Tech tips: Looking good on paper

The paperless office is a nice idea in theory. But in practice, most financial advisors – and other business people – are still dealing with printed material on a daily basis. From documents for clients to sign to custom presentations, paper is still a big part of your work. So, choosing a printer is an important decision.

One of the first decisions to make is which kind of technology you want your printer to be based on. There are two main options for a financial advisory office: inkjet and laser. The former sprays ink from a cartridge onto the paper, while the latter transfers a powder-based toner onto the page and then “fuses” it with a heating element.

Historically, laser printers have been more expensive than their inkjet alternatives, but the former’s prices have come down in recent years. Today, you can pick up a multi-function colour laser printer that offers copy, scan, and fax capabilities in a single package for less than $200.

– THE CARTRIDGE TRAP

Before you rush out to buy a cheap machine, though, consider the hidden overheads. The capital outlay on the printer may be low, but the real cost comes in the consumables. Printers use inkjet or toner cartridges (depending upon the underlying technology), and these can cost a considerable amount.

For example, a quick look at the Staples website shows an HP LaserJet Pro 200 model, offering colour laser printing and all the other features, for under $180. But cartridges for that printer cost as much as $118 each – and you have to buy two cartridges to cover black and the various colours. The colour cartridge yields up to 1,800 pages, so you are paying at least 6.5¢ to print each page on which a colour is used – and probably more, as your mileage may vary based on the amount of ink you’re putting onto each page.

This expense means you should first consider how much you will be printing on a monthly basis before making a decision about how much to invest in a printer. Measure this volume manually or invest in some printer-management software to measure it for you. The more you print, driving down consumables costs becomes more important. You can achieve this goal by investing more capital in a printer with better efficiency and performance.

Typically, laser printers offer better ink efficiency than inkjet printers do. And higher-end laser printers will offer better efficiency than their cheaper counterparts. Always look at the cost of replacing a cartridge and its print yield when researching a printer model. It is possible to buy refilled cartridges for a lower price; but, in many cases, the printer vendor won’t support this option – and a bad purchase could lead to problems with hardware or print quality.

You may be able to get away with a monochrome printer, which could increase your printing efficiency. However, any client-facing documents, particularly marketing material or even letters with a logo-based letterhead, may require the colour option.

– WORK-GROUP MODELS

Laser printers have another advantage over their inkjet counterparts: speed. Lasers can churn out printed pages far faster on average, which will be important in a busy office. Team size therefore should be a consideration when making a printer purchase. For larger teams, a work-group printer becomes a better option. These devices are networkable, and almost always are laser models.

In a work-group environment, in which high volume is a key characteristic, assessing the printing cost per page becomes even more important. Also, look at other characteristics – including access control, so that an office manager can control who prints to the device – to keep costs low.

Work-group printers typically offer a wired ethernet-based connection, and may forgo wireless connectivity altogether in anticipation of a heavy data load on the network. Wired ethernet can support more documents than wireless without any visible impact in performance.

Another thing to look at in an office printer is memory. If your team wants to print large, high-resolution graphics (often the case with custom wealth-management reports, for example), then the printer will need to hold that data in its memory while printing. Therefore, you should not skimp on the amount of included random access memory (RAM). Sizing the memory properly for the printing throughput will optimize performance.

– MULTI-FUNCTION PRINTERS

Like desktop printers, many work-group printers feature multi-function printer (MFP) capabilities designed to minimize the device’s physical footprint and cost. A single device offering multiple functions in one seems like a steal. Low costs can be deceiving, though. MFPs typically do only one thing at a time, meaning you can’t scan with it while you print on it. This limitation can be a problem if more than one person needs to use the printer at the same time for different purposes.

The other issue with an MFP is maintenance. If the device stops working for some reason, then team members in the office will lose the ability to scan and copy, as well as print. And there also is the danger that an MFP, if not properly researched, may offer lower-quality functions than a dedicated device for each task. This problem will be less of an issue for work-group printers.

Consider other features when choosing a device, including full “duplex printing.” Depending upon the kinds of documents you want to print, double-sided printing may be a useful tool. This ability also saves on paper and storage space.

Finally, consider where and what device you will be printing from. Some printers now offer the ability to print directly from mobile phones and other devices.

Apple’s iOS has a feature called AirPrint, which lets you print wirelessly from an Apple device to a printer on the same network.

Google has Cloud Print, a service that sends material to a printer over the web. This feature enables you to print on your office printer wherever you are and from any device. Existing printers can be configured to work with this online, Google-hosted service (which doesn’t store a copy of the printed file after it has been printed).

Or you can buy a “cloud-ready” printer that connects wirelessly to the cloud right out of the box.