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It’s been a tough few years for the document imaging industry, with a steady decline in A3 hardware sales and related supplies (and/or managed print service) revenue due to the pandemic, supply chain issues, and the increase in hybrid workplaces. One bright spot for providers, however, has been document imaging software. Our recently published Document Solutions Forecast: 2022-2026 analysis presentations (for the North American and Western European markets) reveal how much digital transformation (DX) initiatives have taken hold—and the reasons behind the continuing growth.
Our presentations detail Keypoint Intelligence's revenue projections for the overall document solutions market and provide breakdowns by the broad software categories included under the “document solutions” umbrella: output management (aka print management), content and document management, document capture/workflow, as well as fleet management tools and platforms. Since the forecasts were prepared as we emerged from the global COVID-19 pandemic (which stalled many economies and businesses), we opted to include our 2019 numbers as a “baseline” year to smooth out the anomalies of 2020-2021.
Research for the forecasts was conducted via interviews and email surveys with leading document imaging OEMs and independent software vendors (ISVs) over the course of the preceding 12 months. The forecast is also shaped by the information we have gleaned through our research studies and other independent research.
Key Points in this Forecast
From 2022 through 2026, the document solutions market will show a 5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) overall in Western Europe and a nearly 6% CAGR in North America.
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| Total forecast document solutions sales in North America (US dollars). |
Acceleration of DX initiatives and the need to support hybrid working models are major trends that will drive short- and medium-term growth. We predict that most growth will come from content & document management as well as document capture & workflow segments—vital solutions that underpin most DX initiatives. These solutions are also proving to be “supply chain-proof,” whereas output management and fleet management revenues are more reliant on accompanying hardware placements. Revenue from small businesses will grow at a CAGR 1.5-times higher than that from medium and large businesses.
Another growth driver will be the ongoing shift from on-premises software to cloud solutions, a trend before the pandemic that was further accelerated by it. In fact, we predict that cloud software revenue will surpass that for on-premises software in 2023. By 2026, cloud should account for almost 75% of overall document solutions revenue. The move to cloud solutions will also bring more small-to-medium buyers into the market, since the barriers to entry (e.g., up-front costs and IT overhead) are so much lower for cloud deployments.
Our forecasts are chock full of other pertinent details, such as predicted revenue splits by channel and business size. So be sure to check out the entire deliverables.
Log in to the InfoCenter to view the full presentations for the North American and Western European markets (along with the pivot tables that let you drill into the data) through our Office CompleteView Advisory Service. If you’re not a subscriber, just send us an email at sales@keypointintelligence.com for more info.
