Purchasing a new multifunctional printer system is a substantial investment—not only of your money but also time researching and evaluating all the equipment available. Here at The Wilson Group, we don’t want to just sell you any multifunctional office printer. We want to help you select out the
right one for your business or organization.
To help make the purchasing process a bit easier, we’ve narrowed down the top six factors you should consider in order to make an informed decision.
1) Total operating cost
It’s easy to look at the price tag of an multifunction machine/printer, or document system, but that only tells half the story. To fully understand the cost, you need to consider operating expenses such as cartridge/toner replacements and energy consumption. Then, when factoring in your usage, you can calculate the cost-per-copy (CPC), which will give you an apples-to-apples price comparison between different models.
Talk to us about determining the CPC for any equipment you are considering.
2) Mobile accessibility
It’s a wireless world, and more employees are working outside the confines of the office. If your team needs to access documents while on the go, then a
workflow system or solution with mobile or offsite connectivity is a must. If your employees are stationed within the office environment, you may not need these features.
3) Print quality
It’s important to step back and evaluate what your printing needs are, and what level of output quality is necessary to reach your goals. If you require high-quality color prints, we may recommend a certain selection of
Sharp multifunctional printers. However, if you need high-volume black-and-white copies, we may suggest a different set of solutions. Of course, we can always conduct testing to ensure the print quality is up to your standards.
4) Security
The protection of confidential and personal information is a hot topic in today’s business world, especially within fields such as healthcare and legal services. If you have specific requirements for how to your printed, copied, or scanned documents need to be secured, let use know right away so we can recommend the right solutions for your needs.
5) Scanning Capabilities
For some of our customers, scanning isn’t a major purchasing factor. But for others, it’s a crucial part to their daily business. If you fall in the latter category, or think you could benefit from enhanced scanning capabilities, Sharp’s line of multifunctional printers offers advance scanning capabilities—from ultrafast, high-quality performance to cutting-edge software that manages and distributes scanned documents through a network or the internet.
6) Purchasing Options
Once you have the perfect multifunctional printer system picked out, the last piece to the puzzle is deciding how to pay for it. There are two options, each with their own benefits.
Purchasing a multifunctional product:
- Potential for a lower cost of long-term ownership, though requires a substantial up-front investment
- The equipment is yours, so you can do whatever you like with it
- You are generally responsible for maintenance and repairs
Leasing a multifunctional product:
- Enjoy a set budget for printing equipment for a pre-determined length of time
- Upgrade to new equipment every few years
- Maintenance and repairs are generally included in your lease agreement
No matter whether your purchase or lease, you can take advantage of
Section 179 of the IRS tax code and deduct the
full purchase price of the equipment, up to $500,000. To claim this deduction in 2016, you must purchase/finance and have the equipment put into service by December 31, 2016.
We hope you find this to be a helpful checklist as your research your next office printer or multifunctional printer system. Of course, our experienced, local team is always available to answer any questions you may have.
Give us a call today: (412) 586-7191 
