The average employee prints over 10,000 pages per year.
That adds up to $750 per employee on print costs alone. Add the fact that over 50% of IT helpdesk calls are about printers you can see why it is important to take serious consideration when buying office equipment.
This short guide will look at what you need to consider before you sign a contract with an office equipment provider. Take a look at what you need to know before you rent or buy.
Table of Contents
1. Price
The forefront of everyone’s minds when buying new office equipment is the price. You need to think about more than just the price you pay at purchase and consider how much the equipment will cost to maintain.
Consumable cost also needs to be thought about as this will be a major ongoing cost during the machine’s lifetime. Consider how much it will cost to replace parts and consumables but also the lifespan of these items. Will they still be available in the near future, or is the technology moving forward soon?
Speak to your professional leasing company for more advice as they will advise you about upcoming changes in the future. For example, you can find out more about leasing copiers at https://supremeofficetechnology.com/lease-copier/.
2. Environmental Impact
Protecting the environment is something that eco-friendly offices need to take seriously in the modern age. Consider whether it will be easy to recycle the equipment at the end of its lifetime.
Different equipment will have different energy efficiency ratings. You can check these ratings with the supplier or on the Energy Star website. Less efficient devices will also use more power and water, costing you more in the long term.
3. The Users
Think about your end-users and how they will be interacting with the equipment. Will it be safe for them to use, or do you need to implement a training program? If training is required, who will be responsible for providing it?
You also need to consider whether you will give users unfettered access to equipment like photocopiers and printers. Some eco-friendly office equipment will provide limiting software so that users can not overprint and waste resources.
4. Technical Support
With more devices becoming more complex technical support is now required as standard. Again this raises the question of whether you will have someone on call for technical support or whether you can train somebody in-house for smaller issues.
Obviously, if the machine requires major repair, then a third-level support team will need to come in and fix or replace the device. Again, you need to consider whether all of this is covered in a maintenance contract.
5. The Contract
The final step in your purchasing process will be signing a contract with the office equipment provider. However, before you sign a service contract, you need to consider the following:
- How long will the contract be?
- Will it be possible to auto-renew?
- Are there any fees for the cancellation of the contract?
- What is included under maintenance?
Make sure you get clear answers to all these questions before you sign on the dotted line. If you are unsure, ask for more clarification.
Make Buying Office Equipment Easy
There are several things you need to consider when buying office equipment. Hopefully, this article has given you some food for thought about what to think about before you sign that contract.
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