Posts filed under ‘HP Printers’

Ten Things to Consider When Buying a Multifunction Printer: Article 4

Know How Easy It Is To Connect To An Existing Network 

For most businesses the acquisition and supply/service price for a new multifunction printer is a only small part of the potential cost.   If your new device won’t easily integrate into your existing network you’ll pay IT costs that far outweigh the differences in price between a good machine and the best one!  Attend to features first, then price.   Here are a few tips to help you keep you focused before buying.

A) Will you need to train your staff?  How easy is the device to setup and use?  If you will need training will the seller, when needed, come out and help.  Ask this now, before you buy and find out it isn’t available.

B) How easy is the software driver to install?  The best manufacturers understand that an IT professional might not always be available to install a driver or re-configure software.  Look for easy-to-use software installation wizards that walk users through the networked driver installation.

C) Look for Easy Troubleshooting   Try calling the prospective manufacturer’s or dealers help desk.  If you get lost in the menu system, put on hold forever or reach a technician with little knowledge, you might rethink your purchase.  The best manufacturer’s have pro-actively installed software that see any problem the user might be experiencing and will pop their screen to suggest ways to troubleshoot. 

D) How Easy is it to Upgrade or Replace?  Many devices need firmware upgrades or have accessories that you can add later.  Is this easy to do?  Will the seller do it for you as needed?  Some top manufacturer’s have made it very easy to install more features.  If a tech needs to do it, be sure the seller will help at no cost.

Next topic.  Know How Easy It Is to Use.  Have any questions or comments about this article?   Visit us at DocuSense or post a reply

Previous articles:
1. Know your requirements
2. Know the Total Cost of Ownership
3. Know what third parties have to say

Upcoming articles: 
 
 5. Know how easy it is to use
 6. Know its multitasking abilities
 7. Know its bi-directional communication capabilities
 8. Know the available device management, remote intelligence, and support
 9. Know whether it provides the level of security and confidentiality you need
10. Know what software and solutions are available

Multifunction printers can help you streamline duplicated and cumbersome document processes and electronically organize, edit and archive your paper documents. With an MFP and a simple software application you can turn paper documents into electronic format and send to multiple destinations – email, document repositories, network folders, even remote printers – with a single scan.

Once you’re armed with the knowledge you’ve gathered by asking these questions, you’ll be prepared to make the right decision for your business.

Please contact us with any questions. Docusense 1-800-422-0080

April 13, 2009 at 8:30 pm 7 comments

Ten Things to Consider When Buying a Multifunction Printer: Article 3

Know What Third Parties Have to Say

It pays to look beneath the hood before you purchase a multifunction device.  The easiest way is to check on-line ratings.

Manufacturers will always paint their products in the best possible light.  That means their published speed, duty cycle, supply costs etc… will always feature best-case scenarios that rarely reflect real-world use.  So the easiest way to get another opinion is to see what the product users have to say. 

Try looking the device up on-line at retrevo.com.  This site aggregates consumer and technical reviews.  PCworld.com, Cnet.com and zdnet.com  are other sites  having product reviews as well.  Look for information regarding the actual device speed and user comments on ease of use etc. 

Understand what the experienced people in the industry are saying about the product you are researching, and you’ll make a more informed decision.

Previous articles:

1. Know your requirements
2. Know the Total Cost of Ownership

Upcoming articles: 

 4. Know how easy it is to connect to an existing network
 5. Know how easy it is to use
 6. Know its multitasking abilities
 7. Know its bi-directional communication capabilities
 8. Know the available device management, remote intelligence, and support
 9. Know whether it provides the level of security and confidentiality you need
10. Know what software and solutions are available

Multifunction printers can help you streamline duplicate and cumbersome document processes and electronically organize, edit and archive your paper documents. With an MFP and a simple software application you can turn paper documents into electronic format and send to multiple destinations – email, document repositories, network folders, even remote printers – with a single scan.

Once you’re armed with the knowledge you’ve gathered by asking these questions, you’ll be prepared to make the right decision for your business.

Please contact us with any questions. Docusense 1-800-422-0080

March 5, 2009 at 6:18 pm 5 comments

DocuSense Inks Deal with The Philadelphia Inquirer

DocuSense Inks Deal with The Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia, PA

DocuSense announced today they’ve signed a 5-year agreement with the Philadelphia Inquirer to provide print managed services for all their locations.

Under the agreement, DocuSense will be updating all of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s office printer equipment and providing a simplified “cost-per-page” billing.  “We are able to cut their office document printing costs and refresh their equipment with newer models at the same time” said Donna Melso, President of DocuSense.  “We’re reducing the variety of devices the Inquirer uses from 20 different types of equipment  to 5 basic models.” 

DocuSense will provide a monthly report showing print/copy volume and cost.  “The Inquirer wanted to get a handle on costs and spending for the equipment in all of their offices”, explained Melso.  “Using cost-per-page, DocuSense will provide this data and, at the same time, shrink dozens of monthly purchase orders and invoices to just one.  That’s Complexity Simplified.”

