TechPount

Print hardware is one of the few office equipment supplies where the buying price (stated in the tender) gives little useful information about the eventual cost of the item, after it has been placed in service. With some items the difference between a good buying decision and a poor one can surface as high subsequent consumables expenditure, or even down time, and staff workarounds; but with a photocopier the cost differential can be 5 times the initial buying price over the working life of the item, and surface 18 months on.

Scrutinising a proposal to buy print hardware means testing four things, volume, functional fit, cost and future fitness.

Measure actual volume, not the volume you think you have

Your normal colour usage is almost certainly less than you think and your peak loads are almost certainly more than you think. So look at the page counts from your current devices over the last 12 months, split between monochrome and colour, in a monthly distribution (as opposed to a mere average).

The peaks in an office’s volume of printing are often higher than the average. So while an office may print an average of 8,000 pages a month, in the months of its reporting periods it may print 20,000. This means that the printing device’s duty cycle and the amount of paper it can hold must be sufficient for the peaks in volume.

Match duty cycle to real use, not the spec sheet

Manufacturers typically state a maximum monthly duty cycle for any printer or multifunction, this is a stress test figure and not a recommended running level. It is wise to set up a device to run at no more than a quarter of its maximum rated duty cycle on an ongoing basis, to extend component life and reduce the number of costly service calls.

Specify functionality against workflows, not feature lists

While differences in the proposed solution’s finishing options, scanning destinations and security features may seem significant, these are typically features that have considerable cost but which are often not used. Before you choose an office photocopier, list out the various processes performed with documents within your office and select the three or four that have the greatest amount of time spent by staff. For example, booklet making; bulk scanning of signed documents; secure release of payroll advice; and large format printing.

To determine the best scanning capability look at the scanning speed in black & white as well as colour. Also consider the reliability of the document feeder with mixed paper types and verify that the scanner can write directly to the appropriate systems that your team currently uses. That the scanner can email documents is of little value if it cannot deposit into your document management system.

Integration and authentication

Test authentication against your chosen directory service as well as Follow Me Printing between different devices. These are often promoted in sales literature but are notorious for different interpretations of the same function and may cause problems when deployed that cannot be resolved at no cost to the supplier once the hardware has been sold.

Build the total cost picture before comparing quotes

Cost per page can form a good basis of comparison for different proposals, covering service, consumables, finance charges and assumptions. Print cost of the device itself is one of the smallest components of the overall cost of ownership over a 5 year period.

Questions worth asking in writing

• What is the cost per page at our actual volume, and what happens if volume falls by thirty per cent?
• Are all imaging consumables and parts covered, or only toner?
• What is the guaranteed response time, and what remedy applies if it is missed?
• Can the service agreement be transferred if we relocate or restructure?

Plan for the office you will have, not the one you have now

Another aspect to consider is that in most professional offices, print volumes are decreasing by a few percent per annum and usage is increasing for scanning as well as for hybrid work scenarios. So a 5-year lease based on today’s volumes of print can quickly result in minimum volume charges for many pages that will in fact never get printed.

1. Can you downsize a device or do you have the option to swap devices halfway through a contract.

2. Is it better to sign a short term agreement with a contract review in a year or so rather than the longest agreement with the cheapest monthly cost.

3. Can the office print fleet be rebalanced between sites should there be a reduction in staff at any location.

Security and compliance obligations

Although document images are stored on the print hardware’s local drive(s) and print devices are networked endpoints, all of the required information needs to be confirmed with the vendor, document image encryption; handling of certificates for client/server communication; management of firmware updates; and document destruction policy at end of lease.

A disciplined selection process

1. Collect twelve months of volume data, split by device, colour and peak period.
2. Document the workflows the fleet must support and rank them.
3. Issue identical volume assumptions to every vendor so quotes are comparable.
4. Model five year total cost, including annual increases and exit costs.
5. Run a site trial with your own documents and staff before committing.

Unpopular as it may be, work needs to be put into verifying the necessary factors of the proposed proposal to transform a payment per month into what the proposed fleet will actually cost & go through in real life.