This report provides Transforma Insights’ view on the IT & Other Office Equipment market. This segment comprises printers, scanners, fax machines, franking machines, network attached storage, common area displays, digital whiteboards, ticker machines, and other equipment used in an office environment.
Most of these devices are now being connected to provide greater operational efficiency to office spaces and reduce downtime in case of any malfunction. The rise in hybrid working has led to a shift in the use of these devices from office spaces to homes and further leads to subscription-based business models to allow the smooth functioning and operation of these devices. Connectivity has played a key role in the development and distribution of these on-demand services, such as automated ink and paper replenishment in the case of printing devices. However, the growing adoption of sustainability practices and the shift towards a paperless environment is expected to cut down on the usage of devices such as printers, scanners, photocopiers, and fax machines, leading to a reduction in the use of multiple distributed devices.
The report provides a detailed definition of the sector, analysis of market development and profiles of the key vendors in the space. It also provides a summary of the current status of adoption and Transforma Insights’ ten-year forecasts for the market. The forecasts include analysis of the number of IoT connections by geography, the technologies used and revenue. A full set of forecast data, including country-level forecasts, sector breakdowns and public/private network splits, is available through the IoT Forecast tool.
This section first explains what connected office equipment comprises of: printers, multifunction peripherals (MFPs), network-attached storage (NAS) devices, scanners, document management systems, conferencing equipment, and office security systems increasingly integrated into enterprise networks and cloud platforms. It then adds that these devices are now connected and the benefits of the same, including enabling greater efficiency through remote access. It then argues that while these devices may have become more efficient due to digitalisation and connectivity, their usage in office environments has also reduced because of the same reason. It then briefly mentions the connectivity technologies used in these devices, including Wi-Fi and Ethernet.
The report examines key factors that are influencing the development of the IT & Other Office Equipment market, including:
This section first discusses how connectivity has altered the nature of IT office equipment like printers, fax machines, franking machines, and scanners. For instance, some printer issues can be remedied remotely with software updates, allowing technicians and other staff members to manage their time more efficiently. Besides, connectivity also allows some devices to place orders of new consumables when supplies are running low. It then explains how the growing focus on sustainability will also impact this industry. Case in point, since digital media is encouraged for its sustainability benefits, it may lead to a decline in the demand for printers in future. This section has been further categorised into:
This subsection of the report first argues that although with the growth of digital documents, home printing needs have declined, they are still widely deployed for education, remote work, government forms, and personal record-keeping, especially in developed economies like the UK and the US, where their penetration rate is over 60%.
It also discusses the features of modern household printers, which are connected and quite affordable. In this context, it adds that to further streamline household printing, printer manufacturers are now offering subscription services, where consumers can subscribe to a consumable delivery service for a monthly fee. It also explains that opting for an ink subscription service is also an option for users these days. Such subscription plans depend on the number of pages required, with a fee charged per additional page beyond the plan limit. This is best suited to users with a consistent print volume. In a tabular format, it then compares various printer subscription services, including HP, Canon, Epson, and Refresh. For instance, Canon PIXMA Print has three plans: Occasional, Moderate, Frequent. The Occassional plan allows up to 30 pages per month and costs USD4.49 per month. On the other hand, the Moderate plan allows up to 100 pages per month and costs USD6.99 per month, and the Frequent plan allows up to 200 pages per month and costs USD10.99 per month. It also provides a few examples of relevant products in the Application, including the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e All-in-One Printer and Canon Pixma TS7720.
This subsection engages in printing devices and photocopiers used on commercial premises. It first explains why commercial enterprises have adopted network printing and its benefits (including employees being able to print from devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets). It further adds that many organisations are now adopting cloud printing solutions because they allow users to print through cloud services without requiring printer-specific drivers. It then goes on to expound the scope of mobile printers and why they are gaining popularity. This includes reasons like allowing employees to print receipts and shipping labels directly at customer locations. It then adds that manufacturers now offer multiple types of printing subscription services and explains how each of these models works. For example, Print-as-a-service (PraaS) is designed for businesses with infrequent printing needs. It also explains how sustainability has become another key driver, which is influencing enterprise printing strategies. It also discusses some relevant managed print services (such as HP Managed Print Services) and some of the relevant IoT deployments in this application, like Higgins Miller Solicitors implementing Brother’s Managed Print Services to optimise printing and scanning efficiency.
