Here is a scenario for you that is all too common in today’s office environment; My favourite company, ABC, uses a copier to copy documents, a laser printer to print documents and a fax to fax documents. They go through enough paper to reduce a rainforest down to a vegetable garden and waste endless amounts of time sorting paper, printing and storage. Not to mention three suppliers of toners and three vendors for maintenance. Sound familiar? If it does then this article is definitely for you.

Desktop printers hit the ground running when they were introduced decades ago and have positively saturated the World’s offices since. With the introduction of printers the world instantly changed and a new way of producing professional documents with ease was introduced. Personal printers are seen in nearly every home that has a computer and desktop printers are largely used in the office environment still to this day.

So why the comparison of copiers versus printers?

Let’s look at why companies have printers in their offices even though their operational costs can sometimes be 400% more than that of a copier? There are a few reasons that stand out in my mind and throughout my experiences. The first reason I find for having a desktop printer in the office environment is for confidential printing or keeping the document what I like to call ‘clean’, with unauthorised eyes expelled from viewing the printed document. This is usually found in payroll or in legal firms where confidentiality is paramount. Another reason (and this is my favourite) is that having a separate printer to other pieces of equipments allows the freedom to still print if maintenance is required on the multi-function. True! The third reason I find for having a desktop printer is that they are cheaper to buy than multi-function devices. True also! Let us investigate further why an argument still lies between copiers and printers.

When a consultant advises you that putting all of your equipment together in to a brand new MFD they are not just doing so to get a bigger sale with a better piece of equipment. They are actually advising you on how to save time, money and effort! True story.

Let me supply answers as an expert advisor to a few of the reasons that I have come up against time after time as outlined earlier.

Confidential printing is an excellent idea and I always make sure that clients in specific industries protect their documents through correct document automation. The latest in technologies for MFD’s provides user authentication security and allows secure-print jobs to be processed. This allows any user on the network to send a password protected print to the MFD and save the print until that person is at the device to enter the correct password. Do you see how this reflects exactly the same method as outlined above (printing a document so that others can not view). But guess what? This method can reduce printing costs in an instant by up to 400%!

How about the maintenance issue of having ‘down-time’ on a MFD if a problem occurs? Great point! It is true that when maintenance is required on a MFD that there will be a period where the device will be stopped. So how do we combat this? Well I recommend having either two MFD’s (if your print volume justifies the cost) or having a back-up printer that is only used during maintenance periods. This then ensures that printing will not stop during maintenance periods or when the occasional glitch occurs with your MFD. Printers are not entirely evil! Just make sure that the back up is used as a back up only, and I say this with absolute compassion as costs will blow through the roof if you keep printing with the back up. This concept has worked wonders for many organisations over the years.

Printers are cheaper… to buy! That is pretty much where the comparison in cost ends. I have seen over the years the changes in cost per print maintenance on both printers and copiers and have discovered a positive spiral for both, sometimes printers are even competing in the cost per print department for maintenance (which is great). But what is so great about purchasing a cheaper piece of equipment when it costs four times as much to run in consumables? I really do not see any justifiable cause in owning a cheap printer or even a cheap MFP (a multi-function printer not device) when it is going to throw the P & L statement out of the water?

Consider your options when it comes to how you run and set up your office printing environment as you could be losing money by the print. Does having to walk ten feet compared to reaching one foot have as much an effect on the running cost of the business when you could be increasing potential profit instantly?

Print through your MFD, copy on your MFD, scan to email from your MFD, Internet Fax from your MFD & fax from your MFD. By doing so not only can you keep your costs down but you can also maintain your costs and introduce true document automation in to your environment.