Copyright (c) 2011 Alison Withers
A major talking point in the mobile phone, computing and television industries, is convergence in consumer communication products, where increasingly e-mail and download applications are now available through the mobile phone or direct to the TV.
It is not only in telecommunications that convergence is a hot topic, however. The printer and copier industry also sees opportunities for convergence - by combining several functions in one piece of equipment such as Multi-Function Printers (MFPs).
As printing technology has become more sophisticated and networkable, and with digital printing quality improving, it is now possible to create documents including their design and layout to be print-ready on a computer then send them electronically direct to a printer/copier to be turned into a hard copy.
Combining printing, copying, faxing, scanning and digital sending using a networked MFP rather than several pieces of stand-alone equipment can improve office efficiency for handling both digital and paper documents.
For the home and small business user these multi-function machines can be particularly useful, allowing for fewer pieces of equipment to save on space and cost while enabling the user to produce professional-looking documents in colour or black and white quickly and easily.
There are three main levels of sophistication with MFPs. For home users there are the AIO, or All-in-One devices, which are small desktop machines, not usually networked, that concentrate on printing and scanning, but often with additional features most likely to be important for the home, such as bundled software for organising photos and for photocopying documents.
SOHO - For Home Office/Small Office use - are slightly larger desktop or small freestanding units and have basic Print, Copy, Scan and Fax functionality with some of the more sophisticated models also having simple document storage and retrieval, and basic authentication functions.
The full MFI units are mid-sized freestanding unit, designed to be used as a central office system. They tend to focus on the printing aspect such as high speed, high quality output, and highly advanced finishing (including book creation with cover insertion and may not have all of the advanced network functionality of some of the smaller machines.
If considering adding a MFI to an existing office set-up it is important to ensure that the software that comes with the unit is compatible with existing software. Different sellers have different licensing models, that range between completely "closed" proprietary systems (which can involve large costs) to open strategies with no direct cost involved. Some of them will be able to supply a software development kit so that users can integrate communication between existing office software and the MFP. Your local printer and copier supplier should be able to advise you.
However, with all these machines, effective technical support to deal with problems is more important than it was with the previous generation of stand-alone printers.
Historically, the printer/copier would be sold as part of a computer package at zero profit or even at a discount. However, there was little or no back-up if there were problems with the printer and it usually meant that the owner found themselves dealing with a lengthy and cumbersome process of packaging and returning the machine to the manufacturer to get it fixed.
As one American-based supplier puts it printer maintenance was essentially a "customer care free zone" where there has historically been either no service support or a low cost low response or back to base outsourced maintenance.
For users of an integrated multi-function printer/copier/scanner this is unlikely to be an acceptable situation.
Multi-Function Printers can cut down on the number of pieces of equipment a small office needs, reducing costs and increasing efficiency as well as the quality of printed documents. Writer Ali Withers learns more from Firstcopy, Cambridge.
