Monday, 02 January 2017

Signs It is Time to Upgrade Your Printer Fleet

Your printer fleet should work for you and your business, effortlessly printing what you need, when you need it. But as with all technology, printers also possess a limited lifespan and with excessive use, their performance can peter out in the end. Detecting when it is time to upgrade your office’s printer fleet can be simple if your printer just refuses to turn on one day. However, sometimes the signs are more subtle. Listed below are some warning signs that indicate it’s time for you to move on and upgrade your office printer or printer fleet:

Poor Print Quality

Perhaps the most telling sign that it is time to upgrade your printer is when print quality declines drastically and your hard copies come out with smudges, unreadable text, blots or pages are skipped. These warning signs indicate that the rollers inside your printer or other interior parts are not functioning as they should. When internal mechanisms are out of alignment, text and images will print out looking grainy, uneven or even have smear marks on the pages. This is a definite sign that it’s time to upgrade your printer machinery.

Recurring Paper Jams

Paper jams suck up resources like paper and ink, wasting both time and money, leaving nothing behind but frustration. If your current office printer has you fixing paper jams on a regular basis, this is a sign its time to upgrade your printer. Poor paper handling on your printer’s part results in creases and jams, which stifle workflow and put a cramp in your professional image. When you’re handing over documents that look like you wrestled your printer for them, you really should start looking at better, newer printer models.

Lagging Speed

Just like paper jams, a slow printer is a time-killer. It stumps office productivity and interrupts works flows when people are waiting on documents to print in order to perform their jobs efficiently. Newer printers are faster than ever and unfortunately, upgrading speed on an existing machine is impossible. Thus, upgrading to a newer model with a faster page per minute (PPM) production speed is your best bet if your current printer is too slow for your office’s needs.

Excessive Downtime

If your printer spends more time in repair than actually printing, replacing the device may be the best solution to getting your printing environment back on track. Like all machinery, whether it’s a vehicle or a small appliance, your printer with excessive use will also eventually reach the end of its lifecycle and require frequent maintenance to keep it going. At this point, however, it may actually make more sense for you to invest the money for a new device rather than paying…

Unreasonable Repair Costs

If repair costs are skyrocketing in order for you to maintain your printer, then upgrading to a new, healthy model may be the best answer for your business. Rather than shelling out money to repeatedly fix the machine, invest that money in a new device. Chances are the newer model will also include faster page per minute speeds, as well as increased functionality.

Inadequate Functionality

If your business needs have changed and your printing environment can’t keep up with the demands of your new workflow, then new printing equipment may be what’s necessary to keep that momentum going and your business thriving. Whether you need duplexing capabilities, colour printing or finishing options like stapling including in your machine’s functionality, upgrading to a multifunction device may save you money in the end. By getting rid of redundant machines and swapping them out for a multifunction printing device, you can streamline work processes, save on resource costs and get a machine that caters to all of your office’s needs.

If it’s time for you to update your printing fleet think about Managed Print Services. Managed Print Services have multiple benefits including cutting printing costs, increasing uptime with a healthier equipment fleet, optimizing device placement throughout your office, extending the life of document output devices, consolidated billing and transparency of costs associated with each device.

To learn more about Managed Print Services offered in Calgary or Edmonton, contact us today.