Of all the technologies your Sacramento business relies on to manage workflows and stay productive, few are as important as the modern multifunction printer. That makes maintaining the multifunction printers in your fleet a top priority. However, being reactive when it comes to maintenance can cripple your productivity and negatively impact your bottom line.
The key to keeping your office equipment in peak condition is preventative maintenance. Below, we’ll go into more detail about taking a more proactive approach towards multifunction printer maintenance.
Why Sacramento Businesses Rely on Multifunction Printers
You’d assume that printers and photocopiers would be obsolete with cloud and digital technology. After all, sales figures for printers and similar office devices have seen a noticeable decline in recent years. Nevertheless, the printer remains a key staple in offices not just in Sacramento but all over the globe. To understand why, one needs to know what businesses expect from the office devices they use daily.
Companies still rely on paper for a surprising array of business processes, for starters. Despite the advent of “paperless” technologies that promise to make paper obsolete, few businesses have been able to transition towards a paperless office fully. Cost is one reason, as handling paper documents continues to be much cheaper than investing in the various digital gadgets and storage solutions needed to manage digital documents.
There are plenty of other reasons why businesses still rely on paper documents and the multifunction printers often used with them:
- Security – Paper still beats out cloud and digital storage when it comes to security. Physical media is easier to store securely, plus there’s more certainty when it’s finally destroyed. You can retrieve bits of a digital file from a disposed of hard drive, but shredded or incinerated documents are more challenging, if not impossible, to retrieve.
- Readability – Many people find paper documents much easier to read and mark up. Looking at digital screens for long periods can cause eyestrain. Making notes and annotations with pen and paper is faster and more tactile than with a stylus and tablet.
- Inertia – Paper is also a tried-and-true medium versus digital technologies that are sometimes unproven or unknown. Businesses that value certainty and familiarity in their processes may be more comfortable handling paper documents.
Workflows Suffer When Service & Preventive Maintenance of Your Multifunction Printer Are Neglected
We know that maintenance costs money, and there’s always the temptation to boost the bottom line at the expense of device upkeep. But ignoring multifunction printer maintenance can prove costly in more ways than you’d anticipate.
The high cost isn’t just monetary – but in overall performance. A neglected multifunction printer can bring office workflows to a screeching halt through sudden, unexpected downtime. Your employees can’t get their tasks done, which in turn means they can’t provide clients with the service they rightfully expect. Clients may jump ship to competitors, and revenue ultimately suffers.
Another cost of poor multifunction printer maintenance is employee productivity. Just imagine how frustrated your employees would be if they couldn’t print, scan, fax, or copy documents due to a malfunctioning printer. Even seemingly minor annoyances like paper jams can frustrate your team to the point of damaging morale.
Consider the outcomes of neglecting your multifunction printers over a long period and how said neglect could impact your equipment:
- Obsolete Equipment – Some things get better with age, but multifunction printers are the exception to the rule. The older your equipment gets, the more inefficient it becomes compared to newer devices. When it comes to your printer fleet, it’s best to get the latest and greatest whenever possible.
- Lack of Updates – Old hardware usually ends up with equally old software. As machines become obsolete, the number of available updates usually dwindles due to a lack of ongoing support. A lack of updates can make your multifunction printer more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
- General Wear and Tear – Consider that the average lifespan for a multifunction printer is around five years, depending on the level of care and upkeep. Some high-end multifunction printers may make it to ten years or more. However, unlike fine wine, older multifunction printers typically don’t get better with age due to overall wear and tear. The various battle scars of your multifunction printer can add up, resulting in a machine that’s overdue for retirement.
Maintenance Tips You Can Perform In-House between Service Visits
A service agreement with a trusted managed service provider is always a good first step towards improving your printer fleet’s maintenance. However, there are plenty of other things you can do on your own:
Shut Down/Warm Up Your Printer
Believe it or not, keeping your multifunction printer on all the time not only eats away at its service life but also the revenue it helps generate. Practice shutting it off at night and over weekends to help reduce your utility costs and gain a little bit of green cred in the process.
Keep the Glass Clean
Gray blobs, greasy streaks, and smudges leftover from correction fluid can mar a multifunction printer’s glass surface. These unwanted defects can appear on any document and detract from its overall quality, not to mention make it harder to read. Cleaning the glass regularly with a clean, soft cloth keeps unwanted marks away.
Invest in Better Copier Paper
Using cheap paper allows dust to build up inside your multifunction printer, plus it’s more likely to jam and crumple inside. Choosing high-quality, heavier weight copy paper helps prevent dust buildup while reducing the likelihood of paper jams.
Practice Correct Paper Loading
Proper paper loading is another way to reduce paper jams and keep your multifunction printer in great shape. Avoid overloading the printer and make sure the paper you do load is evenly aligned, without any sheets sticking together.
When it comes to your multifunction printer, an ounce of prevention is always worth pounds of cure. Taking a proactive approach towards printer maintenance saves your business money and your employees time and aggravation. If you want to learn more about keeping your Sacramento business’s multifunction printers in great shape, get in touch with Buckmaster Office Solutions today.