Should I Choose an MFD or Printer?   The majority of office environments need more than just a simple printer to deal with day-to-day document management. Modern printers do more than just print: many can scan and copy too and are able to handle significant volumes of work. Multifunctional devices (MFDs) often have extensive capability, allowing them to deal with large volumes of printing and very high-quality printing for marketing material, including a variety of different paper sizes and types. Experience and Expertise Mode recommends the print management solution that’s right for you, so you don’t need to know whether an MFD or printer is best for your document environment. Just let us know what you need to do on a regular and ad hoc basis and talk to us about your challenges. We take the time to listen to what you really need; we employ our knowledge and experience to satisfy your requirements and ensure that the solution fits in your physical space. Our experts will use this information to tailor a solution specifically for your needs. Simply put, if your current solution offers scanning, fax, copying, collation or finishing in addition to simply printing out documents, it’s likely that you will require an MFD to replace it or risk having to add multiple machines to the office. However, if you find that your office does not use these functions at all or does not require a system that can also cope with faxing (for example) we will offer a solution that better fits your needs without having to support unnecessary functionality.   read more

What are Managed Print Services? Managed Print Services depend on computer software to keep an eye on print activities; this involves seeing patterns in print behaviour, creating rules for printing, authenticating users, managing devices, planning for changes, and creating established workflows. In short, it helps you make better use of your printers by giving you a way to monitor and control how your staff use them. What are the Benefits? Cost reduction, control, and convenience are the main benefits of any Managed Print Solution. Proper implementation and intelligent analysis can reduce print and copy spend by up to a third, while anticipating the need to order consumables can ensure that your print runs more smoothly with no unnecessary down time. You can: Create long term savings, and continue saving by optimising your processes regularly Streamline workflows to increase productivity Improve security for all of your documents or just select items Reduce your impact on the environment Change printing habits and reduce print volume See how each user/department uses each printer How Managed Print Services Work Your solution will offer a number of tools to allow you to analyse and optimise your printing – this includes looking at print behaviour by department, user, or entire floor to see where you can make savings. You can then create rules to prevent people from wasting money through unnecessary printing or simply to reinforce your business’ print policy. You can also use Managed Print Services to ensure that your print jobs are secure, whether you need to apply the rules to the entire business or just a single department (which is particularly useful for businesses with in-house HR or legal teams). Most solutions allow for different types of authentication to suit your business needs. Workflow automation is one of the main ways that MPS saves times for your employees. Once your processes are set up, you receive Process Optimisation Reports with further insights and suggestions so that you can continue improving your print environment.   read more

Scanning your paper documents allows you to convert them into easily accessible and convenient digital files, which is ideal for office environments. You can share electronic documents with your colleagues at the click of a button and protect them from things like misplacement or theft. The simple process involves passing a paper document through high quality scanning equipment, which converts it into image form. It is then saved to a PC in the desired location with an appropriate file name. If you’re still not convinced that scanning is the way forward, we have put together three of the greatest benefits of scanning your documents. Save Time and Space No-one likes a cluttered desk and filing cabinets take up unnecessary space which could be used for something more productive. If you organise your documents electronically, there will be no need to worry about where you’re going to store them. The data that you can store on one lone DVD can replace nearly thirty filing cabinets. It will also be much quicker retrieving files on a computer than searching through hundreds of sheets of paper. Access Anywhere at Anytime By saving a scanned version of a document to your laptop or other portable device, you will be able to access it even if you are not in the office. This, in turn, means you have less to carry around if you happen to be out for a meeting or working remotely. Increases Security Data security is often a big deal for businesses and having a cabinet full of important documents is fairly risky. It’s easy for things to go missing or find their way into the wrong hands. When documents are stored digitally, passwords can be set to eliminate any security issues and there is no way for them to be misplaced. read more

