Will The Print Industry Fall To Its Broken Infrastructure?

I recently listened to an interview with some folks in the printing industry. It could have been from 2010; unfortunately, it was recent.

Some of the discussion focused on the technology used by print providers to manage activity within end-user environments: The DCA (Data Collection Agent). This decades-old technology primarily collects device meters for billing under Cost Per Copy (CPC) contracts and provides visibility into supply needs.

Acronym (DCA) vendors will, of course, list a cafeteria of additional capabilities. Unfortunately, most of those features are irrelevant to the majority of end users.

I remember as far back as 2018 hearing DCA vendor leaders claim these tools would expand to manage all IT assets, replacing platforms like ConnectWise or Kaseya. That was, and still is, delusional.

So I ask: Which DCA tool has replaced the major MSP platforms? None.

One positive note: I heard that one DCA tool doesn’t yet offer predictive maintenance analytics, which likely means they avoided investing in something unnecessary.

Modern Workarounds

The industry abandoned proactive service years ago for A3 and A4 MFPs. With declining print volumes and lower reliance on these devices, servicing only when needed became more practical. Today, most workplaces don’t require 100% uptime; a hallway MFP could be down for days before anyone notices.

Modern workers have countless workarounds. If businesses had to eliminate one piece of office technology, it wouldn’t be computers, cybersecurity, or communications. It would likely be the printer. That reality should be driving innovation.

Yet the industry still clings to narratives that defy logic.

• Pent-up demand myth: The idea of “pent-up demand” for printing from remote workers returning to the office. This is nonsense. The industry needs to stop repeating it.
• Hybrid worker distraction: Similarly, the term “hybrid worker” distracts from reality. People don’t identify as hybrid. They simply have the ability to work remotely. No executive team is deciding office schedules based on printing needs.
• COVID home printer insanity: During COVID-19, some DCA companies pushed to install agents on home printers, convinced businesses needed to track employee printing habits. It was absurd then, and it’s absurd now.

Ask yourself:

How many dealers have DCA installed on employee home printers? Likely none.

How many use DCA internally to manage their own print costs? Also unlikely.

The Misalignment Problem

Meanwhile, claims that print costs account for 1–10% of company revenue are pure fiction. In reality, print represents about 1.2% of a company’s technology budget—one of the lowest-cost categories.

Compare that to software, which exceeds $4,000 per employee annually. This is why CTOs are puzzled when print providers focus on saving 30% on print. Why? Because it’s not where the real costs are.

The real issue is misalignment. The industry overestimates the value it delivers.

This isn’t a sales problem. It’s a value problem. Old sales narratives can’t change the reality that printing is becoming a byproduct of shrinking business processes.

Companies aren’t aggressively eliminating print; they’re eliminating inefficient workflows. Printing, scanning, and copying are often friction points in those workflows.

Yet the industry, still dependent on print volume, has been slow to respond.

Key gaps remain obvious:

• The slow transition from A3 to A4.
• The reluctance to fully embrace inkjet.
• The lack of e-commerce.
• Resistance to acknowledging declining print relevance.

COVID-19 should have triggered a fundamental reset. Instead, much of the industry tried to fit new realities into old infrastructure.

The truth is simple: today’s workers, whether in-office or remote, can operate almost entirely in digital environments. That’s not speculation; it’s fact.

If the industry had focused on what is no longer being printed and why, it would be far further along in its transformation.

Let’s be clear: print is not dead.

But print in business is declining. That decline puts pressure on revenue models built on volume growth. Those days are over.

An industry built for expanding print demand now faces the opposite reality.

When customer needs shift away from an industry’s infrastructure, disruption is inevitable.

“Relevance is not what you think; relevance is defined at the (metaphorical) cash register.”

This brings us back to DCA.

Standalone print management software is losing relevance. OEMs are embedding these capabilities directly into devices—meter collection, supplies monitoring, remote service, firmware updates—all included.

