No office is complete without a copier, printer, scanner, or fax machine, even workspaces that heavily rely on digital technologies. Having the right office products is essential for your business, but reliable office equipment is just as important. After all, downtime and productivity losses caused by unreliable equipment can cost your business in more ways than one.
Reliable Office Equipment Is Essential to Maintain Most Business’s Workflows
Despite advances in “paperless” office technology, print remains a dominant fixture in modern offices the world over. That includes all the devices needed to create, modify, and transmit paper documents reliably. Office workflows are still built around paper, and office workers, on average, find paper easier to deal with in many respects. For example, reports printed on paper are far less likely to induce eyestrain compared to PDF reports read on digital screens. Paper is also cheaper, especially when you factor in the cost of cloud storage, tablets, smartphones, and other gadgets one might need for an all-digital office workflow.
With the above in mind, it’s no wonder that so many businesses still rely on multifunction copiers and other office devices to maintain their workflows.
What Unreliable Office Equipment is Really Costing You
Everything comes with a cost, no matter how big or small. Even the smallest hiccups with your office devices can have unexpectedly outsized effects on your business, often in ways you wouldn’t expect:
Frequent Downtime
Every second your multifunction printer or scanner goes down is a second your business could be losing money and customer trust. Frequent equipment breakdowns mean extended periods of downtime, leading to missed deadlines and lost revenue.
Excessive Maintenance
Unreliable machines often need extra maintenance to keep them going. For instance, a faulty inkjet printer may need its cartridges changed and print heads cleaned more often. The extra attention given to unreliable office devices increases over time, not just in terms of materials but also in the person-hours that would otherwise be devoted to core tasks.
Lost Production
For businesses that rely on high-volume production as part of their workflow, interruptions caused by unreliable equipment can easily result in crippling losses.
Poor Quality
Smudges, specks, missing or otherwise illegible text are just some missteps you can expect with unreliable office devices. When your customers expect quality goods, subpar products can easily damage the trust they place in you. Errors created by unreliable equipment can also cost time and money to correct.
Rising Expenses
Experts estimate the actual cost of downtime for office devices to be anywhere from four to fifteen times the maintenance costs. The expense of having unreliable office equipment can negatively impact your business’s bottom line.
Lost Business
When your customers no longer trust your products thanks to flaws and downtime caused by unreliable devices, they’re likely to go elsewhere.
If you can’t trust your office equipment to work flawlessly no matter what, then it’s time to consider more reliable alternatives.
The Benefits of Upgrading Your Devices to Reliable Office Equipment
Clinging onto unreliable machines can do your business more harm than good, especially when modern workflows demand reliable office equipment. Making the leap forward toward reliable office products opens the door to the following benefits:
Less Downtime and More Productivity
With reliable office equipment, you’ll suffer fewer interruptions that could potentially cost your business time, money, and even customer goodwill. Your workers can also get more done without having their work constantly interrupted by faulty and untrustworthy equipment.
Lower Operating Costs
Upgrading your current office equipment fleet can also prove to be a cost-effective move, especially for businesses with tight margins. Instead of sinking money into nursing old, outdated, and unreliable equipment for months or even years on end, you’ll enjoy a better return on investment with newer and more reliable office devices. While upfront costs are involved in equipment upgrades, they are more than offset by significant savings in maintenance and overall upkeep.
Greater Ease of Use
Today’s office equipment is easier than ever to use, with continual improvements to user interfaces and intuitive controls. Upgrading to newer and more reliable office products ensures your workers get the latest machines designed with user-friendliness in mind.
Improvements in Energy Efficiency
You might not think office machines use energy when turned off, but power drawn from idle equipment can add up over time. Modern office products feature power-saving modes and other ways of reducing or even eliminating excess energy consumption. Saving energy not only reduces your business’s utility costs in the long run, but it’s also an important step towards shrinking your carbon footprint.
Fewer Worries
You have other aspects of your business to worry about, so why make an unreliable copier or scanner one of them? Putting reliable office products in your workspace leaves you with greater peace of mind and fewer worries about breakdowns and the knock-on effects that follow.
If your Sacramento business desperately needs more dependable office equipment, then get in touch with Buckmaster Office Solutions today and let one of our office technology experts walk you through your options.