Blogs

What is a Multifunction System?

According to the Multifunction Products Association, a multifunction system (MFP) is defined as “office equipment for paper management connected to a PC or network that handles two or more of the following functions: printing, scanning, copying or faxing.”

Everything You Need In One Device

The newest generation of MFPs provides important office functionality in one reliable device with the capabilities of printing, copying and scanning in full color.

Printing

An MFP works like any other laser printer, but also adds the type of finishing functionality you expect from a copier including stapling and two-sided printing.

Scanning

Revolutionize your office and scan documents into common digital formats like PDF, .jpeg or .tiff formats. These files can be sent to email addresses or to any folder on the network. continue reading...

Digital cameras have become a necessity for businesses. They’re inexpensive, easy to use and create a message that cannot be expressed with words. Of course getting the pictures onto a marketing statement or proposal is another step that needs to be addressed. Businesses are now using color multifunction systems to print color digital photos at blazing speeds at a fraction of the cost of slow photo printers.

Personal Photo Printers vs. Color Multifunction Systems (MFPs)

· Personal photo printers are slower than MFPs taking multiple minutes to print a photo compared to an MFP’s speeds of up to 45 photos per minute.

· Most personal printers do not allow you to print on letter-sized paper, limiting you to a 4 X 6 size. MFPs conveniently let you print high-resolution photos on normal 8.5 X 11 size paper.

· Photo printer paper is expensive and cost per photo can be from 25 to 80 cents per page. MFPs can reduce that cost. continue reading...

Lower your business’ costs and begin printing your marketing materials in house.

Customize your marketing materials and take advantage of on-demand printing. This will eliminate the need for expensive bulk orders of generic brochures and the unnecessary waste of replacing obsolete brochures.

Consider creating a Marketing library that will enable your sales and marketing employees to access marketing documents from a network folder. They will be able to open, revise and print the materials according the specific client you are working with.

Review these suggestions and make your in-house marketing materials more effective.

· Be sure to use a cost-effective color printer or multifunctional copier. Some systems can allow 20-page documents to be printed in less than one minute. continue reading...

A new report by Datamonitor argues that many organizations waste 10% of their staff costs because employees can not find the right information to do their jobs. Over 50% of staff costs are now for employees performing “information work”. But the employees are suffering from both information overload and information underload, and as a result they spend up to 25% of their day searching for the right information. Datamonitor argues that this why some organizations could be frittering away as much as 10% of their staff costs on wasted effort. continue reading...

My last couple blogs have been about the unseen costs of printing and the benefits of color. So how can you responsibly incorporate color printing into your business plan without running up costs?

1. Reduce Use of Ink Jet Printers

Inexpensive to purchase, inkjet printers are actually the most expensive color output devices to operate. This goes hand-in-hand with office supply stores advertisements focusing on their high profit ink jet cartridges. While convenient for small home office print jobs, ink jet printers become inefficient, slow and costly when running lengthy full color documents.

2. Cut back on Unnecessary Background Color

Documents with solid color backgrounds use significantly more toner and increase the cost of printing. Instead, use bright colors on a white background. Your handouts will be easier to read and look more professional. continue reading...

Studies have shown that as much as 60% of consumers decide to purchase a new product based on its color rather than quality, workmanship or price guarantee.

It makes sense then that color should be included within proposals and marketing statements.

Here are some practical ideas to include color in your proposals and improve your sales effectiveness.

Put the client’s logo on your proposal. Make sure the client’s logo is larger than your own.
Incorporate the client’s colors throughout the proposal. This keeps the document familiar. continue reading...

In today’s competitive business environment, it is critical to get the highest possible return from customer communications like invoices, proposals and marketing materials.

Recent research indicates that using color and graphics in written communication boosts interest, enhances retention, improves comprehension and persuades more easily.

Neurological and psychological research has shown that the impact of color is significant and largely unconscious. Studies have shown that as much as 60% of consumers decide to purchase a new product based on its color rather than quality, workmanship or price guarantee.

The results of the study, found in The Definitive Guide to Office Color Printing by Don Jones, revealed the following powerful benefits of communicating with color: continue reading...

By Tristam Wallace

I wanted to pass along a link to a great article on MFPs and security in Computer Technology Review, written by Sharp's Vince Jannelli.  It is a very succinct and well-written summary of security concerns around  MFPs and I agree with nearly everything in it.

However, I want to address the following statement that Vince made in relation to platform virus security:

"A proprietary platform is idea, since it won't be susceptible to viruses designed to attack more popular operating systems available on personal computers."

I don't dispute the statement. But, it is important to weigh the trade offs between a proprietary platform and an open platform. While the risk of viral attack is lower because it is unlikely hackers will develop malicious code aimed at proprietary MFP platforms, the costs of managing those proprietary platforms are significant -- particularly for those companies that have mixed fleets (brands) of MFPs. continue reading...

By Corey Smith

eWeek posted today a great article titled, How to Choose the Best E-mail Archiving Solution for Your Enterprise.

An increasing number of enterprises are investigating e-mail archiving solutions due to regulatory compliance, legal discovery and storage management issues. Understanding how to evaluate these e-mail archiving solutions is critical if you want to effectively address these business challenges.

If you understand the options for email archiving and how they apply to electronic document management, you can increase efficiency in your business and provide savings to your bottom line. continue reading...

By Corey Smith

Tristam Wallace, at the Document Imaging Blog, had a very interesting post on SharePoint and Document Imaging. I think that one of the most common misconceptions is that if you have SharePoint in your office that you have a fully featured document imaging system.

SharePoint can certainly help increase your productivity through collaboration and document storage, but if you have a lot of unstructured data (documents that have been scanned), you probably need to look at integrating your document imaging system (capture/scanning or storage) with SharePoint to help your employees increase their document management productivity. continue reading...