And they’re not charging extra.

That alone is a major threat to traditional DCA providers.

While DCA companies argue their tools are superior or more agnostic, OEM platforms are improving—and AI will further erode differentiation.

AI Will Redefine Everything

Artificial intelligence doesn’t care about software silos or legacy advantages. It simply analyzes data to meet business needs.

If companies like Salesforce are under pressure from AI, smaller DCA providers should be paying close attention.

AI will enable organizations to aggregate and analyze print data across devices and brands without relying on traditional DCA structures.

The bigger issue, however, is infrastructure.

The print industry continues to operate on systems designed for a different era. Dealers and OEMs remain financially tied to models built around high volumes, frequent servicing, and consumables.

That model no longer aligns with reality.

Diversification is often discussed, but rarely executed with substance. Selling EV chargers, water systems, or textile printers isn’t a strategy. It’s a distraction if the core infrastructure remains unchanged.

Even managed print services isn’t diversification. It’s the core function of the industry.

The real challenge is rebuilding the foundation.

The A4 transition proved that change happens when customer needs demand it, not when the industry debates it. The same is true for inkjet, which should already be dominant in business printing.

Instead, innovations have been forced into legacy infrastructure designed around A3 devices, service-heavy models, and consumables, negating many of their benefits.

At the same time, the industry faces a growing shortage of service technicians. The “service retirement apocalypse” is no longer coming; it’s here.

If OEMs had fully embraced A4 and infrastructure change earlier, today’s delivery and service models would look radically different.

Innovation doesn’t wait for comfort. It exploits what the status quo ignores.

And right now, the status quo is being defended more than it is being reimagined. Now that’s a clear sign of disruption.

The industry must stop justifying its outdated systems and start rebuilding them.

My Final Warning

I’ll close with this:

“You can have the best relationships in the world and still lose to the innovator who delivers those same customers a better experience.”

And …

“Status quo is the killer of all that will be invented.”

*This article is republished from Ray’s LinkedIn post with permission. 

About the Author

Ray Stasieczko is a forward-thinking and often controversial writer and speaker. You may not want to agree with everything he says, but you are compelled to read and listen. To do otherwise could spell doom.

He has called the imaging channel home for over 30 years, served in various roles, and contributed over 100 articles to the industry’s publications. Ray has also spoken at the RT VIP Imaging Expos in Cairo, South America and China.

• Watch and subscribe to Ray Stasieczko’s industry-leading YouTube channel, “At the End of the Day with Ray.”
• You can contact and watch him on LinkedIn, where he has more than 30,000 followers

Read Ray’s other posts:

• Thoughts Over The Inkjet vs. Laser-based War!
• The Milk Man Never Dreamed His Route Would End
• Konica Minolta and the End of the FORZA Fantasy
• The Scary and the Scared
• Time to Call out HP Over its False Chip Claims
• Tough Words Konica Minolta Needs to Hear
• Colorless: The Day Businesses Stopped Printing in Color
• Is the Green Missing in HP Subscriptions? Join the conversation at LinkedIn
• Is A3 Market Share Relevant to Konica Minolta’s Future? NO
• The HP Trojan Horse to Capture Your Customers
• Xerox: Between the Digital and Physical Worlds
• ‘Five Years From Now’ Showed Up Early
• Meeting Standards Means Staying Relevant
• Thankfully My Doctor Wrote a Prescription Not My Obituary
• Business Opportunities Offered by this Pandemic
• That’s a Lot of Toner For a Market in Decline
• The Toner Wars Between Cartridge Suppliers
• When Will HP Write the Check to Xerox?
• The Imaging Channel is Not Alone in Needing Diversification
• Making Your Printer Consumables Business Profitable
• Are Acquisitions the Feel-good Drug in a Declining Market?
• Recognizing Disruption as a Creator and not a Competitor
• Managed Print Services is Not the Door to Managed IT Services

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