Working from home vs. Doing work from home

Working from home means different things to different workers. With all the talk about working from home, offices are searching for ways to keep their employees safe, while maintaining productivity. This created confusion as many employees exited their office environment to set up shop in their home. Used to the modern comfort of technology, home-workers are now using their own devices, such as computers, printers, and phones. Setting security aside, what other issues do experts see wrong with this situation?

All technology isn’t created equally

Unless you were working from home before, chances are the office equipment you have in place isn’t suited for the work you’re doing now. Technology purchased from “Superstores” like Staples, Office Max, Costco are built to different specifications than those designed for the dealer market.

• Laptop computers generally have different processor speeds and memory capacity
• Printers have higher costs to operate because of supply costs
• Scanners handle different volumes of originals

Just because you have office technology already, doesn’t mean you should be using it. In the past, you may have come home to print a single report or your child’s homework assignment. This is called “convenient printing,” and convenient printing is different than “work printing.”

Other than the extreme cost to produce a print, you have to consider speed and print quality. Your company image is on display, and what may work for printing your local gym’s workout schedule, may not be suitable for your corporate partners.

Dealers vs. Superstores

In another blog, we explained the differences between the two; however, we can break it down very quickly. Superstores provide products designed for a small office or home office use. These are known as SOHO devices, and they are for light use. The costs of the equipment are generally appealing to buyers because the purchase price is low. The other side of the equation is the cost to operate it after the purchase. Printers and copiers use toner or ink to produce the image, and this is where the two are drastically different. Dealer models are designed for more substantial use, multiple operators and the imaging supplies have a higher yield of ink or toner, at lower costs; thus making the cost to make a copy or print much lower.

Another difference between dealer models vs. superstores has been the size of the product. Models made for the SOHO channel are designed for small spaces in home offices. Dealer models are more freestanding in an office building setting, offering more features and paper sizes. Technology has changed this, closing the gap between the different channels.

Not usually an arena we play in

In the fifty-years we’ve been in business, placing products in home offices hasn’t been our strength. Manufacturers who make technology equipment like copiers, printers, and laptop computers have different distribution channels to sell their products. The office channel is different from the SOHO channel, and it’s not anything we’ve focused on. When we begin our discovery stage with potential clients, we ask questions about usage and volumes. We have directed many people to superstores when we don’t have the product to match their needs.

These are different times. A time when more people are leaving their office to work from their homes. This is entirely different than someone starting a business, who is looking for clients and needs occasional prints. These times are filled with tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people displaced and working in their home.

Learning the needs of what people are looking for makes this arena dealers are learning to thrive in. Many companies are asking for better equipment, more collaborative tools, and robust communication, and they’re turning to the experts who handle their business technology.

If your office is for a looking long-term solution for a short-term fix, we can help.

Check out our “Work From Home” bundle package, everything you need to bring your office to your home.