Just about anyone who knows a thing or two about office equipment knows that modern digital copiers and multifunction devices either include or can be upgraded to support scanning. Meanwhile, most savvy business people are aware that it’s faster and more Efficient to share information electronically rather than on paper.
So are people putting two and two together? Some are but most aren’t.
According to a recent study published by Framingham, MA-based IDC, 41 percent of monochrome laser copiers and other multifunction devices (MFPs, generically) were shipped with scanning functionality in 2002. Scanning support was even higher (70 percent) for color laser MFPs. While these figures sound impressive, they’re skewed higher by the many low-cost 14- to 20-ppm MFPs (65 percent) that include scanning as a built-in feature. And it’s another question whether the scanning functionality shipped is actually being put to use.