Looking to purchase a colour network printer or multifunction product (MFP) to bolster the impact of your business communications, both within and without the office environment?
Before you take the proverbial plunge, be sure to match your business needs with the output capabilities of the models available on the market - you could save a considerable amount of money, especially in the longer-term.
Says Michael Powell, Product Manager - Corporate Enterprise: Kyocera Mita South Africa, who advises corporate purchasers to use the anticipated common usage of a colour device as a crucial purchasing criterion.
"For applications where colour printing and scanning devices play a key role in highly specialised creative work - such as the design studios of advertising agencies - the quality of the colour prints is often the most critical factor. Especially as these devices are used to reproduce photographic images or to produce detailed and colourful design concepts and page-proofs for communications elements ranging from print advertisements to annual reports," he says.
"In such instances, a professional graphic colour device should be the automatic choice, with the total cost of ownership, operating speeds and handling capabilities being of secondary importance."
By comparison, the colour printing requirements of an average office environment are considerably less biased towards image quality. "As colour devices increasingly replace monochrome MFPs in the office environment, so the focus of the purchasing criteria is shifting towards productivity, ease-of-use, the machine's capacity to deliver monochrome in higher volumes, finishing options, after-sales support, maintenance and reliability," explains Powell. "Given that the colour capabilities of most devices in this arena are leveraged primarily to generate typical office-related documents such as letterheads, graphs, presentation packs and the like, office colour printing yields more than adequate quality."
Importantly, modern office colour devices offer considerable cost-savings. "The average professional graphic colour device requires routine maintenance every 30 000 pages. This means that, for an establishment that produces 10 000 high colour pages per month, productivity will be affected by downtime at inconveniently frequent three-monthly intervals - this doesn't read very nicely!" explains Powell.
"By comparison, the three models in the new Voyager range of Kyocera Mita office colour MFPs require routine maintenance every 300 000 pages - such that the frequency of downtime is one-tenth that of competitor products."
What's more, the cost of toner for modern office colour devices is generally far lower than the more expensive, specialised toner used in graphic colour devices. "It simply doesn't make sense to incur graphic colour costs when office colour printing standards will suffice," says Powell. "By taking the time to choose the right device for your specific needs, you can ensure that your colour MFP is cost-effective and therefore contributes positively to your business."
Share
Kyocera Mita, a core company of the Kyocera Group, manufactures and markets both black and white and colour digital copiers, network-ready multifunctional devices and laser printers as well as a range of wide-format imaging products. It also offers a portfolio of software and network solutions.
Using an ECOSYS technology concept, the company has developed long-life components that have been implemented throughout its device range. This technology delivers a number of benefits, notably improved reliability, reduced environmental impact and the lowest total cost of ownership in the industry. Combining these hardware strengths with the latest digital and network technologies, Kyocera Mita assists businesses and organisations of all sizes to maximise value and improve their document management processes.