Our Process Simple Set your business free by keeping it SIMPLE Our experience tells us that the best way for us to understand what you need is to visit you and see your document environment first-hand.  We like to hear from you directly, to ensure that you get exactly what you need, when you need it. We Get to Know Your Business One of our Account Managers comes to visit you to complete an audit and assess your workflow. We get to know more about the challenges you face so that we can find ways to make your processes more effective and to save you money on your printing. We Propose a Bespoke Solution Having spent some time with you, we can proactively make recommendations to improve your document environment through cost savings, settling old leases, and removing old equipment as well as providing the very latest technology solutions for your workplace. We Schedule Installations around You Once we’ve scheduled a convenient date to install your new equipment, we work with you to ensure that installation is completed with minimal disruption to your day. Our on-site IT Engineer ensures that the new equipment fits seamlessly into your existing systems and liaises with your IT department to answer any questions and provide technical information. Our IT Engineer will also ensure that you and your users are trained on the new devices. We Offer Ongoing Support Our dedicated service and supplies line is always available should you need to order more consumables or need help on-site. We can troubleshoot maintenance queries on the phone, or if you prefer, one of our local engineers can pay you a visit.  Our proactive approach and reporting mean that our clients rarely need an emergency call-out. We Manage Your Account Proactively If you choose one of our bespoke print management solutions, we will automatically receive reports about your consumables and other key data so we can send out toner or suggest optimisation without you getting in touch first. We can even remotely audit some of your parts so we can replace them before they cause issues for your machine. Our preventative maintenance and servicing minimise downtime and ensure optimal efficiency for your printing machines. read more

Boost your productivity The Aficio™MP C4501/MP C5501 are designed to improve productivity in office environments. Single pass duplex, high-speed colour printing at 45/55 pages per minute and a short warm-up time significantly enhance document workflow. Productivity is further improved by an optional envelope feeder and the possibility to print directly from a USB memory stick or SD card. Outstanding eco specs include lowest in-class power consumption to reduce the environmental impact of your office. Advanced security features ensure that these highly reliable multifunctional printers are trusted partners in your office.Stay secure with standard HDD overwrite and encryption features.Print from USB memory or SD card (optional).Manage print costs with quota setting.Print/copy at 45/55 colour pages per minute.Scan at high speed with single pass duplex (MP C4501SPDF/MP C5501SPDF). read more

Difference between Copier and Printer Key Difference: A copier is a photocopying device that allows users to make duplicate copies of a document or an image, that too cheap. Copiers use xerography technology that is similar to the technology used in a laser printer. Printer is a peripheral device that creates a solid copy of the digital data that is represented on the computer screen. Printers can be used to connect to a computer using a USB or wirelessly. When thinking about creating duplicates for a document, two things come to mind; one can print two or more copies or one can photocopy the original document. These two options are because of two devices a copier and a printer. With the increasing technology, many people are confused in these two different devices as many multi-purpose printers come with copier features. It’s quite simple to distinguish as a copier’s main purpose is to make duplicate copies, while a printer’s main purpose is to print. However, a multi-purpose printer is able to do both and much more. A copier is a photocopying device that allows users to make duplicate copies of a document or an image, that too cheap. Copiers use xerography technology that is similar to the technology used in a laser printer. Xerography is a dry process of creating an image by applying toner and heat to the paper. The purpose of a copier is to create a duplicate document that is available faster and cheaper. Copiers were an alternate option to printers, which were initially expensive and time consuming. Modern copiers have become multi-purpose and are available with features such as printing, faxing, stapling, hole punching and other capabilities.  A copier is usually a huge device that takes up room and is able to duplicate multiple different types of paper and documents. The device works in 5 steps: Charging, Exposure, Developing, Transfer and Fusing. A cylindrical drum present in the machine is charged electro statically by a high voltage corona wire. The drum then develops photoconductive material. A bright lamp scans the document that is to be copied and reflects the white areas of the document on to the photoconductive drum. The photoconductive drum becomes conductive when exposed to light. The black portions on the document do not reflect and that portion on the drum remains negatively charged. The negative charges pick up the positive charged toner, which is then transferred on to the document and fused by heat.The document is copied and printed. Printer is a peripheral device that creates a solid copy of the digital data that is represented on the computer screen. Printers can be used to connect to a computer using a USB or wirelessly. One printer can also be connected to many computers allowing all computers to be able to print on that printer. Many newer printers are also able to support memory cards, digital cameras or scanners. Higher end models for offices also come with other features such as scanner, copier and fax. These models are known as Multifunction printers. There are various different kinds of printers that are available. These printers are classified depending on the type of technology is used in printing. Technology includes: Toner-based printers, Liquid inkjet printers, Solid ink printers, Dye-sublimation printers and Inkless printer. Toner-based printers use dry powered toner as ink, which is then fused on the paper by hot rollers. Liquid inkjet printers use liquid ink that is heated into a vapor bubble and then sprayed onto the paper. Solid ink printers use thermal transfer technology and use solid sticks of color that are wax-like in texture; these inks are melted and then sprayed on a rotating, oil coated drum, which passes the image onto the paper. A dye-sublimation printer uses heat to transfer dye to a medium such as a plastic card, paper or canvas. Inkless printer printers work by heating regions of a heat-sensitive paper that creates images or text on it. Many believe that printing multiple copies is more expensive than photocopying it. However, it depends on the number of copies, pages and the data on the paper that need to be printed. If many copies are to be printed, then copiers are usually a cheaper option. However, if only a few pages need to be printed, then printing becomes much cheaper. Another major difference between the printer and the copier is quality. Printers usually produce high-quality images as they use the inkjet process (which is also available in copiers but quite rare), while images are produced using xerography are low resolution.  read more

