Office Copiers

When Shopping for an Office Photocopier, Think Power and Performance

Written by Steven Bryan

Though inexpensive and easy to set up, typical home copiers don't have all the features that a growing business needs to survive. When you want to increase productivity for small-to-medium sized businesses, it's wise to shop around for high-performance office copiers.

Why a Home Copier Just Won't Cut It

Copiers designed for home use typically are smaller and offer the following basic features:

• Copying
• Printing
• Scanning/photo duplication
• Secure data and memory stick reading

Electronic superstores and shopping networks have several home-grade copiers for sale, but this type of equipment can't really handle the demands of a busy office.

Features of Office Copiers

Office photocopiers rank highly on the list of essential business equipment, especially since they have the following useful features:

• Connectivity to a local area network (LAN), allowing multiple users to connect to the same device
• Fax capability, which lets you send a fax directly from the office digital copier to a client and a carbon copy to your own office e-mail account
• High memory capacity that lets you store and retrieve print jobs at the push of a button
• Clerical functions such as automatic collating, hole-punching and stapling
• Priority functions, which let an important print job move immediately to the front of a copier's job list
• Large capacity paper drawers that can hold at least an entire ream of paper
• The ability to switch between letter, legal and photo-grade paper
• The durability to handle the printing and copying demands of a large office

Multifunction digital copiers do break down on occasion, which means you need to secure a good service policy and warranty before the sale is complete.

Do You Need Office Photocopiers?

Most businesses can benefit by making at least one office digital copier readily available to the staff. The benefits depend on which department is using it:

• Information Technology: Though most programmers and analysts do their work electronically, they cannot escape the need for hard copies of programs and specifications. These documents serve as an emergency backup in case of computer failure and also are useful during "code walk-throughs," where new programs are evaluated before they are put into use.
• Shipping and Receiving: Even with e-mail, the paper invoice remains an essential part of the shipping and receiving process. After checking in a delivery, for instance, your staff may need to make multiple copies of shipping manifests and other documents.
• E-Commerce: If your business doesn't have a real "bricks and mortar" presence, you still have to create a paper trail for accountants and auditors to follow. Office photocopiers are useful for making copies of checks, signed receipts and e-mail confirmations of orders.

With government regulations such as HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley in place, it's also important to control the paper in the office. Keep shredders near the office photocopiers to destroy any confidential client information after it is used by an employee.

Are you ready to purchase office copiers? Submit a free request for price quotes and get matched to multiple dealers who will try to get you the best deal for your business.

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