3 Factors to Consider When Choosing Multifunctional Business Printers
The world is moving towards automation. This includes streamlining office administrative devices to reduce energy usage, space allocation, and costs. Multifunctional business printers are the tools designed specifically to meet these objectives. Everything from printing to faxing, emailing, file storing, binding, sorting, copying, and scanning can all be done by a single machine.
The multifunctional printer combines two or more functions, normally performed by separate machines. And this is what automation is about – optimal performance at the lowest cost, with the best results.
Business printers are tools no office can go without, not even in the digital age. The question is not whether you need one or ten for your company. Rather, it is what you need in a multifunctional printer that matters.
Read on to discover the three important factors to consider in choosing multifunctional business printers to meet your office automation needs.
1. Know What Needs to Be Done
To dig a hole, you need a spade, and to paint a wall, you need paint. Setting out to buy equipment and consumables without first identifying the exact needs for the project means ending up with unnecessary products and tools not fit for the job. To this end, avoid buying or renting machines that will clutter up valuable space. Know your exact office administrative needs. Start by making a list of requirements. For instance, answer these questions:
- Do you want a machine that can copy, print, scan, fax, email, allow for remote printing, and save to the cloud?
- Do you only print black and white or is high-quality colour rendering important for image printing?
- How many users will use the specific printer?
- How many pages do you currently print per month?
- Do you want to reduce paper usage?
- Do you have many employees who need to send print jobs from their mobile devices?
- How many machines do you want to replace?
- Do you want to buy or rent?
Many machines in the office can be replaced with one or two multifunctional business printers but knowing which ones to replace and which devices to keep can be challenging. Perhaps you still need a wide-format printer for architectural drawings or require a high-volume printing device for printing thousands of leaflets? Our experts can help you determine your exact printing needs.
2. Understand the Cost of Ownership
Buying a printer without consideration of the cost-of-ownership sets you up for unpleasant service cost surprises. It is not just the initial capital layout that should be considered, but the cost of replacing toner/ink, paper, and parts. What is the service interval for the specific machine? How much energy does it use? How much floor space will be taken up (floorspace equals rental for surface area). How reliable is the device?
Many business printers are not that expensive to purchase, but the ink/toner costs are high. Some of these machines print slowly and use inefficient technology, which costs you money in terms of consumables and energy. Choosing the right multifunctional business printers can help you save on energy, paper, toner/ink, maintenance, and communication costs.
3. Service and Maintenance Support
Even the most advanced and reliable business printers need servicing to stay in optimal working condition. Powder residue and dust build-up cause marks on the print surfaces and affect the durability of parts. Regular cleaning, lubrication of parts, and diagnostics help to keep the machines working 24/7. What support is available for the particular multifunctional printers? Does the service provider offer a print management solution that includes software for cost control, usage statistics, and alerts for when consumables must be ordered?
You will be glad to know that we offer comprehensive service and maintenance support in addition to an exceptional range of parts on all major printer brands. We also take the hassle out of consumable ordering with upfront stock and consumables supply. Discover the many benefits of our service contracts here.
Buy or Rent?
Should you buy or rent multifunctional business printers? With buying, you own the machines, but it also means a large upfront capital layout. Find out about our printer sales offering here.
Renting has the benefits of service and maintenance agreements included, monthly tax-deductible expenses, and the ability to upgrade at the end of the lease period. Whether you want to rent or buy, we offer the print solutions to meet your requirements. Read more about the benefits of renting print devices from us.
Get Professional Help
Our consultants will come to your premises to determine your office automation needs. They will work with you to determine the best solutions to meet your energy, printing, cost, and efficiency needs. Take the guesswork out of the picture. Make use of our complete and affordable solutions for replacing redundant equipment with energy-efficient and cost-effective multifunctional business printers.