Whether it’s a start-up or a well-established enterprise, managing a small business is certainly an adventure. The rewards for success are enormous – not the least of which is the satisfaction of knowing that it is due to your own efforts as the business founder or leader. However, along the way Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) managers have to face countless challenges that are sure to keep them awake at night.
Factors that weigh heavily on the SME include manpower shortages, high fixed costs for rental and other overheads, competition (including new online market entrants) and the increased costs of raw materials, imported goods and machinery – not to mention today’s more empowered and knowledgeable customers.
SMEs need to save costs wherever they can and managing overhead costs can be key to success of the business. One business task where cost is inevitable is printing. The multi-purpose printer is an essential piece of office equipment, and in a typical busy office it will be in constant use. The individual transaction cost of printing or copying a document may appear to be minimal, but added up over an annual accounting period, the cost can be significant.
All the more reason, then, to give serious thought to this basic component of office productivity.
A common dilemma in acquiring an office printer is choosing between laser and inkjet technology. Laser printers have enjoyed great popularity, not least as a result of their perceived output speed and lower cost-per-page, but recent advances in inkjet technology are bringing about a major rethink by office equipment purchasers. In fact, we can now list five solid reasons for preferring inkjet.
1. Productivity plus
One of the drawbacks of traditional inkjet printers was the need for frequent replacement of the ink cartridges. User would often complain of running out of ink after printing a few hundred full-colour pages – a time-consuming, annoying and potentially expensive task.
Epson, a leader in the field of document printing and production, pays particular attention to the printing and photocopying needs of small and medium businesses. The company’s solution to the problem of too-frequent cartridge replacement has been the introduction of ink-tank technology – a revolutionary system that stores ink in tanks rather than inside a print cartridge.
Epson’s integrated ink tank printers let users print up to a remarkable 7,500 pages using black ink and 6,000 pages of colour for each set of inks without need for a refill. With a spill-free ink tank design, the new compact integrated ink tank printers enables easy and convenient ink refills from the bottles.
Inkjet printers impact productivity in other ways too. For example, no need for warm-up time means rapid printing right from the first sheet.
Epson’s integrated ink tank printer enables users to enjoy print speeds of up to 15ipm for standard print along with draft print speeds of up to 33ppm, thanks to the revolutionary PrecisionCore™ printhead technology, one of the fastest inkjet delivery technologies in the world with multi-size droplet control capabilities for superior output quality.
2. Cost control
Epson’s L-series is the world’s first ink tank system printer capable of duplex printing. This feature helps small businesses not only improve print productivity but also reduce paper wastage by churning out thousands of pages without a refill. With duplex printing, costs are further reduced for the business user concerned about reducing total cost of ownership.
Inkjet printers are also recognized for their simple structure, which in general delivers low Total cost of Ownership (TCO). Since no heat is involved in the printing process, power consumption is as much as 97% lower than an average laser printer[1]. And fewer components required for standard maintenance means dramatically reduced cost of service and downtime – all factors that will make the accountants smile.
3. High quality output
The colour reproduction quality of inkjet printers has been recognised to outshine the capabilities of their laser competitors, and the integrated ink tank printers continue to deliver superior performance in this area. But in addition to vibrant, glossy photo reproduction on photo media paper, users can look forward to crisp, smudge-resistant black and white printouts, equal to the typical quality of a laser printer.
4. Environmentally friendly
The benefits of low power consumption are not only reflected in the balance sheet. SMEs today are increasingly conscious of the need to protect our environment, and the inkjet printer’s reduced use of power is a definite plus. High-capacity ink tanks combine with a reduction in the use of paper to bring down overall environmental load. In fact, if we evaluate the entire product life cycle, from manufacture to transportation, use, scrapping, and recycling, the total carbon dioxide emissions of Epson’s business inkjets are considerably lower than those of lasers.
5. Functionality
In addition to its basic capabilities of printing, copying and scanning, the integrated ink tank printers comes with auto-duplex functionalities as well as a suite of connectivity features, all of which contribute to the system’s cost-effective speed and quality.
Its Wi-Fi Direct feature allows easy and flexible shared and mobile printing and also allows you to connect up to four devices to the printer without a router.
All in all, today’s most advanced ink jet technology meets the key requirements for an SME office multi-functional printer – high speed cost-effective output, superb print quality on multiple paper types, and all wrapped up in an environmentally friendly package.
