Local authorities not adopting cloud-based printing

Research has shown that the print estate is largely being left behind when it comes to local authority cloud adoption.

A freedom of information request, sent by Annodata to 79 local authorities across England, has revealed that while 58 per cent of councils are using the cloud to some extent, only six per cent have implemented any form of cloud-based printing.

The Managed Services Provider (MSP) warns that, given the critical role that the printed page plays in the public sector, UK’s councils may be leaving themselves exposed to productivity and efficiency losses if they fail to update their printing fleets.

Rod Tonna-Barthet, chief executive officer at Annodata, said: “Although there seems to be a mounting interest amongst councils in the cloud delivery model for certain aspects of the IT estate, the findings reveal that there are still great strides to be made when it comes to migrating the print estates over to a cloud-based environment. The printed page is, undoubtedly, still an integral element for the day-to-day functions of England’s councils, but with inefficient printer estates, that often consist of many different devices, these organisations may very well be leaving themselves open to a deficiency in cost-savings and productivity.

“Cloud-based managed print services, which can scale both up and down in line with business demands, allow organisations to remain agile, unencumbered by unnecessary print resources and freed of the time needed to manage them. Print is one of the functions that benefits the most when hosted in the cloud and this is reflected by the fact that organisations that successfully move their print to the cloud routinely report cost savings.”