5 Ways to Ensure you buy the Best Multifunction Printer for your Accounting Firm

What’s so great about an MFP?

A Multifunction Printer or MFP is a device that combines the functionality of a printer, copier, scanner and/or fax into one machine. If you’re a budgeting business or a savvy accounting firm and want to consolidate assets, reduce costs, and improve workflow, a Multifunction Printer could be the right machine for you. Below we’ve compiled a list of questions to ask yourself before you buy to ensure you’re buying the best multifunction printer possible for your business, whether you’re an accounting firm or any other organisation.

1. What do you need?

·       Do you need to manage documents, simplify workflow, manage forms and reduce the paper you use?

·       How many copy, print, fax, scan, and email jobs do you run each day?

·       How many users will share the device?

·       Will you need it to be colour capable?

2. Does it help rather than hinder your business?

Your MFP should contribute to the ease of workflow in your office. Ask yourself the following questions when considering your new device:

·     Does it ease the strain on IT departments?

·     Does it have integrated document management?

·     How fast is it? Speed of printing pages (ppm)

·     Is it easy to use?

·     Is the quality of documents printed of a high standard?

·     Does it communicate effectively?

3. You’re a multitasker, but is your MFP?

Consider the multifunction aspect of the printer; can it truly serve its purpose?

·       Can you quickly name, route or process a document to file, fax, email or archive?

·       Do the Multifunctional features make printing more efficient for different types of documents?

·       Does it remove the need for users to constantly change paper 
types for different documents?

If you find a multifunctional printer that allows you to do these things at the same time, you’re onto a winner. Some products called All-in-Ones have multiple functions but cannot multi-task them and may lead to problems and unnecessary downtime, so sure you’re aware of your needs before you purchase or enter into a contract. All-in-Ones are nifty devices if you’re printing needs are minimal but varied, however they may not suit an organisation or accounting firm that prints tons of documents daily. 

If your Multifunctional Printer were a person, this is what they’d look like.

4. What are its bi-directional communication capabilities?

Your MFP needs to communicate in an accurate and timely way so that IT administrators and users know the status on jobs, queues and printing times.  If these needs aren’t met it will result in more intervention from your staff and most likely your IT department that you’re trying to relieve pressure on. Look for print job and device status capabilities from the desktop and the ability to view all job queues at the device and across the network.

5. What level of security do you need?

Consider the need to protect your business and the sensitive documents your accounting firm handles. Does the device protect against document theft, snooping, printer hacking, saved copies in the internal storage, documents being copied or sent by unauthorised users or unauthorised changes to settings? To adequately protect your business, these are functions you need to look for in a device. 

Multifunction printers can help you streamline the way your office runs and increase productivity; saving you the unnecessary problems that downtime causes your business.

Now that you have your top 5 questions and knowledge on MFP’s you can rest assured that when the time comes to replace your current device, you’ll be prepared and able to make the right decision for your business and buy the best multifunction printer out there.
 

Want to know more about MFP’s? Learn about our Ricoh Multifunction Products
Ricoh multifunction products offer you a great balance of multitasking capabilities, functionality and value. Our Multifunction Printers feature a wide variety of standalone and networked printing and document solutions for all office sizes, whether you’re an accountanting firm or an SME Business our machines are versatile enough to deal with all your needs. We are dedicated to maintaing the machines we provide our customers, learn more about our services.