If you buy the best printer, you should get the best printing performance possible, right? The short answer is “Yes–that’s right.” But, the complete answer is “No–not necessarily!” That’s because there’s a lot more that goes into your printing process than just your printer.

Your office workflow involves many hidden costs that aren’t obviously connected to the costs of printing, but have a significant impact on the amount you end up paying. Add in the additional costs of printer parts and repairs, and that top-of-the-line printer you have may not go as far as you think it does.

So, how can you be sure you’re office is operating as efficiently as possible?

Start With The Basics

Let’s take a step back. Does the quality of your printers and copiers make a difference? Sure it does. Brands like Xerox, HP and Lexmark are well-known brands for a reason. They make reliable products that provide the features most users desire. With printing, those features typically include:

• High quality color printing
• Fast printing speeds (20+ pages per minute)
• All-day reliability
• Able to print a range of paper types (labels, card stock, etc.)
• Easy-to-use navigation panel and menu options
• Secure Wifi capabilities

It’s not too difficult to find a machine that delivers these requirements. The question to ask yourself though, is which of those features are integral to your job and workflow? Buying a printer with all the bells and whistles does not necessarily make it the best fit for your needs. If your office demands don’t require all the available features then it may be more cost-effective to choose the “inferior” model.

The same can be said for the products you use to keep your printing process operating at its best. The ink you use, the paper products you buy, the toners, cartridges, and all other products you use will have an impact on how well your system works for you. You might think that each of these factors are too small to make any real impact on your productivity or costs. But they do! Especially over a long period of time, each of those factors, plus more, can cost you many hours of productivity and lots of money to maintain the system.

HIDDEN COSTS

All machines have a “life expectancy”. Just the same as it’s true that if you treat and feed yourself well then your life expectancy will increase. But, if you treat yourself poorly and don’t feed yourself well, your life expectancy will not only decrease, but you’ll also end up putting more effort into maintaining your health and trying to correct issues that have developed because of poor practices. The same thing rings true for your printer and copier equipment. The better you take care of your equipment, the longer you can expect it to last and the less you will pay for printer and copier repairs along the way.

Choosing the right equipment and products to use for printing and copying are just a couple ways to improve the efficiency and decrease the costs in your office.

But, that’s just scratching the surface!

With the help of a trained expert, you can uncover dozens of ways to improve workflow productivity and drive down your printing costs. The best news is that you can get a completely Free Analysis of your office’s workflow. From top to bottom, the experts from Stone’s Office Equipment will work with you to configure the best system setup for you and your company.

Digging Deeper For Optimum Efficiency

Stone’s Office Equipment has been providing office equipment and workflow services for over 45 years! During that time, three main services have been developed to help businesses like yours get the absolute most out of their office setups. Here are the three services that have proven effective for helping improve the way businesses work over the years:

1. Document Management

Think about how your office manages documents on a daily basis. Does it involve a lot of physical copies of paper. Does it involve a lot of collaboration between coworkers? How does your team create, use and share documents throughout the workday? With document management services, experts from Stone’s Office Equipment will figure out what makes your office run, what is holding your office back, and what are some ways to help improve those systems so that your office can operate on a more efficient level. Benefits of document management services often times include:

• Improved office productivity
• Disaster protection & recovery
• Government compliance

Document management services don’t just aim to improve how documents are handled around your office, they aim to provide you with more peace of mind, better productivity and happier employees around the office.

2. Managed IT Services

In most environments today, the staff and equipment in your office is only as good as the IT network supporting it. With so many tasks and projects relying on IT networks to function, it’s more important than ever to know for sure that your network is reliable and capable of supporting everything you need to do. A managed IT analysis will focus on several key areas including:

• Improving document workflows
• Optimal enterprise-wide printing
• Areas that have potential for inefficiency
• Document management

There are even IT services available to handle equipment servicing. Instead of guessing when you’ll need more ink, paper, and other items–or even worse, running out–let the Stone’s Office Equipment professionals handle your equipment fulfillment and maintenance using an incredibly precise inventory tracking system. Never experience downtimes again, no matter what manufacturer and product lines you use.

PLUS: Mobile Printing Solutions

Unleash your office’s potential, beyond your local IT network, by utilizing mobile printing capabilities. Wireless printing, Mobile printing from phones and tablets, device usage tracking are just a few of the features you can leverage with mobile printing solutions. Don’t limit the productivity of your office. Add mobile printing solutions and watch productivity grow.

3. Managed Print Services (MPS)

If you’re serious about getting your office into shape, then managed print services are right for you. This is a comprehensive analysis of your office equipment and workflow setup followed by continual maintenance to keep your system operating at its full potential. Here’s why people love using managed print services:

• One vendor to hold accountable
• IT resources able to focus their skills on more value-added activities
• Ongoing recommendations for lowering your document output costs
• Quarterly reviews to discuss printer fleet performance

Managed print services are great for companies of all sizes and with all types of office configurations. It’s important that if you’re considering using an MPS provider, that you use a company you can trust. The CompTIA Trustmark proves that Stone’s Office Equipment is not only a company you can trust with MPS, but they are among the most well-trained professionals who offer this service.

Get More Out Of Your Printers And Copiers Today!

It doesn’t really matter what size your office is or how your staff operates. Chances are good that you could benefit from an office workflow analysis to figure out how well your office is operating. You’ll highlight areas to improve your productivity and ways to spend less money on supplies, repairs, and other financial black holes.

For more information on improving your office productivity and workflow, contact Stone’s Office Equipment at 804-288-9000.