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According to Quocirca’s Cloud Print Services Vendor Landscape 2026 report, vendors are increasingly positioning cloud print as part of a broader document workflow platform, extending into intelligent document processing, cloud capture and digital integration services. We asked industry leaders about customer preferences in terms of deployment and the role vendors should play in helping customers navigate their cloud journey successfully Cloud print reaches tipping point – part two
that give customers deployment flexibility rather than forcing them into a single architecture. David Smith, Marketing Director , Xeretec: Most customers continue to favour a hybrid approach, although their long-term direction is often cloud-first. Organisations recognise the benefits of cloud-native services but must balance those against regulatory requirements, legacy applications, operational dependencies and investment already made in existing infrastructure. What we are seeing is a growing preference for solutions that offer flexibility rather than forcing organisations into a specific deployment model. Whether it is cloud print management, document capture, intelligent document processing or workflow automation, customers want the freedom to move workloads between on-premise and cloud environments as their needs evolve. The most successful solutions are therefore those that integrate seamlessly across both environments, allowing organisations to modernise at their own pace whilst maintaining continuity and control. Ryan Green, Digital Services Director , Carbon Group: Currently we’re seeing a mix of cloud-native and hybrid deployments, with the balance often depending on an organisation’s regulatory, operational and IT requirements. Hybrid models continue to play an important role, particularly in sectors with specific security, compliance or legacy infrastructure considerations. They allow organisations to modernise at a pace that suits them while retaining control over critical systems and data. That said, if I were looking at where the market is heading, I believe the long-term direction is firmly towards cloud-native solutions. The benefits around scalability, security, resilience, simplified management and support for hybrid working are becoming increasingly compelling. As cloud platforms mature, many of the concerns that previously drove on-premise deployments have been addressed through stronger security controls, data governance frameworks and regional hosting options. At Carbon, our approach has been not to push a particular model, but to help customers choose the right architecture for their needs. However, we’re
PrintIT Reseller: Quocirca highlights the growing importance of hybrid cloud architectures. Are customers favouring fully cloud-native deployments, hybrid models, or a mix of both, and why? Toni Gibiino, Marketing Director , FUTERA: We are seeing a mix because customers are rarely starting from the same place. Some organisations are ready for a fully cloud-native approach, particularly where their wider IT strategy is already cloud-first and they want to reduce their reliance on local infrastructure. For many others, a hybrid model is the more practical choice. A typical example would be a multi-site organisation that wants to remove local print servers and give its IT team central visibility across the estate but still relies on a specialist business application that cannot immediately move to the cloud. Rather than allowing that legacy requirement to delay the entire project, a hybrid architecture can move suitable users and workflows into cloud management while retaining the necessary local integration. The customer gains simpler administration and greater control without introducing unnecessary operational risk. Hybrid should not be seen as a compromise or an unfinished cloud strategy. When designed properly, it provides a deliberate balance between modernisation, security and continuity. The right model is the one that supports the customer’s business, rather than forcing the business to fit the technology. Martyn Williams, Sales Enablement Manager EMEA , Xerox: Many organisations want the flexibility and scalability of cloud services while maintaining control over specific workloads, applications or data sets. In practice, at Xerox, we’re seeing customers adopt cloud print management alongside existing business applications and on-premise infrastructure. This provides a lower risk migration path and allows organisations to modernise at their own pace. Fully cloud-native deployments are growing, particularly among SMBs and organisations with simpler IT estates. However, larger enterprises tend to favour hybrid strategies because they balance innovation, compliance, operational control and business continuity. The most successful solutions today are those
Toni Gibiino
Martyn Williams
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