By Leon Munsamy, Marketing Product Manager, Altron Document Solutions
For a long time, the multifunction printer was judged on a short list: speed, print quality, and cost per page. Those things still matter, but the documents passing through these devices always held client records, financial reports, and citizen information. The people producing them work from offices, client sites, and home. The question has shifted from “how fast does it print?” to “how well does it fit the way we actually work?”
To explore what that shift means in practice, we spoke with Leon Munsamy, our Marketing Product Manager, about the thinking behind the Lexmark CX950 and CX951 multifunction printers, but the conversation covered far more than hardware.
Leon sees the same pattern across the South African market. Many organisations are still running ageing multifunction devices that were never built for modern workflows. “The legacy models have served their purpose well,” he says, “but the landscape has shifted dramatically.”
The customers he hears from, in industries like financial services, government, and professional services, describe the same frustrations. “They need devices that can keep pace with digital transformation initiatives. They’re struggling with devices that are slow to print, limited in connectivity, and expensive to maintain.”
Rarely is the problem one dramatic failure. It is friction: a scan that takes too long, a device that does not connect cleanly to the systems people already use, a maintenance call that lands on the day a report is due. Over months, that friction becomes lost hours and rising cost, which is why it deserves attention before the next refresh cycle.
Four shifts are changing what organisations need from their devices.
Security has become a strategic priority. Every organisation has elevated security since the pandemic. Documents are a route into sensitive information, and basic encryption no longer answers the threat. Organisations increasingly need devices that can recognise unusual activity, not just protect what is stored on them.
Hybrid work is now the norm. Staff are no longer in the office five days a week. Document workflows have to work equally well whether someone is in a Cape Town office, a coffee shop, or at a client site. A device that only suits one location is solving yesterday’s problem.
Sustainability has moved from aspiration to expectation. ESG commitments are cascading through South African enterprises, and organisations want measurable reductions in their footprint. Energy saving capability has increased compared with legacy devices.
Automation is the baseline. Accounts payable, document classification, and invoice processing are being automated across organisations. Devices need to be intelligent nodes in those workflows, not isolated machines that sit outside them.
The launch targets three groups: large enterprises with 500 or more employees, such as government departments, financial institutions, and multinational operations; professional services firms, including law, consulting, and accounting practices, where confidentiality is non-negotiable; and mid-market growth companies in sectors like insurance, healthcare, and education that need equipment able to scale with them.
The breadth of use cases is what Leon highlights most. “A law firm might deploy the CX950 for client-facing work and high-security document handling, while a government department might use the same device to streamline citizen-facing services,” he explains. The launch deliberately begins with enterprise and professional services, where value is most measurable, and builds from implementations that peers can see working. In a market where buyers want proof before committing capital, that is a sensible way to earn trust.
On paper, many devices in this category look similar. The differences show up in day-to-day operations. Leon explains that output quality adjusts to document type, so a financial report and a marketing brochure are handled differently without manual tuning. The interface is designed so employees need little or no training.
Integration is where the practical gains are most visible. “Many competitors require extensive IT implementation,” Leon notes. “Our devices connect intelligently with the systems organisations already use.” For IT teams stretched across projects, that means less time spent on implementation and more time on the work that matters.
“Customer experience isn’t just about the device itself,” Leon says. “It’s about every touchpoint.” End users get faster, simpler interactions with no learning curve. Administrators gain visibility and control they did not have before. Sustainability-focused teams get evidence that their environmental commitments are being met. The same device creates different value for each of them, and that is the point.
"Customers should feel like these devices understand their business and make their jobs easier."
— Leon Munsamy, Marketing Product Manager
For organisations evaluating these devices, Leon’s advice is grounded in years of seeing implementations succeed and sometimes fail. His starting point is total cost of ownership across supplies and support, rather than acquisition price alone.
He also encourages organisations to widen the conversation. This is not purely an IT decision, because it affects how people work every day. Include end users and department heads and get honest feedback from the people who will actually use the devices.
The CX950 and CX951 are not the endpoint of the vision. They are advanced nodes in a broader information management ecosystem, connecting to case management, financial systems, and content management platforms. Over time, the aim is for these devices to form part of an intelligent information layer that helps organisations find, protect, and act on what they hold.
The CX950 and CX951 respond to real shifts in how organisations work: rising security expectations, hybrid teams, sustainability commitments, and automated processes. Each capability reflects an operational problem rather than a feature for its own sake, and the measure of success is simple. People should feel that their devices understand their business and help them get their work done.
If your team is spending more time managing documents than using them, we would welcome the conversation. Email ADSMarketing@altron.com to request a demonstration, and bring the workflows that slow your people down. We will show you how the CX950 and CX951 handle them in practice.