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Print is entering more senior business conversations because it is no longer only about devices and page volumes. Hybrid work has made information move among offices, homes, cloud platforms and applications; when those routes do not work together, staff make up the difference manually. The resulting friction can affect productivity, security, governance and the return on technology spending—issues executives already have to manage.
That does not mean every organization has elevated print decisions to its board. It means print-channel partners increasingly need to explain how connected print, scanning and digital workflows solve wider business problems, and how customers can tell whether the investment is working.
Why print has become an information-flow issue
Hybrid work has dispersed the people and systems involved in document-heavy processes. A document may begin on paper, be scanned at a device, pass through a cloud service, enter an application and then be reviewed by someone working elsewhere. If the systems involved are disconnected, employees often resort to rekeying data, moving files manually or finding workarounds.
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What can turn a workflow into an executive concern?
- Productivity: repeated manual steps consume staff time and can delay work.
- Security and governance: fragmented routes can make access, retention and audit controls harder to understand.
- Resilience: a process dependent on a particular location, system or workaround may be less adaptable when work patterns change.
- Technology value: executives need to know whether existing devices and software support the process effectively, rather than simply adding cost.
- Sustainability: customers may want to understand resource use and lifecycle impacts alongside the role print plays in communications.
These are the kinds of business outcomes that can bring a print-related project into leadership discussions. The case is strongest when a provider can connect a specific workflow problem to a measurable operational consequence, rather than treating every printer replacement as a strategic initiative.
Why the channel’s economics reinforce the shift
Print providers face pressure to demonstrate value while customers scrutinize cost, speed and the mix of print and digital communications. A May 2026 PRINTING United Alliance survey of 258 participating companies across commercial printing, wide-format graphics, package and label production, and apparel decoration reported average sales growth of 0.4% in 2025 against 4.8% operating-cost inflation. Average inflation-adjusted sales fell 2.4%, and 64.6% of respondents said pre-tax profitability was flat or lower. These are findings for the survey participants, not a census of the entire industry; the report was produced for Alliance members and sponsored by Canon U.S.A., Inc. See the PRINTING United Alliance report.
The same survey points to a mixed customer picture, not a simple return to print. Among respondents, 49.0% said clients were combining print and electronic alternatives in multimedia communication and marketing programs, while 47.3% said print was becoming a more important part of clients’ communication mix. At the same time, 58.9% said rising costs were encouraging clients to reduce print use, and 29.2% said digital fatigue was encouraging clients to increase it. These responses support a more practical conversation: where does print help, where does digital work better, and how should the two be coordinated?
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Service expectations also matter. In the Alliance survey, 64.7% of respondents said clients were asking for faster job turns, 61.3% reported greater price sensitivity and 56.3% said clients wanted more guidance planning print projects. That combination gives channel partners a reason to discuss workflow and outcomes—not only equipment specifications.
What channel partners are being asked to provide
Quocirca’s State of the Channel 2026 study, as summarized by Print in the Channel on 7 October 2026, surveyed 144 channel partners in June and July 2026. The figures below are partner-reported customer-demand indicators and expectations, not guaranteed market outcomes or direct measurements of every customer.
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| Area | What partners reported | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| Print and scanning | 72% expected customer print volumes to decline over the following year, with an average expected reduction of 7.5%; 57% expected scan volumes to rise, with average forecast growth of 6.2%. | Providers may need to help customers manage fewer printed pages while improving capture and digital document flows. |
| Cloud and workflow | 52% identified cloud print management and services as a leading customer requirement; 46% cited digital workflow automation. | Customers are looking for ways to connect the print environment with processes and systems beyond the device. |
| Security | 44% cited secure products and 43% cited print security solutions as customer requirements. | Security needs to cover how documents are accessed, moved and handled—not just the endpoint. |
| Sustainability | 53% reported moderate or strong customer interest in sustainable products and services. | Providers should be prepared to support environmental claims with useful, specific evidence. |
| Services capability | 41% cited expansion of digital and software services, and 40% cited integration and application of AI among the channel’s most pressing challenges. | Moving from hardware-led selling to services requires skills, delivery capacity and suitable commercial models. |
Quocirca also reported that 50% of partners expected channel revenue to rise in 2026 and 27% expected it to remain stable, with average forecast revenue growth of 3.5%. Those are expectations from the survey, not realized results. Only 27% of respondents said they currently monetize scanning activity, even though more expected scan volumes to rise—a gap that may represent an opportunity for some providers, not a guarantee of profitable demand. Read the Print in the Channel summary of Quocirca’s study.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to make a print-related case useful to the board
A board-level discussion should begin with the business process, not a device catalogue. The channel partner and customer need a shared view of what is not working, which systems and teams are involved, and what improvement would matter. There is no universal scoring model established by the cited sources, but these questions make proposals more concrete:
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- Name the outcome. Is the goal to reduce manual handling, shorten a turnaround, improve access control, support remote work or make a communication program more effective?
- Map the workflow. Trace how paper and digital information move through devices, applications, cloud platforms and staff. Identify handoffs, rekeying and points where visibility or control is lost.
- Check integration and governance. Clarify where information is stored, who can access it, how long it is retained and what audit requirements apply. Confirm that proposed connections work with the systems already in use.
- Set a baseline and measures. Agree what will be measured before implementation—such as handling time, error rates, turnaround or support burden—and who will review the results.
- Account for full costs and service. Include implementation, ongoing support, analytics and optimization, not only equipment or software purchase costs. Define who owns fixes and improvements after launch.
- Support sustainability claims with data. Ask what resource, energy or lifecycle evidence is available and what boundaries it covers; avoid relying on broad claims without a usable basis.
A document scanner can be part of a capture workflow, but the value depends on what happens to the information after capture: whether it reaches the right application, is handled securely and removes a meaningful manual step. Device selection alone does not establish those outcomes.
What the evidence does—and does not—show
The evidence supports a measured conclusion: print decisions can affect broader information workflows, and partners report demand for cloud management, automation, security and scanning services. It does not prove that every board is discussing print, that print volumes are growing overall, or that a particular technology will deliver savings. Quocirca’s figures are partner survey responses and forecasts; the Alliance’s results describe its participating companies.
A separate ChannelPro/ITPro article by a Ricoh UK channel executive also refers to UK businesses’ legacy workflows, citing Ricoh research. The article does not identify that study’s name, date or method, so its reported “half” and “a third” figures should be treated as claims attributed to Ricoh, not independently verifiable UK-wide measurements. Likewise, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on printing and related support activities describe the U.S. industry; they do not measure board attention or channel strategy. See the BLS industry overview.
For customers, the decision is therefore not whether print is universally strategic. It is whether a print-connected workflow has a material effect on an organizational priority—and whether a provider can show, with integration, controls and evidence, that the proposed service improves it.
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