Councils are leaving themselves exposed to productivity and efficiency losses as many have been reluctant to adopt cloud-based printing.
A Freedom of Information (FoI) request issued to 79 local authorities throughout England by managed services provider Annodata revealed that while 58% of councils are using the cloud to some extent, only 6% have implemented any form of cloud-based printing.
‘Cloud has a great deal to offer the UK’s public sector due its ability to improve efficiencies, drive cost savings and increase flexibility,’ said Rod Tonna-Barthet, chief executive officer at Annodata.
‘Although there seems to be a mounting interest amongst councils in the cloud delivery model for certain aspects of the IT estate, the findings reveal that there are still great strides to be made when it comes to migrating the print estates over to a cloud-based environment.
‘The printed page is, undoubtedly, still an integral element for the day-to-day functions of England’s councils, but with inefficient printer estates, that often consist of many different devices, these organisations may very well be leaving themselves open to a deficiency in cost-savings and productivity.’
Mr Tonna-Barthet added that cloud-based printing allowed organisations to ‘remain agile, unencumbered by unnecessary print resources and freed of the time needed to manage them.’