The idea of searching for a new printer may seem daunting at first. Fortunately, today’s multifunction printers (MFPs) can meet many of your business’s technology needs within this one device. Specifically, a multifunction printer is a device made up of multiple functionalities and capabilities, including printing, copying, faxing, and scanning. When it comes time to choose the next MFP for your office, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind.
Assessing your needs is essential to finding the right MFP
It’s important to have a strong understanding of your exact needs when it comes to workflows and operations within your office space. Figuring out your needs will put you in the best position to choose a multifunction printer that will work best for your office. Take a look at some of these tips to help you analyze your office needs:
- Understand exactly what your office requires from a printer. Sure, printing and copying is important, but an MFP can do so much more. Consider how you want to manage documents, optimize workflows, and reduce paper usage. Think about how often you scan, copy, print, and fax and determine how many employees access the office printer each day.
- Make sure you can easily connect to your network. It’s important to make sure the MFP will integrate into your existing network. The last thing you need is a new MFP that doesn’t work well (or at all) with your existing devices and technology. Also, be sure to consider software installation, training, troubleshooting, and upgrading.
- A user-friendly MFP will go a long way. Multifunction printers with user-friendly interfaces, minimal training requirements, and online support will help prevent employee downtime when it comes to your new device. Employee downtime due to confusing MFP interfaces and functionality can be very costly to your bottom line.
- Document security is more important than ever. We all know how important document and data security is in today’s business world. Your MFP should provide document security features that meet the security needs of your business. Keep in mind possible changes to future regulations that may affect your company as well. Be sure that your MFP is scalable and can keep up with these potential changes.
- Determine your required features. At the end of the day, it’s important for your business to take note of the features that will best aid your office. Print speed, volume, paper capacity, scanning, graphics, color vs. monochrome, and memory are a handful of print-related features that should all be considered. Some of those features may be more important than others, depending on your print volume and the types of projects that are regularly executed.
Once you have a grasp on your office’s imaging technology needs, you will feel confident in choosing your next multifunction printer. For help with your next MFP purchase, contact Golden Gate Office Solutions today.