7 Tips to Help You Reduce the Printing Costs Businesses are continually looking for ways to lower operating costs, introduce proven technologies that speed up access to information, and increase growth and profitability.  The are many important questions when it comes to the print and document related processes of your business or organization. For example, are you aware of the amount of avoidable printing that occurs in your business? How much time is spent by you or your staff managing and maintaining your printer fleet? And how much is all this effecting your bottom line? Understanding the opportunities to reduce your printing costs and creating a well-managed print environment can lead to significant cost saving and increased productivity for your business. THE RIGHT PRINTER Many people believe that desktop printers are the best (and perhaps only) option for a business’s printing needs, but compared to commercial printers, desktop printers will be more expensive for the business in the long term. Many commercial printers may offer services that are cheaper, even at small quantities. In addition, the effective use of shared, networked printers can significantly increase your print productivity. In most cases, a multifunctional printer could take the place of multiple laser printers. THINK TWICE, DON’T PRINT TWICE The simple act of making your employees aware of the impact of their printing will get them thinking about ways to conserve and improve their printing efficiency. If you start tracking printing and produce reports for each individual in your company, you can let them know how much money they are spending on printing. This knowledge and insight may make them think before they print, which will lead to cost savings in the long term. Also, with a virtual print queue to hold documents until they are ready to be picked up, the employee has the option to cancel the documents if a) they pressed print and wanted to make changes, or b) pressed print twice. USE DUPLEX PRINTING Many printers allow you to select ‘duplex printing‘, where you can print on both sides of the page. This is a great feature for saving paper. You might be using the same amount of ink as you would normally, but you are wasting 50% less paper, which is more environmentally friendly and will save you on paper costs. CUT COLOUR The use of colour adds impact to presentations, but it doesn’t need to be a part of everything you print. You can automatically route colour jobs to a lower-cost colour printer, or set all of your printing jobs to grayscale (no colour) as the default option. Many large copy machines or larger laser printers will cost you more per page if colour (even a small portion) is being incorporated. So while colour printing looks great, wasted colour printing is not great for improving your bottom line. DIGITAL PRINTOUTS In many cases documents are only needed as digital printouts on a tablet or smartphone for reading (e.g. transport tickets, email attachments). Introducing the option to digitally print documents reduces waste and cost, and is also environmentally friendly. Also, email more and print less. If you want to show a colleague something, email it to them as an attachment instead of printing it out. OPTIMIZE YOUR PRINTER FLEET To achieve an optimized printer fleet, carry out a comprehensive review of printer usage needs within your business, including printing behaviour, volumes and wastage. Analyze your current printing workflow and suggest changes to help boost your organizational efficiency. The solution may be replacing or resizing your fleet, outsourcing printing requirements, or realigning your employees’ printing usage patterns. Whatever it is, your optimal solution will depend on the unique printing requirements of your business. PRINT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY Print management is the concept of combining all printing via copiers, fax machines and traditional printers under a single strategy to manage and optimize their use. A print management strategy will help you manage the printing environment of your business, optimize your infrastructure, and improve workflow processes. You can also outsource your print management to a business solution company to fulfill all of your printing requirements. Therefore,we are dedicated to identifying and designing systems that support your operational needs with reliable and scalable business solutions. From telephone systems to printers & copiers and network services, we provide technology hardware, support, and training for your business. read more