A dilemma in today's office environment. The Fuzzy Red Widget Company has a Ricoh copier to make document copies, a desktop laser printer
to print documents. In order to send the document to another location,
they fax it. Their paper usage is through the roof, The machines use
three different kinds of toner, and three different agencies for
maintenance. Why? Because it is the way they have always done it. Not
to mention three suppliers of toners and three vendors for maintenance.
Sound familiar?
Desktop printers were introduced decades in the form of dot matrix printers. The early desktop printers were made for IBM for Epson and used a 6 pin dot matrix to print. Since that time, printers have evolved into today's standard of high quality. With the introduction of these high quality desktop printers the world instantly changed and a new way of producing professional documents with ease was introduced. Desktop printers are seen in nearly every home that has a computer and desktop printers are largely used in the office environment today.
So why the comparison of copiers versus printers? Why would a company have printers in their offices even though the operational costs can sometimes be 400% more than that of a copier? A few reasons stand out in my mind and based on my experiences over 50 years in the computer industry. One good reason for having a desktop printer in the office environment is for confidential printing or keeping the document away from prying eyes or those unauthorized to view it. This situation is found in payroll or in legal firms where confidentiality is paramount. Another reason (and this is my favorite) is that having a separate printer to other pieces of equipments is that it provides backup in the event of outage due to maintenance or malfunction. The third reason I find for having a desktop printer is one of cost. They are significantly less expensive to buy than multi-function devices. Now, lets take a further look why this argument persists between copiers and printers.
When a
consultant advises you that putting all of your equipment together in
to a brand new multi function device 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!
As an expert advisor, here are a few of the reasons I have come up against time after time as outlined earlier.
Confidential printing is an excellent idea and a good consultant should always make sure his 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. Any user on the network can send a password protected print to the MFD and save the print until that he/she is at the device to enter the correct password. This reflects exactly the same method as outlined above (printing a document so that others can not view). But here is the kicker: This method can reduce printing costs in an instant by up to 400%!
Now, about the maintenance issue of having 'down-time' on a MFD if a problem occurs? Excellent question! It is true that when maintenance is required on a MFD that there will be a period where the device will be out of seervice. How are we to overcome this? I would recommend having either redundant MFD's (if your print volume justifies the cost) or having a back-up printer to be used only during maintenance periods, thus ensuring that printing will not stop during maintenance periods or when the occasional glitch occurs with your MFD. Printers are reliable devices! Maintenance can also be scheduled durin off hours or during periods of low demand. As an IBM maintenance engineer, I had an insurance account that had maintenance scheduled from 6:00AM to 8:00AM. This concept has worked wonders for many organizations over the years.
Printers are cheaper... to buy
but the comparison in cost ends right there. I have seen years when the
changes in cost per print maintenance on both printers and copiers and
have been in a positive spiral for both, sometimes printers are even
competing in the cost per print department for maintenance. But what is
so great about purchasing a cheaper piece of equipment when it costs
four times as much to run in consumables? There is no justifiable cause
in owning a cheap desktop printer or even a cheap MFP (a multi-function printer not device)if it is going to throw your P & L statement into the ditch.
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. Which
has greater impact on the operation...having to walf a few feet to
another printer or incurring the cost of an additional printer or
copier that is used only as a backup?
Using the same device, printing through your MFD, copying on the MFD, scan to email from the MFD, Internet Fax from the MFD & fax from the MFD. Doing this not only can keep your costs down but you can also maintain your costs while introducing true document automation in to your environment.