“We are working in an increasingly connected and digital environment, we have moved into a virtual and collaborative workplace, where the office workflow and information processing is becoming central to defining the total product solution,” commented Rick Clayton, a Director at InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. “Manufacturers need to be aware of these trends and offer the products and solutions that will accommodate the changing needs of the market.”

As the number of documents that are placed on the network continues to increase, the demand for solutions that help manage and control the process will become of paramount importance to end-users as well as overall organizations. This means that sales organizations must be proactive in accessing, recommending, and implementing robust solutions that create added value for various hardware devices.

Key research findings include:

• The size of the workgroup is changing on both ends of the spectrum. As more companies consolidate, workgroups at the corporate level are getting larger, while virtual offices and telecommuters are reducing the size of workgroups at the lower end of the spectrum. 
• Research findings certainly suggest that the document process and its management will become more of a priority for office workers in the United States.
• Scanning, which was once used primarily by production print facilities, has become a mainstream office application as organizations are expected to convert paper-based documents to electronic format.
• The majority of office documents that are reproduced are still being created at the desktop. Roughly 38.6% of respondents indicated that the paper they print is generated from the PC. e-Mail output accounted for 29.2% of total volume and Web pages represented 21.5% of total volume.
• Paper is no longer the media of choice. It has become a transient media and will no longer be used as a mainstream method of maintaining permanent records. The report indicates that over 50% of the pages printed on MFPs are from e-mail messages or the Internet.

Research for the study was conducted in November of 2004 and consisted of a survey of 350 professionals representing a variety of vertical markets, departments, and company sizes. The survey is focused on the U.S. workgroup environment.

The report is available immediately to clients of InfoTrends/CAP Ventures’ North American Digital Peripherals Solutions Consulting Service. For more information about the report or to make a purchase, please contact Alison Hipp at , ext. 126 or .