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Printing Trends, Document Solutions and Home Working – Focussing on Finance

The recent IDC end-user survey is jam-packed full of information on hybrid-working, printing trends, and more. In this short series of blog posts, we take a closer look at how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting printing in four key industries. This article covers the financial services (FS) sector.

Challenging the old ways

Diving into the printing trends, habits, and preferences of Western European employees working from home, this IDC European user survey contains information around such things as the number of pages employees print each month, types of documents printed, the division of office and home printing, scanning frequency, devices used, and more.
 
Historically, there had always been a hesitancy to adopt remote working in this traditional sector, but the virtualization of the financial services workforce as well as remote ways of working are here to stay. After the enforced work from home that arose in light of COVID-19, remote and hybrid working has slowly blended into the world of financial services. A recent CFO survey shows that 61% of FS CFOs plan to make remote work permanent for roles that allow it. It is also important to note that flexible work arrangements can be a powerful recruitment tool and result in a more diverse workforce—with an increase in resiliency and agility for the future. In an old-meets-new industry, there is a lot to get to grips with.
 
We will break up this information into three main categories: printing, workflows, and the Cloud.

Printing in financial services

Overall, page volumes have declined in the financial services industry. However, by law, employees need to print certain documents, whether at home or the office, especially for signing reasons. In fact, 52% of those surveyed in FS said that the ability to print is essential to carry out their day-to-day work tasks. Respondents estimate that 55% of all printing in this sector occurs in the office, with 32% taking place at home or in a satellite office. In this sector, an overwhelming 68% of the FS companies say they provide printers for those working from home, the highest in any sector. This need to print is an opportunity to make sure that all staff have the tools they need to do their job productively, securely, and efficiently, wherever they are. In the office, YSoft SAFEQ can keep things on track in the office, whether onpremises or in the Cloud, while you can support all workers with YSoft OMNI Bridge.
 

Use of the Cloud

Migrating to cloud platforms was a major trend well before the pandemic. Since 2020, Cloud migrations have accelerated in multiple IT areas, including printing and print management. The FS industry is leading the way with 58% of respondents stating that this is either very or extremely important to them, and 55% saying they have increased their use of Cloud-based tools.

The benefits of using the Cloud are well documented, with scalability, agility, cost-savings, and more, often cited as drivers for this change. It also forms part of the digital transformation process. It makes sense to make the most of the technology with Cloud-based printing, such as YSoft SAFEQ Cloud and OMNI Bridge.

Workflows and automation

The study shows that most organizations need to automate workflows across departments to achieve their digital transformation goals. The shift away from paper-based processes to digital is accelerating. Digital capabilities may allow companies to leapfrog competitors that may not be as supportive of work-from-home options. According to 57% of FS survey respondents, the transition to using digital workflows is important and driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over half of those asked said that it is either very or extremely important to increase investment in document workflow automation and optimization in FS. 54% say that they are increasing their investments into this as it is an important asset for their organizations.
 
Financial institutions are increasingly looking for intelligent automation to use across their businesses. Harnessing technology for intelligent document capture processing, and delivery is a core tool in automating mission-critical business and creating high-value workflows. Our user-friendly Advanced Scan Workflows helps organizations with Digital Transformation goals by digitizing paper-based processes.

Opportunities

As we can see from the IDC survey, the FS industry has an appetite for a secure print management solution. Whether that is in the office, remote, in the Cloud, or using automated workflows, there is scope to help you work smarter.

Get in touch today and find out how the team at Y Soft can help you stay ahead of the curve and make a difference to your team.
Jim Wieser
Jim calls New York home and, when not traveling to visit with partners and customers, he enjoys spending time with his family and scuba diving. As a professional scuba diving trainer and master dive instructor, he is literally under water a lot. When he comes up for air, he can tell you a lot about owning his own businesses and his previous work at OpenText, Xerox and Eastman Kodak.
 
View all posts by Jim Wieser

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