5 Innovations to Consider When Buying a Business Printer
In the past, general all-in-one (AIO) office printers may have seemed like dreary necessities relegated to the mundane tasks of printing and scanning documents, making copies, and sending and receiving faxes. This was by design, as the requirement for robust and reliable printing solutions has been historically based on the need to stick to basics, avoiding bells and whistles. But there’s good news for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) in the market today for printing solutions: There’s an abundance of exciting, innovative technologies and features worth considering as you make your next printer purchase.
Printers have been and still are very important to businesses. A recent global study by Hewlett-Packard (HP) found that close to 70 percent of SMB owners state that their business cannot run without a printer. When buying your next office printer, consider printers that can connect to Wi-Fi-connected laptops, PCs, smartphones, and tablets. Because SMBs now expect better ink and toner monitoring, consider printers that offer timely alerts for when to replace these consumables. This can be done on printers via larger touchscreen interfaces or via ancillary smartphone applications.
The availability of convenient ink subscription services should now factor into your purchasing decision as well. There are now smart printers that can preemptively “phone home” and have cartridges mailed to your office before the old ink cartridge runs dry. The following are some innovations worth considering when choosing your next business printer.