Competition in digital copier market gets tough

Competition in digital copier market gets tough

Rudijanto, Contributor, Jakarta

The latest trend in digital copiers offers users not only
savings in space and costs but also time, thanks to their
compatibility with other high-tech office equipment such as
personal computers, printers, scanners and facsimiles.

Employing state-of-the-art technology, the latest brands of
digital copier can be used as multifunction machines that combine
printer, scanner and fax functions into a single machine.

Equipped with sophisticated information technology (IT)
gadgetry, the new digital multifunction machines on the market
expect to wipe out the remaining bulky, slower stand-alone analog
copy, print and facsimile machines.

Multifunction machines can serve as network printers, yielding
more or less the same quality as a laser printer. Some of these
machines, Konica models for instance, can even support tandem
copying and printing.

Unlike conventional stand-alone fax machines that can
generally send A4-size documents in halftone 64 grayscale, some
Konica models can fax documents up to A3 in size, thick books and
even 3-dimensional objects, all at higher speeds and with better
quality -- halftone 256 grayscale, at 33.6 kbps -- than
conventional, stand-alone fax machines.

Some of these multifunction machines, particularly Fuji Xerox
products, or Document Centers, have copy and print speeds from 15
pages per minute (ppm) up to 70 ppm. With a computer connection,
a Document Center can also serve as a printer and scanner.

Some multifunction machines such as the HP OfficeJet 5510, HP
OfficeJet 9100 and Canon ImageRUNNER C3100N (IRC3100N) even have
an ability to send color faxes. Some machines also have dual
processing capability, which enables the machine to print, scan
or fax at the same time.

Integrating IT technology to a high degree, most of these new
digital multifunction copiers equip themselves with an LCD
monitor, some with touch-screen LCD monitors, such as the Canon
IRC3100N, hard disk drive of up to 40 GB, 512 MB of RAM and 250
MHz CPU.

With such equipment most of these multifunction machines are
able to send a variety of documents, both hardcopy as well as
electronic, via a local area network (LAN) or the Internet, to a
variety of destinations more quickly. Thus, what is the future of
stand-alone copiers?

Located in one of the world's growth centers, Southeast Asia,
Indonesia cannot avoid this global trend in multifunction
machines. Some world-famous brands like Canon, Konica and Fuji
Xerox have been aggressively penetrating the country's copier
market with their multifunction machines.

As sole distributor of Konica products, PT Asaba observes that
there has been a significant shift in market demand from that for
analog copiers and stand-alone printers and faxes to digital
multifunction machines over the past two years.

"Many companies start to think of cost efficiency in their
document processing. That is why they have abandoned the use of
analog and stand-alone printer units and shifted to a single-unit
digital multifunction machine that can save their operational
cost," says PT Asaba's Division Manager Burhan.

Operating cost efficiency also comes from the management tool
incorporated in such digital multifunction machines that has an
ability to control and track the use of the machine.

With such sophisticated equipment in digital multifunction
machines, the fate of conventional, analog copiers seems to have
been sealed. Burhan believes that conventional, analog and stand-
alone copiers will simply become history in the not-too-distant
future.

"Some photocopy manufacturers have stopped producing analog
machines due to a decline in global market demand. What they are
still selling in Indonesia is old stock. Thus, sooner or later,
all photocopiers will become digital multifunction machines,"
said Burhan.

PT Astra Graphia Tbk (Astra Graphia), distributor of Fuji
Xerox Document Center multifunction machines, stresses that there
has been an upward trend in demand for multifunction machines on
the Indonesian market.

"People consider multifunction machines as yielding better
results, more practical and easier to manage. In terms of value
for money, they also rate more highly multifunction machines
rather than conventional copiers that can only duplicate
documents," said Astra Graphia marketing communications manager
Indra L. Suria.

Targeting office and print shop businesses, Astra Graphia
reveals that the market seems to have responded well to the new
multifunction machines, particularly Fuji Xerox Document Center
machines, as shown by significant growth in the sale of such
products as compared to the previous year.

Manufacturers may project rosy growth in their sales but the
general public may have some apprehension about single
multifunction products. The high-tech content of such machines
can probably scare users, especially those who are not very
technologically minded.

For these people, simple analog copiers are far easier to
operate than technology-laden copiers with multifunction
capability that make them depend too much on distributors' after-
sales service.

A simple-to-manage copier that can be fixed easily or repaired
by an average office secretary in the event of small problems
might be more appealing to these types of people. Relying too
much on distributors' technicians in emergencies can often be a
frustrating experience.

Indra admits that multifunction digital copiers need really
competent support from their vendors, particularly when they are
integrated within a network or a customer's workflow system. But
he stresses that Astra Graphia is fully ready to provide such a
support system.

"That is why vendors have to provide a systems analyst and
competent people to analyze the customer's workflow in order to
arrive at a more efficient and effective workflow configuration
by using the multifunction machines," Indra said.

Astra Graphia also emphasizes that the company offers on-site
support to customers. Indra said that such support enables
customers to enjoy lower maintenance costs, as compared to using
three stand-alone machines.

Like Astra Graphia, other vendors of these sophisticated
machines also emphasize their reliable after-sales service. PT
Asaba is confident enough to claim that it has 28 years of
experience in providing good service to its customers.

"PT Asaba is one of five Konica distributors in Asia Pacific,
the Middle East and Africa that has received an award for its
ability to provide IT support for the users of Konica digital
multifunction machines for two consecutive years," Burhan said.

He said that in the event of trouble, customers can simply
call up the service center, which will send technicians within
three hours.

Players in the digital multifunction machine market cannot but
provide the best support systems to their customers if they want
to succeed in the competition. Otherwise, they will simply
alienate the market with products that are too sophisticated.