Office productivity and efficiency is the cornerstone of any successful business, and choosing the right office technology is absolutely essential when it comes to ensuring your employees have the tools they need to succeed.
That’s why when your photocopier is on its last legs, finding a new copier that’s right for your business can be overwhelming.
Choosing the best copier for your company’s unique needs is a big decision, and, since your organization is different from others, you can’t turn to any of the companies you do business with to ask for advice.
For the past 30 years, the OT Group has been providing integrated business technology solutions to thousands of clients. In this blog, we have listed some key information and the questions you should ask yourself in order to find the right copier for your company.
What type of copier works for your business?
Whether you decide to choose Canon, Sharp, Kyocera or any other brand of technology, there is a wide range of copier options that your company can choose from - and which one you choose will depend on what you need it for.
When selecting a copier, think about the size of the space in your office that you want to fill, what you need the copier for, whether you want to print in colour and how much you are prepared to spend.
Copier options that might interest your business include:
- Monochrome: Monochrome copiers cost less as they only use one black toner. They are still as fully featured as their colour counterparts and come in a full range of speeds and sizes built to satisfy any customer requirement.
- Colour: Unlike monochrome, colour copiers use four separate cartridges - black, cyan, yellow and magenta to create their images. This means they can print in colour and monochrome. In order to keep your costs in control all Canon, Kyocera and Sharp devices allow you to control the use of colour through PIN’s codes.
- Multifunctional: Looking for a copier that can perform more tasks than just copying? A multifunctional copier might be the best choice for you. Multifunctional copiers perform tasks such as printing, copying, scanning and faxing, some even integrate with the latest cloud technologies like Amazon Alexa, Dropbox, Microsoft Sharepoint and OneDrive.
- Desktop: These are much smaller copiers and are generally reserved for mall office or home office (SOHO)l use. They are created for Legal paper or smaller sizes and are typically placed on an employee’s desk if their role requires quick, or secure access to a device that prints, copies, scans and emails.
- Production: Most companies won’t need production copiers, but if your organization requires professional-grade graphics on a frequent basis then these copiers are a better option than outsourcing your printing costs. These copiers offer high-resolution printing and vary greatly in cost, depending on whether they are an entry-level or specialty model.
- Re-manufactured: Are you looking for faster and feature-heavy devices that cost more, but, at the same time, you also want to keep your budgets in check? Remanufactured copiers are the perfect solution. While each copier supplier will have its own process, OT Group can help you pick from recently returned devices. These copiers have all been fully vetted and have had any worn components replaced - giving you all the speed and features, at a fraction of the cost of a new copier. Just like with our new devices, OT Group includes our industry-leading five-year OT+ guarantee - a performance guarantee on remanufactured devices.
What should your organization consider when choosing a copier?
So, you now know which copiers are available for your business, but how do you know which photocopier is the right one for you? We’ve created a list of five questions that you should ask yourself.
These questions will give you a better idea of what functions and features you want your copier to possess:
1 - How fast does your business need to print pages?
Print speed should be one of the most crucial features you look at when buying a new copier for your office. You’ll need to find a printer with enough speed to keep your workflow running smoothly. After all, you don’t want employees standing at the copier for 20 minutes while all of their pages print.
Copiers often list print speed on their spec sheet as “ppm”, which means pages per minute. If you print in high volume then your business will want to look for a higher ppm, but a lower ppm is fine if your organization prints in low volumes.
2 - What type of documents is your organization copying, printing or scanning?
By knowing the kind of documents that you scan, print or copy, you’ll be able to work out which copier is the best choice for your business.
For example, if you print in mostly black and white then a monochrome copier will probably be fine for your organization and help you save money, but if you print in colour then you’ll need a colour copier.
3 - What kind of service plan is available?
Like most things, different copiers have different operating costs and service plans available. You’ll need to consider whether or not you are happy with a warranty and paying for supplies as required.
Would you rather pay a charge per copy and have all your toner, parts and labour covered by this contract (often referred to as a cost per copy contract)?
You’ll also want to understand how long it takes technical support team members to arrive on-site to fix your device. If your device is important to your business, you may want to ask for a four-hour on-site commitment.
4 - What kind of software do you want to work with?
If your company only needs a copier, this is a question you can skip. However, if you’re like most companies today, you are printing, scanning and emailing from, as well as copying from your device. If you use software like Google Docs, Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Evernote, Dropbox, OneDrive, Autocad and others, you need to make sure you let your supplier know, so that you get a device that supports your needs.
5 - How much are you looking to spend?
Just like most things in life, you get what you pay for and copiers are no different. Some organizations prefer to save money by choosing a slower device that has fewer features allowing them to keep their budgets lower, while other companies prefer to spend more on a fast device with all the latest technologies.
No matter what your budget, however, there will be a copier solution that fits the unique needs of your organization. Here at OT Group, we can offer your business a free print assessment that allows us to find a copier solution that works not only for your needs but also fits your budget.
Are you looking for more information about how OT Group’s expertise can help you find a copier that improves your company’s performance and efficiencies? Contact our team today. We are more than happy to answer any questions you have.
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