Europe speaks out: inkjet technology is the new business printing technology of choice

The concept of the paperless office is over. In fact, according to printing industry analyst, Louella Fernandes of Quocirca, “Far from being dead, print is enjoying a resurgence as a way for people to disconnect from the noisy online world”. The question then becomes: “how do we ensure that our printing technology choices continue to meet our needs in the future?” – enhancing performance, providing greater benefits, and using fewer resources. 

A few months ago, Epson announced ongoing multi-million investment into business inkjet printing technologies to address this exact challenge, and we are on a mission to redress the old beliefs around inkjet versus laser printing technologies. There was a time when laser was considered the better performer for business printing – but inkjet innovations have propelled this technology to the forefront of high efficiency and performance. Now, at a time when more and more businesses are seeking greater CSR credentials and smaller environmental footprints , inkjet will be the technology to really make a difference.

Therefore, in September this year, armed with independently verified facts on the benefits of new generation Epson inkjet technology, we took the printing technology choice to the market to demonstrate the realities resulting from an individual’s selection of printing technology. We collected insights from more than 5,000 European business decision makers and decision influencers across Western Europe. We asked true/false questions to test their knowledge – and the results were surprising! 

The majority of respondents (58%) falsely thought that a laser printer produces less CO₂ and 54% mistakenly believed it produces less waste than inkjet. Furthermore, 67% of respondents incorrectly believed that a laser printer delivers in higher productivity due to less time spent on maintenance and downtime. On the positive side, 62% of respondents knew that inkjet printers consume less energy, and 55% rightly agreed that inkjet printers are faster to print. 

The truth is that innovation in business inkjet technology has yielded new solutions that surpass laser printing in terms of performance, quality and environmental preservation. There was once a time when laser was the obvious choice, but those days are gone. Business inkjet products now deliver speeds of up to 100 pages per minute with a low cost per page, plus reduced waste and energy consumption of up to 99% and 96% respectively when compared to laser printers^[1]. And maintenance and intervention requirements are up to 98% fewer compared to laser products^[2], meaning more time for productivity at work. In fact, if every business in Western Europe made the switch to Epson business inkjet printers, we would save enough energy to run at least 507,000 households.

Epson knows printing; and people know Epson for printing. What is not known widely enough yet, in my view, is the tremendous potential of inkjet technology for today and for tomorrow’s business environment. Encouragingly though, what we saw through this exercise was that when presented with the facts about business inkjet as a printing technology - that it not only supports the bottom line, but also reduces environmental impact - we are glad to report that 76% of Europeans chose inkjet.

About our Research: Epson  Europe conducted an online survey across social media, online media and direct mail channels in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the UK during September 2017. The aim was to test people’s knowledge regarding the benefits of laser versus inkjet printing technologies, and to demonstrate what people would choose if they were given the facts. 5,111 responses were collected across 6 countries: 1,524 in France, 1,034 in Germany (including a small percentage of responses from the German-speaking regions of Austria and Switzerland), 1,022 in Italy, 808 in Spain and Portugal combined, and 723 in the UK. Respondents included 14% top-level and management-level business decision makers, 58% business decision influencers at employee level, and 28% other categories, including self-employed and freelance workers. Professional sectors varied, and included 17% corporate, 13% retail, 11% education, 7% manufacturing, and 6% healthcare.