This subsection first explains the reasons behind the reduced requirement for fax machines (like increasing use of emails) but adds that the market has still survived due to services that explicitly require using fax machines (including legal and healthcare industries). It further adds that even in such industries, traditional paper and ink-based fax machines are slowly being replaced by desktop fax software and services. It then adds that the global retirement of traditional PSTN networks is accelerating the decline of fax usage, and then in a tabular format, discusses the PSTN switch off timelines of various countries, including the UK, the US, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan. Case in point, in Japan, NTT completed the migration of its traditional PSTN network to an IP-based network in 2024. It also discusses a few product examples and their features under this category, like the Panasonic KX-FHD331 Plain Paper Fax machine and Brother FAX-2840 High Speed Mono Laser Fax Machine.
This subsection of the report discusses the benefits of adopting digital franking machines, such as saving business organisations significant monetary resources. It also charts the reasons which have reduced the use of franking machines (like increased reliance on e-mails). A few examples of connected franking machines (such as the Pitney Bowes SendPro C-Series Mailing System) have also been discussed here.
This section of the report charts how adopting digitally connected screens is changing the face of industries such as education, business, and entertainment. For instance, in the education sector, many classrooms have switched to digital whiteboards to support teaching, remote collaboration, and real-time annotation. It also discusses the key benefits of these displays (like acting as self-service kiosks for booking office spaces) and mentions a few examples of different common area displays, such as Spacewell Meeting Room Display and Table Air Meeting Room Booking System.
This section explains how household NAS (network-attached storage) functions, the connectivity technologies they rely on, their key benefits (such as being cheaper than cloud-based solutions in the long run), and the challenges of deploying them (such as limited two-factor authentication capabilities compared with cloud storage). It then compares NAS with cloud storage, highlighting the respective challenges and advantages of each. For instance, the report adds that while NAS devices are becoming more user friendly in terms of setup and configuration, they still cannot compete with the ease of use of cloud storage. It also mentions a few companies that offer Household Network Attached Storage Devices, such as Synology’s DS224+, a low power consuming device that allows sharing, backup, and access of files, photos, surveillance videos and other documents.
This section explains that servers are essential for business functions such as application hosting, web hosting, data management, and remote access, particularly with the rise of hybrid working. It adds the benefits (like providing greater control over data security) as well as the drawbacks (such as requiring significant technical expertise) of in-house servers. Consequently, many organisations outsource server infrastructure to third-party providers for greater cost efficiency and scalability. However, it adds that outsourcing can introduce security risks, particularly regarding unauthorised access to sensitive data. This section also charts some of the relevant IoT deployments in this application, such as Synology providing cloud station data backup to Jetstar Pacific.
This section of the report focuses on those devices that need to be inherently connected (like television production equipment). It discusses both the benefits of connectivity in such equipment (like location tracking and reduction of downtime) and the drawbacks (such as prohibitive costs), which may hinder their adoption. It also adds that this market is now gradually shifting towards software-defined functionality and charts the benefits of this approach, such as reduced upfront capital expenditure. The report also briefly discusses some examples of Specialist Equipment, like Dynamo LED Tickers and Sony HDC-5500.
In the market forecasts section, we provide a summary of the IT & Other Office Equipment forecasts from the Transforma Insights IoT Forecast Database:
The report charts the growth in the number of IT and other office equipment devices, which will grow from 807 million connections in 2025 to 816 million connections by the end of 2035.
Transforma Insights forecasts are compiled on a country-by-country basis. This report includes a regional summary, showing splits between Australasia, Greater China, North America, Europe, Japan, Latin America, MENA, Russia & Central Asia, South East Asia, South Korea, India & South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Transforma Insights’ IoT forecasts include splits between the various connectivity technologies as follows: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G mMTC, 5G non-mMTC, LPWA (non-mMTC), Satellite, Short Range, and Other.
This section discusses which technologies will be used in the IT & Other Office Equipment Application Group.
This part of the report discusses the market growth in terms of revenue (module revenue, service wrap revenue, and VAC revenue). Transforma Insights estimates that the revenue in the IT & Other Office Equipment Application Group will grow at a CAGR of 2%.
