There are some obvious thing you know you don’t want to see in your current printer. Slow print times, frequent paper jams and lack of network connectivity — all those are hints at the obvious: it’s time to pull the plug and invest in a new printer.
Yet, there are things that are not so obvious.
Visitors are unable to use your printer without giving the receptionist files on a flash-drive, sharing scanned documents with colleagues takes too many steps, and require too many devices. Or when the printer stops working, there’s only one person around to fix the problem, and he’s not actually around.
When it’s time for upgrade, look for these innovations to keep your work flowing.
1. Mobile ready. Give your users easier ways to connect and print, from any device, anywhere at any time. The latest mobile print solutions make printing from any mobile device to any brand of printer efficient and seamless.
2. Priority printing. We’ve all been there; you can’t figure out why your job won’t print, and the machine isn’t jammed when you walk up to it. The culprit may be a print job ahead of you in the queue that isn’t formatted correctly or needs a kind of paper that’s not available. Look for a printer that skips the problem print jobs and keeps printing all other jobs in line.
3. Cloud ready. Use multifunction printers that let you scan to and print from cloud services like Microsoft Office 365, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Setting up workflows to the services you already use shortcuts the need to download and print from the desktop.
4. Automate and personalise. Your smartphone isn’t really that smart when it’s only loaded with stock apps to let you talk, text and e-mail. Multifunction printers can be personalised with their own apps that make your documents work better for you. Personalisation can super-charge your document workflows, and give you significant time back in your day.
5. Help and remote administration. On average, 40%-60% of helpdesk calls are print related. You can reduce some of that burden with a printer that has help tools built in. Look for devices that have videos tutorials, and searchable help, right on the front panel.
6. Color on demand. Color is more expensive than black-and-white printing, but it can make a big impact, especially in the high value customer-materials or when communicating big ideas. Some modern multifunction devices make it possible to set permissions to control access to colour printing, by individual, type of document or time.
Keeping these points in mind will get you a good new printer.