Five Strategic Shifts Shaping SMB and Public Sector Print in 2026

Tanya Howe, Sales Director at Ricoh UK Graphic Communications, reflects on 2025 and outlines the key trends shaping the market.

Last year was defined by economic uncertainty, slower decision-making, and real pressure on SMBs and public sector organisations to do more with less.

From the conversations I’ve been having across SMB and the public sector about professional print, I can see some real priorities that will shape 2026. 

2026 trends and predictions

For 2026, we’ll see more consolidation and shared print services, a stronger link between automation and the skills gap, a shift in ESG conversations from only the environment to the social impact, and a bigger focus on partnering earlier with vendors, not just to solve today’s challenges, but to build something that can genuinely scale for what’s coming next.

1. Consolidation of departments, including print rooms

Consolidation is becoming a strategic priority because it gives organisations more control, visibility and resilience, especially when resources are tight and expectations are rising. Bringing multiple print operations into a single graphics department makes good business sense because introducing management systems eliminates duplicate workflows. 

For example, in a local council, it’s not uncommon to see five different departments printing letters to the same resident. Moving to a single, consolidated graphics and communications department delivers savings through scale and unlocks additional benefits, such as reduced postal costs, stronger audit trails, and much clearer visibility into exactly what is being communicated to residents at any one time.

Looking ahead to 2026, I expect organisations to place even greater emphasis on unifying and sharing services. The aim won’t be to shrink operations, but to create a consolidated print function that serves as a communications hub, integrated with wider workflows, governance, and service delivery.

2. Relationship between automation and skills shortages

As an industry, we are seeing a skills gap emerge through two routes. The first is an ageing workforce. The second is people migrating into new positions as automation comes in.

When people migrate into new roles, everything they have learned goes with them. For me, the value of automation is not about replacing people; it’s about removing low value, repetitive work so skills and experience can be used where they add the most value. It’s not just jobs that allow organisations to move forward; it’s careers. Giving people the opportunity to become experts builds confidence, encourages creativity and helps organisations retain valuable knowledge.

I recently met an engineer who has worked at Amazon for 30 years. A big part of why he has stayed is that his role allows him to co-create with vendors and solve new problems. He’s confident in what he does and enjoys it. That kind of investment in people pays back over time, creating skilled, motivated individuals who add increasing value to the organisation.

The ageing workforce is another factor that continues to widen the skills gap. Many people started their careers in pre-digital print environments, and COVID accelerated retirement plans at a time when succession planning was already under pressure. In many cases, new talent simply wasn’t coming through quickly enough.

For 2026, organisations need to focus on investing in people as they move into new roles. Automation, when implemented correctly, can remove repetitive, manual tasks that don’t retain talent, while training and development help individuals grow in capability.

3. ESG focus switching from the E to the S

Throughout 2025, organisations continued to focus heavily on reducing their environmental impact. That focus played out against a backdrop of political and economic change.

For me, 2026 is the year the ESG focus broadens. The conversation won't move away from the environment, but it will widen to include the positive social impact organisations can have on the communities they serve.

There is real value in investing in the wider community.I’ve seen this work first-hand at Ricoh, where our people use volunteer leave to support a wide range of community initiatives, helping charitable organisations make a positive impact. Organisations already have the people, tools and capabilities to make a meaningful difference, and in most cases, they can do this without significant additional investment.

The people you serve have a choice about who they work with and who they buy from. Increasingly, those choices are influenced by how organisations show up in their communities. What you do, and how genuinely you do it, matters. People can spot a tick-box exercise a mile off; what makes the difference is when the impact is genuine, measurable, and rooted in what the community actually needs.

In 2026, organisations that take social impact seriously will build stronger relationships, retain better talent, and set themselves apart in a crowded, cautious market.

4. Bespoke solutions that deliver agility

Agility used to be a word we reserved for smaller businesses. In a world of supply chain disruption, shifting compliance requirements and unpredictable demand, agility is what helps organisations move fast without introducing risk.

I’m hearing more customers ask for integrated, unified offerings that bring product print hardware, software, and managed services together so the operation can flex as priorities shift. In many cases, it’s not about buying a print engine; it’s about designing an end-to-end workflow that can cope with volatility, peaks in demand, and last-minute changes.

A good example is warehouse and fulfilment environments.integrating print with warehouse management platforms, our customers can improve operational effectiveness and reduce delays between order, pick, pack and dispatch. What’s interesting is that the same on-demand approach is now spreading into other areas too.

Take product labels. If an ingredient changes, a regulation updates, or a batch needs different information, organisations need to make changes on the fly without resorting to manual workarounds like over-labelling. When print and workflow are properly integrated, updates can be made quickly and consistently, keeping operations moving.

For the public sector, agility is about adapting communications quickly while maintaining governance, approvals, audit trails, and brand consistency.

Whether it’s customer communications, packaging, or personalisation, the organisations that win in the coming year will be the ones that can deliver high-quality at scale while still making each output feel relevant and specific to the recipient.

5. Developing the tender-vendor relationship

Traditionally, in the public sector, we receive a prescriptive tender, and by its very nature, it limits the quality of the responses you get back. The challenge is that we’re operating in an era of rapid technology change, so the team writing the tender may not have full visibility of what’s technically possible today, let alone what will be possible in the next 12–24 months.

Early dialogue with a vendor doesn’t remove fairness or scrutiny, but it does help ensure the tender reflects the outcomes and constraints the organisation genuinely needs.

For me, 2026 has to be the year organisations invest more time in dialogue before drafting the tender. Yes, on paper you might be buying a production print engine, but if the conversation starts and ends there, you risk missing the workflow, automation and service design opportunities that can save time, reduce risk, and keep the solution scalable for years two, three, four and five.

The biggest risk for organisations isn't getting the solution at the wrong price; it's not fully realising what is possible now and in the near future. To achieve clarity, you need to engage early so vendors become partners that can help you scope the real opportunity, bring fresh perspective, and share approaches that may not have existed even a few months ago. The organisations that get the best results will always be the ones that treat procurement as the start of a partnership.

Looking ahead

For SMB and public sector organisations, 2026 will be about making smarter, more connected decisions with the resources already in place. That will include simplifying complexity, reducing risk, and ensuring print continues to support wider organisational goals.

Whether it’s consolidating print into a single communications hub, using automation to close skills gaps rather than widen them, broadening ESG focus to include real social impact, or building the agility to respond to constant change, the common thread is integration. Print cannot sit in silos anymore. It has to be embedded into workflows, governance, and service delivery in a scalable, sustainable way.