iGov research for Lexmark reveals demand for print security in the education sector

Lexmark International, Inc., a global imaging solutions leader, has revealed the state of print in the education sector.

Conducted in partnership with iGov, the 2018 Print & IT Applications in Education report highlights the need for improved security solutions across print devices and networks to prevent breaches of sensitive information.

iGov surveyed 105 individuals from 98 unique organisations across a wide range of roles within the education sector, examining the extent to which the digital landscape has changed since iGov’s Print & IT Applications in Education Survey 2015.

The research revealed that the vast majority (89%) believe device security is a high priority at their organisation, but just 57% are confident that they currently have a security solution in place. A quarter also claim not to know whether their organisation is currently using a print security solution. Furthermore, 12% are spending up to four hours a week scanning hard copy documents, and 41% can’t qualify the amount of time they are spend scanning at all.

“The research suggests there is plenty of scope for improvements across the sector,” commented Martin Fairman, Managing Director, Lexmark International Ltd, UK & Ireland. “The 2018 iGov survey seems to reflect similar figures to 2015 with a high number of professionals spending unquantifiable amounts of time manually scanning in hard copy documents. As the education sector continues to come under pressure, quality MFP solutions could present an opportunity to unlock efficiency and increase productivity.”

Alongside a need to reduce administration times and improve security solutions there were several areas which the survey exposed as having room for improvement. iGov found:

• Photocopying remains one of the most common uses of print and multi-functional devices (87%), while predictably, the highest percentage of participants (97%) cite printing as the principal use of their device. Interestingly 6% of participants still use their devices to send faxes.

• Just over three quarters (76%) of participants believe that cost control and print management is at least a medium priority for their organisation.

• Over 80% of participants’ state that environmental considerations are a high to medium priority for their organisation. It is interesting to note that despite this, many are still relying on hard copy documents, suggesting an opportunity to move to a ‘paperlite’ strategy.

“These survey results are consistent with what we hear when onboarding education customers,” Fairman said. “Education customers throughout the UK are considering Lexmark because of our leadership in print security and our knowledge of the education industry.”

Supporting resources 

• Download the report from the iGov website (http://www.igovnews.com/#!/surveys/view/Print-IT-Applications-in-Education-2018)
• Learn more about Lexmark full spectrum print security https://www.lexmark.com/en_gb/solutions/security.html
• Learn more about Lexmark solutions for Education https://www.lexmark.com/en_us/solutions/education.html