Office Document Strategies Blog

Are A4 MFP Printers Taking Over Burlington?

Posted by Lee Kirkby on Wed, Oct 6, 2010 @ 17:10 PM

A4 (letter/legal) mfp printers have been around for a couple of years now offering full functionality.  The industry has debated whether they will eventually take over the market of A3 (ledger capable) mfps due to their lower price, smaller footprint and a growing focus on printing vs traditional copying.

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Topics: Multifunction Printer, MFP, Copier, colour multifunction printer

Has Your Business Copier (MFP) Lease Been Rolled?

Posted by Lee Kirkby on Thu, Sep 16, 2010 @ 09:09 AM

 What does rolling your business copier (MFP) lease mean?  This is the practice of encouraging a lease holder to replace their copier or MFP with a new unit prior to the end of the current lease.  It is a common practice for some companies and can lead to significant additional cost for lessees.  

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Topics: Multifunction Printer, MFP, cost of colour, Copier, colour multifunction printer, cost of printing

New MFP Printer in Burlington or Anywhere Else? Lease or Buy?

Posted by Lee Kirkby on Wed, Sep 15, 2010 @ 16:09 PM

  Getting a new MFP?  Should you buy it or lease it?  There are as many thoughts on this topic as there are finance people in businesses.

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Topics: Multifunction Printer, MFP, Colour printer, cost of colour, Copier, colour multifunction printer, cost of printing

Kyocera Canada Introduces FS-3140MFP Letter/Legal Device.

Posted by Lee Kirkby on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 @ 08:08 AM

Many MFP manufacturers are trying to catch up with the market with introductions of more powerful letter/legal MFP devices.  Kyocera Canada has recently joined the club with the introduction of two units based upon their strong FS-3920 monochrome laser printers.

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Topics: Multifunction Printer, Scanning, MFP, Copier, cost of printing

Buying and Using Your Next MFP for Burlington and Hamilton SMB's

Posted by Lee Kirkby on Tue, Jul 6, 2010 @ 13:07 PM

  Sometimes we come across some great articles which offer real value to others.  Recently I was reading the blog of a colleague called Art Post who is a sales professional in the office document strategies industry.  He is located in New Jersey.  His two recent blog articles are so timely and right on the mark, that I though it would be worthwhile for our readers to be directed to them.

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Topics: Multifunction Printer, MFP, Copier, office document strategy

Hamilton and Burlington Copier Document Security

Posted by Lee Kirkby on Mon, May 31, 2010 @ 14:05 PM

Much has been made about the CBS News report on digital copier hard drive security.  I have had discussions with several of our clients who were asking if they should be concerned.  We have advised them this is a manageable process.  In some ways it is similar to  shredding paper documents when they come to the end of their useful life.
 
The concerns raised have been known for several years and are similar to concerns with computer hard drives at the end of life of a computer.  None of the brands we carry were part of the subject of the report.

Multifunction printer manufacturers have responded to the need to provide security in several ways:
  •  some have made removable hard drives available as options
  •  all major manufacturers offer some form of security option which will provide levels of encryption and file removal
  •  there are reformating options which are available through the service settings on machines which will overright the hard drive and return the device back to factory settings.
As a vendor of these devices we provide various levels of response to meet the varying needs of our clients:
  1. at minimum we reformat drives at the end of a lease and return the multifunction copier back to factory specs.
  2. for some brands we can remove the hard drive from the device, connect it to a computer and use drive overwrite software to wipe the data more securely.
  3. for clients who have concerns about security during the active use of the device we will configure equipment with the encryption options available from our suppliers, Kyocera, Samsung and Ricoh.
  4. if clients are exceptionally concerned about the potential of data on hard drives then we will offer to the client the ability to "buy" the hard drives from the device and we will put new drives into the device before returning.  The costs of this option will vary depending upon how the manufacturer has dealt with their hard drive design.  In some instances the drives have proprietary boot formats and are only available from the vendor leading to a more costly replacement.
While we have not experienced the level of data exposure that was shown in the news coverage the issue of client data security is important for every business. Responding to ensure procedures are in place to protect this information is important to everyone concerned.  When laptops, cell phones or desktop computers are recycled at end of life it is important that users are aware that all of these devices have non volatile memory locations which need to be cleared and data removed.  Print devices of all types which use hard drives to carry out their work are simply subject to the same precautions.

Working with your vendor to establish the right mix of security, cost and information protection is an important part of any acquisition in this digital world.  

Lee K
 
  Did you buy the data security kit with your new MFP?  Is this a concern for you? 
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Topics: Multifunction Printer, Document, Copier, colour multifunction, privacy, colour multifunction printer

Is Your Printer Tall, Dark & Handsome or a Multifunction Copier?

Posted by Linda Painter on Thu, Apr 8, 2010 @ 16:04 PM

Is your printer- tall , dark, and handsome with ink on his hands; or short, squatty and gray and sits on the end of your desk and puts ink on paper?

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Topics: Multifunction Printer, MFP, Printer, Copier