DocuSense (formerly Laser Supply), celebrating its 20th year, is a Hewlett Packard authorized vendor and Xerox Peak Elite authorized partner.  DocuSense consults with clients to help them understand, manage and reduce their office printing, copying and faxing costs.

For more information, contact DocuSense at 610-719-8700 or visit their website at www.docusense.com

March 5, 2009 at 10:12 am Leave a comment

How to do a cost per page calculation

In order to discover your approximate cost per page, you’ll need to know the cost of each supply and its anticipated yield.  The anticipated yield of supplies is usually based on 5% print coverage (5% print coverage is equal to about one page with 20 sentences in 12 point type).  If you typically print more than 5% coverage, your yield for each toner will be less and your supplies cost per page will be higher.  Want to find out how much coverage one of your own documents has?  Go to Free Coverage Calculator to download a 30-day trial version of software that will show you the % coverage for any of your documents.  You can also go to Page Coverage for more information on determining page yields. Don’t forget to add maintenance kits, fusers etc.., divided by their yields.   Generally, the lower the aquisition cost for the device, the higher the cost per page for supplies.  For service, take the cost of a service contract and divide it by the number of anticipated prints/copies for the period of coverage.  Total all of the supplies and service costs per page and you’ll have a total estimated service/supply cost per page. 

Acquisition cost per page is determined by taking the purchase price divided by the number of months of estimated service divided by the estimated pages you will copy/print per month.  Add the acquisition and service/supply cost per page to get total cost per page for the device.  Or, call DocuSense and we’ll help you do the calculation.

DocuSense can help with all your questions. 1-800-422-0080 we supply MFD service and solutions.

February 9, 2009 at 9:39 pm 2 comments

Ten Things to Consider When Buying a Multifunction Printer: Article 2

Know the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Cost/Value Benefits

Understanding how much the device will cost is only a small part of truly understanding expense.  Supplies and service costs will sometimes far outpace initial acquisition expense over the life of the equipment.  For example, inkjet all-in-ones are usually very inexpensive to purchase but can cost more to supply.   That can be alright if you print/copy less than 30 pages a day.  However, large amounts of pages printed on this type of device can be expensive.

For most office multifunction or printing devices, if you are buying supplies and service separately, you can check the manufacturer’s stated cost per page.  Some manufacturers understate this cost so, if you want to verify cost per page, you’ll have some math to do.  DocuSense is  known for simplying the complex and we will do this calculation at no cost for anyone interested so contact us if you want it done for you before you purchase.  Otherwise, click here to learn how you can do the calculation

Traditional leased devices sold with per-print service/supply plans can have a low service/supply cost per page.  But don’t forget to divide the anticipated monthly pages into the monthly lease to understand your acquisition cost per page.  Because they have high acquisition costs, underutilizing this type of device can be very expensive. 

TCO (total cost of ownership) encompasses more than the cost of acquisition, supplies, service etc.  TCO can also increase significantly for devices that are hard to use and maintain, are unreliable, or lack the features and capability to efficiently produce the results you need.  Quantifying the cost of unreliability or lack of features is hard to do but most experts agree that reliability, ease of use and features must be met first, then you can compare costs.  Significantly sacrificing your needs for a lower cost per page is usually a bad idea and will result in a higher TCO.

Your multifunction printer can become a useful asset in managing and controlling costs for printing and imaging, and can also add new capabilities to your organization if you choose wisely.  Making the right choice will help you move documents easily though your organization, and improve business process efficiency.

Previous articles:
1. Know your requirements

Upcoming articles: 
 
 3. Know what third parties have to say
 4. Know how easy it is to connect to an existing network
 5. Know how easy it is to use
 6. Know its multitasking abilities
 7. Know its bi-directional communication capabilities
 8. Know the available device management, remote intelligence, and support
 9. Know whether it provides the level of security and confidentiality you need
10. Know what software and solutions are available

Multifunction printers can help you streamline duplicate and cumbersome document processes and electronically organize, edit and archive your paper documents. With an MFP and a simple software application you can turn paper documents into electronic format and send to multiple destinations – email, document repositories, network folders, even remote printers – with a single scan.

Once you’re armed with the knowledge you’ve gathered by asking these questions, you’ll be prepared to make the right decision for your business.

Please contact us with any questions. Docusense 1-800-422-0080

Learn more:

February 2, 2009 at 1:26 pm 6 comments

Simplified Ordering using the DocuSense Customer Portal

DocuSense Customer Portal Makes it Easy to Order Supplies!
 

One time-saving function of the Customer Portal at DocuSense is the ability to order supplies without knowing the part number of the item you need. Customers can enter an order just by looking up the device they need to supply.  Here’s how it works.
 

Once logged in to your account, click “Enter Sales Order”.  Then click “List Equipment” The DocuSense Customer portal looks at all the items you might need to purchase for the selected device and displays them on the screen along with their yield and your negotiated price.  This is valuable for a couple of reasons.  
 

