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Adoption of Color in the Workgroup Key to Continued Profit Growth for Office Equipment Vendors

(Weymouth , MA) April 23, 2003… By the end of the decade, CAP Ventures forecasts annual paper growth of only one-half of one percent a year. To grow revenue and profits, office equipment vendors must find a way to obtain more value from the pages being produced.  Future profit growth for those in the office copying/printing equipment business is reliant upon the adoption of color in the office. 

CAP Ventures believes the next major change in the workgroup will be the adoption of universal copier/printers that combine a color-capable device with a digital monochrome multifunction device. The industry is already seeing the introduction of color products that are targeted toward the office instead of the graphic arts market. The big question is, how can the hardware and software vendors position themselves to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity? To better understand this dynamic market, CAP Ventures embarked on a landmark research project entitled Workgroup Color: The Next Frontier,  which is available immediately.

The research report takes an in-depth look at the results of an extensive survey of end-users to provide answers to questions throughout the broad field of “Workgroup Color.” It also provides an analysis of the trends and strategies that will enable vendors to tap this critical segment of the market. 

Key questions answered include:

• What value do buyers place on a “universal” device?    
• Which applications would benefit most by adding color?    
• What prevents users from copying and printing more documents in color?    
• What type of quality is required for office applications?    
• How much color work is being outsourced that could be brought in-house?

CAP Ventures’ research shows that key to building color in the workgroup is promoting the use of color on documents that have traditionally been run in black & white. This would include spreadsheets, memos, or other general office documents. The approach should be to focus on documents that contain multiple types of black & white and color pages. Marketing messages should be focused on the benefits of creating a document that uses all types of color, and offers finishing options as well as a variety of substrates. 

“Vendors and distributors must identify and demonstrate the value of creating mixed color documents and the associated economics. Without a thorough understanding of the cost premium and without a value proposition, end-users will balk at the idea of running more color work,” commented Rick Clayton a Director at CAP Ventures.  “In other words, the perceptions about color technology being too expensive and lacking functionality must be changed. Simply providing the product and pricing will not be enough.”

Vendors that follow the steps of strategic planning on how to capture this market will reap the benefits of increased revenue and profits. The migration of even a small number of pages from black & white to color will generate substantially more revenue. For example, if only 12% of the monochrome pages in the workgroup migrate to color, it will represent a $1.06 billion increase in service and supply revenue. 

CAP Ventures’ research report is available immediately to clients of CAP Ventures’ Digital Peripherals Solutions Consulting Service. To learn more about the report or to make a purchase, please contact Alison Hipp at , ext. 126 or via e-mail at .