The Reinvention of Managed Print Services

Cloud-First, Secure and Sustainable.

Gemma Skelley
Head of Marketing
January 12, 2026

For years, Managed Print Services (MPS) have been an essential but often underestimated element of enterprise infrastructure. They’ve quietly powered collaboration, document control, and compliance across every sector. Digital transformation accelerates the traditional print model.

Rising costs, evolving cyber threats, and sustainability demands are reshaping how organisations think about print. The answer isn’t to eliminate it, but to reinvent it for the cloud era.

Print isn’t dead, it just moved to the cloud.

The Challenge with Legacy Print Management

Legacy print environments were built for an age when work happened in fixed locations. On-premise servers, driver management, and manual administration once made sense but hybrid work and cloud collaboration have changed everything.

The result is an infrastructure model struggling to keep up with the pace of digital innovation. IT leaders face familiar challenges:

High maintenance overheads: Physical servers and licensing tie up budgets and resources.
Security gaps: Unpatched devices and inconsistent access controls expose sensitive information.
Environmental inefficiencies: Uncontrolled print behaviour leads to waste and unnecessary emissions.

These issues are both operational and strategic. In a world that expects agility and resilience, outdated MPS architectures can quietly undermine both.

The Evolution of Managed Print Services

Managed Print started as a cost-control initiative, consolidating fleets and streamlining maintenance. Over time, analytics and workflow optimisation became part of the picture. But the true transformation began when MPS entered the cloud.

As highlighted in The Evolution of Managed Print Services (Novatech) and Rethinking Print in the Digital Age (Xenith), today’s organisations are shifting decisively toward cloud-native print platforms; solutions that deliver flexibility and resilience while removing the reliance on local infrastructure.

This shift is accelerating fast. According to Quocirca’s Cloud Print Services Market Landscape 2025, 79% of organisations say it’s important that their MPS provider offers cloud print solutions, and 72% identify cloud enablement as a key benefit of MPS. The same report predicts that by the end of 2026, 16% of organisations will be fully cloud-based and 70% will operate hybrid print environments – a major leap from today’s landscape.

Cloud-first MPS is the foundation of a more connected, secure, and sustainable print future.

The Two Pillars of Modern MPS

1. Cloud-First Flexibility

Cloud-first MPS eliminates the barriers that once made print rigid and resource-heavy. By centralising management and removing local servers, organisations gain new levels of flexibility and efficiency.
- Scalability without friction: New users or sites can be added instantly, without complex server builds.
- Universal accessibility: Employees can print securely from any device, anywhere, without VPNs or driver installs.
- Effortless updates: Features and security enhancements are deployed automatically, reducing IT burden.
According to IDC’s report “Driving Higher Standards in SaaS Security for Managed Print Services”, nearly half of all organisations globally have already adopted a cloud-based print management model. This is a clear signal that the shift is not just emerging but well underway.
2. Security and Sustainability

Modern print environments are deeply entwined with organisational security. As endpoints multiply and data flows increase, security and sustainability have become inseparable pillars of a responsible print strategy.

Cloud MPS solutions now embed security directly into the workflow:
- Secure release printing: Ensures documents are released only by authenticated users.
- End-to-end encryption: Protects data in transit and at rest to meet compliance standards such as GDPR.
The same platforms also empower sustainability. They provide analytics that identify waste, enforce print policies, and reduce unnecessary output. Device consolidation and data-driven optimisation lower both emissions and costs.

“Since moving to a cloud-based print solution, we’ve reduced print waste by 30% and simplified management across multiple locations - all while enhancing security.”
Print Manager at a Higher Education Institute

And this isn’t an isolated success. Quocirca’s research shows that 89% of IT decision-makers now see MPS as integral to their digital transformation initiatives; clear evidence that secure, cloud-first printing is becoming part of mainstream enterprise strategy.

Real-World Reinvention in Action

Across sectors, the reinvention of MPS is already delivering measurable impact.

Manufacturing: A global producer unified print management across regions via the cloud, reducing IT support requests by 40% and improving compliance oversight.
Public Sector: A large organisation enabled secure hybrid printing, reducing print expenditure by 25% while meeting government security standards.
Financial Services: A leading firm improved data protection and auditability with encrypted, authenticated print release eliminating manual handling risks.

Each example illustrates how print’s value is being redefined, not as a physical process, but as a secure, data-driven capability that complements digital transformation.

Reinventing for the Future

The reinvention of managed print services is a strategic evolution, not a technical upgrade. Cloud-first infrastructure brings agility and embedded security delivers trust. Together, they enable organisations to operate more intelligently and sustainably.

IDC predicts that in regions such as Australia and New Zealand, cloud print adoption will rise from 46% today to more than 75% within two years: a pace that mirrors the broader global shift toward as-a-service models.

The lesson is clear: organisations investing in cloud-first MPS now are setting the standard for operational excellence and environmental responsibility.

Solutions like ePRINTit, delivered by DTP Group, reflect this vision. True cloud-based print management designed to simplify operations, protect data, and reduce waste.

The future of print isn’t confined to paper or devices. It’s defined by flexibility and intelligence by systems that adapt as fast as the organisations they serve.

Print hasn’t disappeared, it’s simply found a smarter home in the cloud.