YOU KNOW IT’S TIME TO FOR YOUR CUSTOMER TO CONNECT THEIR COPIER WHEN…
Still haven’t convinced your customer to connect his or her copier to the network? Here’s some compelling reasons for them to do so.
By Scott Cullen
It’s not like the issue of connectivity hasn’t been raised before. Office equipment manufacturers continue to release a wide variety of copier-printers that when connected to an organization’s network allow users to program and initiate copy and print jobs from their PCs just as they would on a personal or workgroup printer. But is anybody listening to their message about the benefits of connectivity or are most customers still using their copiers the way they always have?
Connectivity seems to be catching in some organizations while in others it remains a foreign concept. Connectivity rates range anywhere from 40 percent to more than 50 percent. However, those numbers can be misleading since the percentages often quoted refer to the number of customers who bought a copier with a print controller that allows the copier to connect to the network and function as a printer. That doesn’t mean they’ve actually connected the copier to their network. Rather, they may still continue to use it the same as they did their old standalone copier—as a walk-up device—even though they could derive many more benefits if it were connected.
If your customers still haven’t caught on to the connectivity concept, or been presented with compelling reasons to connect their copier to their network, this might be a good time to give connectivity another thought. We’ve contacted a number of copier-manufacturers, industry analysts and office equipment dealers and asked them to answer the question: “You know it’s time for your customer to connect their copier when…”
• “…they’re spending more for their laser printer toner cartridges than their present copier lease.”
• “…they have to buy a second fax machine to receive faxes.”
• “…they’ve run out of file cabinets and space.”
Art Post, Docusultant, Century Office Products, Middlesex, NJ
• “…when they buy their first cartridge for a printer.”
Frank Cannata, President, Marketing Research Consultants, Glastonbury, CT
• “…no one walks up to the copier anymore to make copies.”
• “…IT/IS is threatening to kick out printers because the cost per copy is too high.”
Lynn Ritter, Principal Analyst, Gartner Group/Dataquest, San Jose, CA.
• “…the office manager sends out bids to upgrade the 21-page-per-minute printer that sits next to the copier in the workgroup.”
• “…they’ve just spent 25 minutes looking for an available printer that can produce six stapled copies of a 10-page report and with a company cover sheet for a meeting that started five minutes ago.”
Bob Sostilio, President, Sostilio & Associates International, Ocala Beach, FL
• “…the toner cartridge costs more than the printer itself.”
Steve Rhorer, Director of Product Marketing, Toshiba America Business Solutions, Irvine, CA
• “…they figure out it costs less than half as much to print on than the printer sitting next to it.”
• “...they decide they only want to support one toner type in their office.”
• “...they decide most printing should be duplex (two-sided).”
• “...they want to print on paper that is larger than legal.”
• “...they want to use their copier as a scanner.”
Rich Heckelmann, Manager of Product Development, Panasonic Document Systems Co., Secaucus, NJ
• “…the line to use the copier is longer than the power cord.”
• “…office communication needs include communicating with those not in their office.”
• “…cartridge expenses for desktop printers and faxes exceed their lease payment.”
• “…they fax as often as they copy.”
• “…they print as often as they copy.”
• “…the number of users is greater than the number of copies the unit makes per minute.”
Paul Albano, Assistant Manager, Product Marketing, Canon U.S.A., Lake Success, NY
“…they find themselves printing out one set on their printer and then making multiple copies of it on the copier.”
“…they get tired of replacing the toner cartridge so often (‘I thought I was supposed to get 5,000 pages out of this!’).”
“…they want to have better service by having the copier "talk" directly to your service department.”
“…they are tired of the copier, fax, printer, (and scanner?) taking up so much space in their office.”
“...they are tired of being limited to 20 or 30 something pages per minute.”
Paul Wharton, Product Marketing Manager, Panasonic Document Systems Co., Secaucus, NJ
• “…if they stand at their copier and can reach a printer within six steps.”
• “…they find themselves creating legal and ledger-size documents and then having to reduce them in order to print on their letter-size printer.”
• “…you find yourself loading paper into your printer every two or three days.”
Richard Mattina, President, Digital Marketing Group, Inc., Chappaqua, NY
• “…they’re tired of spending a fortune on printer cartridges without knowing how many prints they’re making.
• “…they realize that they’ve just taken the prints from the printer to make stapled sets by running them on the copier.”
Bill Wallace, President, Action Business Systems, Baltimore, MD
• “…they have a computer or network to connect to. My customers will tell you that connecting a copier to the network is a no brainer and there’s no way they would go back. The owner will say it makes economic sense and makes employees more productive. Employees will tell you it makes their jobs easier.”
Bob Moyer, Document Process Consultant, RJ Young Co., Nashville, TN
• “…they want to lower their operating costs. This is increasingly the case as customers move up in speed, especially with copiers running 45 pages per minute and faster.”
• “…they need more paper handling capabilities. Copiers generally have a more varied range of finishers and booklet makers, and these have higher output capacities than those found on printers.”
• “...they need better asset utilization. Most copiers are underutilized, so adding printing increases the value that the machine provides to the business.”
Jon Bees, Editor, Better Buys for Business, Glastonbury, Conn.
• “…somebody on their staff says, ‘I'm going to the copier; be back in half an hour.’”
• “…their company's Kinko's bill exceeds payroll as a budget line item.”
• “…all they do is copy.”
Mark Pollack, vice president of product marketing, Ricoh Corp., West Caldwell, NJ
• “…the machine is being used within a workgroup/departmental environment. In a workgroup/departmental environment, users are concentrated within a limited area and should have quick and easy access to a centralized machine to retrieve copy, print and fax jobs. By consolidating multiple office functions requirements into a digital copier, users can create valuable workspace, lower expenditures and increase efficiency by utilizing the high print speed of the workgroup machine.
• “…if document management is a critical business function. Many industries are requiring traditional paper documents to be made available digitally – both to public and private parties. This creates the need for conversion of paper documents to digital format and then indexed, stored and available through a variety of search methods. The addition of single-function, high-volume scanners and additional trained staff is usually not a viable solution, so companies must find ways to use existing equipment and staff to meet these new requirements. By incorporating scanning features available on most digital copiers, customers can convert large volumes of paper documents into digital files quickly and without extensive training. Existing copiers can also be used as a ‘digital gateway’ into document management software solutions that assist in the paper to digital conversion, but can also index, secure and distribute these documents as well.”
Stephen Boone, Marketing Manager, Muratec, Plano, Texas
“…they continuously complain that their printer is acting up again.”
”…they're running a set on your printer and then walking over to the high-speed copier to hole punch, fold and staple ten more sets.”
“…they want to reduce output costs as well as consolidate and better manage their fleet.”
Bill Cassidy, Product Marketing Manager, Monochrome MFPs, Kyocera Mita, Fairfield, NJ
• “…you want a one-stop, full service and maintenance agreement for all your printers, copiers, scanners, and facsimile devices.”
• “…you want to reduce your training costs by offering a consistent software and user interface across your office equipment.”
• “…you want to minimize your internal support cost through remote management.”
• “…you want to leverage your organization’s e-mail capability to reduce your facsimile transmission costs.”
• “…you want to replace your paper-based filing with an electronic filing solution, thereby reducing soft and hard dollar costs associated with filing, storing and retrieving archived documents.”
• “…you want multiple, distributed scanning stations.”
• “…you want to easily track utilization by device, user or account, all from your desktop.”
• “…you simply want to increase your office’s productivity.”
{Vince Jannelli, product marketing manager, Sharp Document Solutions Company of America}
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