobile environments, but for adjusting our equipment to meet the needs of users as they get more embedded with mobile applications,\u201d says Stricklin. One example is the ability of Muratec\u2019s new MFP series to connect and scan into Evernote with Evernote functioning as a document repository and basic workflow solution. By scanning to the cloud from the Muratec device, users can access those documents from their smart phone, laptop, iPad or traditional PC wherever they may be. Toshiba has been focusing on how its MFPs can be adapted to some of the mobile technology on the market. \u201cWe\u2019ve allocated more resources to some of the applications we can incorporate in our MFPs to meet some of the customer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1649,1814,1641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9171,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9165\/revisions\/9171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}