Intelligent office printer selection

Given the range of options available, it is not very easy to decide which office printer suits your requirements best. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while deciding on the right printer

1 What are your current needs? Do you print, scan, copy as well as fax? Does your printer need to be on a network? Do you need occasional color in your documents? For an office-on-adesk, there are office printers which even have an integrated phone for personal productivity.

2 Do you have volume copying and scanning needs?
If you have volume copying/scanning, then you should opt for a MFP with Automatic document feeder. Just keep the document on the ADF and it will pick up each page, scan and copy on it's own - NO manual feeding!

3 What is the volume of work?
If you are serving a workgroup or have a large orkload, you will need printers with higher performance print engines and high duty cycles. Deep input paper trays will free you from the constant hassle of feeding paper every now-and-then. Also a duplex printer will save you costs by giving you two sided printing!

4 How many users would use the printer?
If a document centre has to be networked, you need a network ready printer. Other features to be considered are Bluetooth capability, should the printer support wireless LAN, whether an embedded web server is necessary and network handling of incoming faxes. 5 What is the running cost? Different printers have different running costs. You can use third party tests, trade magazine references etc. to choose which is best for you. Also check how easily and where consumables are available. Color costs can be controlled by issuing mono drivers to most users and color drivers to privileged few…

6 How good is the support infrastructure?
And, last but not the least, do some research on the support infrastructure. If your printer stops working, you need someone who can service it instantly so as not to hamper your productivity.

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