These days, it’s easy to question the need for copiers and other traditional office equipment. After all, more of your staff may be working from home, and digital document solutions are becoming more advanced as time goes on.

However, there’s no need to throw out your copiers and multifunction printers just yet. Paper documents aren’t going away anytime soon, and your office workflow still revolves around printed material. Here, we explain why office copiers remain a valuable asset for any small to medium-sized enterprise and the numerous benefits they provide.

Why Your Business Still Needs Copiers

Technology relentlessly marches forward, but that doesn’t mean you should leave office copiers behind. There are plenty of good reasons why copiers should remain a staple of your business, no matter where it is on the technological scale:

Copiers give your business something to fall back on in the face of technological troubles. Paper remains a robust, time-tested technology, with around 2,000 years of proven, practical use. Digital data is robust in its own way, but computer crashes and other issues that demand disaster recovery can put your company’s data at significant risk. Keeping hard copies of essential information and vital records makes data disasters a bit easier to recover from.

You may want to go paperless, but your clients have other ideas. Clients come in all forms of tech-savviness, from those who live on the cutting edge of new technology to those who rarely use computers, let alone stay abreast of the latest in tech. For example, producing PDF invoices could be a problem for clients without the software needed to view them.

Your business doesn’t just need to make copies. Depending on your business needs, your staff may also have to scan, fax, and print documents. Multifunction printers are perfect for those roles, as these office devices have built-in faxing, scanning, and copying capabilities in addition to their primary printing features.

You want to have all of your bases covered. When it comes to reaching as many clients as possible, you’ll want to have the right tools in your arsenal to achieve that goal. Without office copiers, your business will miss out on a broad swathe of potential clients, not to mention the revenue that comes from gaining new business.

Instead of giving up your office copiers, upgrading your current fleet is the smarter move for your business. In addition to enhancing your workflows, office copiers can help bridge gaps between your business and its client base, especially those who may not be familiar or comfortable with paperless technologies.

Top Benefits of Upgraded Office Copiers

Office copier upgrades come with a wide variety of benefits. For instance, a newer and more advanced copier can help you save money by reducing maintenance and upkeep costs. Here are a few other ways that upgrading can benefit your business:

Enhanced Efficiency – Equipment upgrades offer an excellent opportunity to streamline workflows and boost worker productivity. Upgraded copiers not only produce documents faster, but many devices also feature finishing options like stapling, sorting, and hole punches.

Increased Production – Upgrading also gives you access to copiers with higher page-per-minute (PPM) speeds. Simply imagine what going from a 50 PPM copier to a 130 PPM copier could do for your firm’s production capabilities.

Greater Convenience – Today’s copiers place more focus than ever on usability. Not only do multifunction machines let you print, scan, fax, and even upload documents in addition to making copies, but the user interfaces make those tasks easier to perform.

Eco-Friendly – Office copiers offer a multitude of eco-friendly features, from special modes that help reduce toner usage to options for scanning documents directly into the cloud. These features help reduce energy consumption while shrinking your business’s environmental footprint.

More Secure – You can never be too careful about handling sensitive or confidential documents. Having an office copier helps keep sensitive information away from outside hands, thereby preventing leaks and fulfilling stringent regulatory protocols. Today’s copiers also come with a multitude of safety-enhancing features, including encryption and card access.

More Ownership Options – Upon upgrading, you can choose whether to lease or purchase your office copiers. Both options have pros and cons to consider.

Reasons Why Leasing Is the Best Choice

Owning office copiers outright has its advantages, but it’s hard to pass up the benefits of leasing. Unlike purchasing, leasing comes with lower initial costs. Instead of making a significant upfront investment in newer equipment, you can minimize those costs by leasing your devices. With smaller monthly payments, you’ll have more capital with which to grow your business.

With leasing, your office equipment is no longer obsolete. You have the freedom to upgrade your copiers as needed. As a result, you’re not locked into devices that become outdated within five to ten years. Also, you’re not forced to maximize your ROI by operating office copiers well beyond their useful service life.

You’ll also receive tax benefits from leasing your office copiers. For instance, leasing lets you deduct 100 percent of the monthly payment value from your taxes, as lease payments are a pre-tax business expense. With a copier purchase, you’re limited to deducting only 40 percent of the copier’s depreciation value in the first year and 25 percent with each successive year. Simply put, leasing your office copiers gives you a bigger annual tax break.

Finally, leasing gives you a more consistent outlook when it comes to your technology budget. Costs are more predictable, and budget forecasts can be more accurate.

If new office copiers are in your Mill Creek business’s future, contact Copiers Etcetera today and speak with one of our sales specialists.