First, you might not know that a higher capacity supply is available for the equipment.  If you are looking for Hewlett Packard supply items, these supply numbers typically end in “X” or “XX” and they can sometimes double the yield of the supply item while adding only a little to the cost.  Other manufacturers like Xerox and Lexmark etc have similar higher-yielding supplies and you’ll easily see the choices listed for those items as well.  Buying increased capacity supplies is a great way to save money.
 

Second, you’ll eliminate guess-work.  We’ve done all the work for you and as long as you’ve picked the right equipment or model, you can’t make a mistake in ordering the wrong item. 
 

The DocuSense Customer Portal is up and running 24/7 and it’s very easy to use.  All you need to do is click here to get a login and password or call us at 1-800-422-0080.  
 

The Customer Portal at DocuSense:  That’s Complexity Simplified!

January 20, 2009 at 6:20 pm Leave a comment

Do You Multifunction?

The answer to this question is we all do, but do you have the right tools? Today’s work expectations are extreme and we all multitask.  Having the proper equipment is vital.  The information and technology is out there we just lack the time and patience to pursue this wealth of knowledge.  We are apt to take the long sometimes tedious road to a solution where we constantly say to ourselves, “there has to be a better way”. For the most part in life there is. It just takes time and guidance, something we all seem to have a lack of.  Hardware and software today provides many of the answers to our daily questions and can save money.

Multifunction printers copy, scan, fax and print with the tap of a single button. Multifunction printers help manage documents, reduce paper, simplify work-flow, manage forms, etc?  How many copy, print, fax, scan, and email jobs do you run each day? How many users share a printer, a copier, a scanner, a fax machine? How many machines do you have in you office? Reducing this overhead can save time and money. Take a look at some of the top brands available to you at Xerox and HP they are both in the ‘Leaders’ Quadrant in the MFPs and Printers Magic Quadrant released by Gartner in 2008. 

Software solutions designed by Sitrof work hand and hand with these machines to produce time saving, miraculous results to your document management.  DocuSense partners with all the above named players to help you find the solutions that best meet your needs.  Our motto, DocuSense, complexity simplified.

Cost per page solution is another option not often thought about. Do you know how much it costs to print one single document?  There are paper cost, toner costs, storage costs and maintenance costs and additional monthly invoices to match all of these expenses.  DocuSense can help combine all these expenses and reduce your bottom line at the same time on one contract.  Saving you both time and money.

January 19, 2009 at 6:49 pm 4 comments

DocuSense is a Woman owned Business

Makes sense.  Donna Melso, a member of (WBENC) Women’s Business Enterprise, founded Laser Supply, Inc. dba Docusense in 1989.  The company is now a GSA contractor, a Hewlett Packard partner, a member of the Xerox Peak Elite team and has stretched it’s capabilities to include printer fleet management and document solutions.  “In today’s economy you need to find ways to decrease your costs that directly impact your bottom line” said Donna Melso. 

Many companies don’t realized how much they spend to create, print, copy, file and store their documents.  Documents are a high-volume part of every business and few companies have a strategy in place to address these hidden costs.  “We have the team, tools and technology, to help you understand and manage these costs”.  DocuSense is complexity simplified!”

December 22, 2008 at 6:18 pm 1 comment

Docusense launches their exclusive blog!!!

West Chester, PA, December 22, 2009DocuSense today announced the launch of their exclusive blog, Cost Per Page Solutions, located at www.costperpage.com. This strategic internet marketing initiative follows the re-launch of their website, www.docusense.com, last month. The blog was created and launched in response to the growing industry demand for paper-reduction strategies and insight into better print cost management.  The blog will be used as a new information channel for current clients and partners as well as a resource for the latest and most comprehensive information on print solution best practices. “DocuSense prides itself on customer service excellence and so we wanted to find a way to pass along the latest information on our educational events and fleet management solutions to our clients and web community, having a dedicated blog will allow us to do that,” said Donna Melso, President of DocuSense.

With the integration of the blog RSS feed onto the new website, it is now easier than ever for clients and partners to stay current, with the ability to subscribe to the feed and automatically receive updates.  DocuSense has begun to proactively host business best practice seminars and will use the blog to announce dates and times for upcoming events. “The inclusion of the blog feed on our website will allow subscribers to come into the site [www.docusense.com] via the blog, and easily register for seminars, webinars, etc.,” commented Donna Melso, “we have great educational programs and resources available – we just needed a better way to get the word out there, and now we have it.”

About DocuSense, Inc.
DocuSense, Inc., has been a leader in innovative document management solutions since  1989. A Hewlett Packard Partner, and a Xerox Peak Elite Partner since 2002, DocuSense focuses on helping customers create a document strategy for improving cost and efficiency.  Today, DocuSense continues to serve thousands of customers of all sizes.  With so many solutions implemented and millions of pages under annual contract, DocuSense has the experience and methodology necessary to achieve manageable bottom-line savings. DocuSense is a certified HP and Xerox service and repair provider with service centers nationwide.  Find out more about DocuSense 24 hours a day, at
www.docusense.com

December 22, 2008 at 1:41 pm Leave a comment

University Of Pennsylvania Reduces Printer Waste

(more…)

December 16, 2008 at 8:06 pm Leave a comment

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