5 Benefits of Implementing Multifunction Printers for Small Businesses
The multifunction printer used to be synonymous with enterprise print processes. For many years, large, high-volume printers with impressive feature sets tended to come at prices beyond what the average small business could afford.
Today, compact, high-performance multifunction printers are becoming an increasingly common sight among small and mid-sized businesses. The combination of affordability and workplace efficiency makes them an ideal addition to the small business workspace, particularly when compared to the alternative of purchasing multiple single-function devices.
5 Benefits That Multifunction Printers Offer Small Businesses
New advances in imaging technology have broadened the scope of what printers can do. The newest multifunction printers for small business are able to print, scan, fax, and copy documents seamlessly between physical and digital formats. This makes them an important part of any document management system.
Being able to accurately capture data from scanned physical documents and send them to cloud-based storage platforms is a key step towards digital transformation. Organizations that make full use of their multifunction printers are able to leverage the following benefits to generate value throughout their business processes:
1. Greater Versatility
In offices, schools, and other multi-user environments, users need to be able to process documents effectively using standard formats and features. Multifunction printers make this easy to achieve, since every user interacts with the same equipment to perform their tasks.
For users of earlier multifunction printers for small business, this versatility became a drawback as multiple individuals crowded over a single device and struggled to implement complex workflows using simplified controls. But modern multifunction devices address these challenges through secure network connectivity and user-specific interfaces that support one-touch commands for complex processes.
2. Save Energy
Energy cost reduction is one of the simplest and most obvious benefits to relying on a single multifunction printer rather than multiple single-function printers. Engineering energy efficiency into a single multifunction device makes it capable of generating greater savings than multiple devices – even if those multiple devices are equally efficient.
Printers generate a surprising amount of heat and require a significant amount of energy to function. Reducing energy costs by implementing energy-efficient all-in-one printers is a useful way to cut down on unnecessary print costs.
3. Reduce Operating Costs
There are multiple factors that go into cost considerations for print supplies. The actual cost of individual print cartridges is the most obvious, but there are also intangible operating costs that compound with every new device an organization adds to its fleet. These operating costs include maintenance, employee time spent on print processes, and obstacles to productivity due to print-related problems.
Multifunction printers also help reduce the number of supplies that need to be stocked. Instead of stocking multiple kinds of color ink and laser toner cartridges, a single device can use a smaller set of cartridges more efficiently.
4. Save Office Space
Small businesses rarely enjoy access to sufficient office space for all of their needs. These organizations have limited resources at hand and need to maximize the potential of every one – including office space. This is especially true for offices in high-density urban areas where every square foot of office space comes with a hefty price tag.
Minimizing the space that print equipment occupies allows office managers to better organize the remaining work space for productivity. The area that multiple single-function devices would occupy could easily fit an additional employee, which would allow the office to boost its overall productivity far more than a single-function scanner or copier would.
5. Reduce Maintenance Costs
One of the main benefits to consolidating printer functions into a multifunction printer for small business is the ability to consolidate maintenance costs as well. Diverse imaging equipment fleets are hard to manage and prone to maintenance issues.
A high-performance multifunction printer can address these costs by establishing a single point of failure for print processes. Maintaining hardware and mitigating the risk of failure is much easier when dealing with a single device rather than a fleet of multiple, single-purpose devices. A monthly maintenance contract with a managed service provider can significantly reduce maintenance costs and downtime.
Acquire the Right Multifunction Printers for Small Businesses
Finding the right multifunction printers for small businesses requires more than research into various product specifications. It is a process that demands accurate data about the office’s print needs and its potential for future growth.
Office Technologies offers print assessments to small business owners looking to improve the productivity of their offices by acquiring new print equipment. Our assessments pinpoint specific strategies for improving value using the most sophisticated imaging technology available on the market.
Your office could improve the productivity of its workflows and reduce waste and inefficiency by implementing a fully featured multifunction printer. Speak with one of our experts to find out how!
