Small business copiers can easily become one of the most expensive items maintained by your business. When you factor in the initial purchase price, maintenance fees, and the expense of ink and paper, it’s easy to see how the costs add up. However, small business copiers are also an indispensable component of business operations. This means that reducing costs associated with your copier is the best way to stay within your budget while keeping your daily operation running smoothly.

Choose the right model

small business copiersThere are great copiers on the market and you may be tempted to purchase one with all the bells and whistles, such as the Konica Minolta Bizhub C554. While this may be a great choice for some offices, others may be perfectly happy with a more streamline model, like the Konica Minolta Bizhub 284. The best way to choose between the different models of small business copiers is to do an assessment of your office’s needs. Make sure you know the volume of printing your office needs to accomplish on a daily basis. If your employees are routinely printing hundreds of pages, a quick, high-volume machine will be necessary. However, if your office prints mainly receipts or letters, a more economical device could do the trick. Other things to consider are the number of people using the copier, the types of projects you need to print, and whether leased or pre-owned small business copiers are viable options. If you’re struggling to decide, contact your local copier company and ask for a professional to help you design the perfect copier system.

Color with caution

The cost of toner is a major expense across the life of small business copiers and color toner is significantly more expensive than basic black. Before you choose small business copiers that print in color, it’s worth considering whether you really need this feature. Color documents are more eye-catching and can make it easier to understand things like graphs or charts printed as part of financial reports. Additionally, if your company routinely prints photographs, marketing material, or other graphic designs, a color copier is a must. However, basic black and white documents can still be incredibly effective and save you a ton of money. Charts and graphs can easily be designed in grayscale. On the rare occasion when you absolutely need a color document, it may be more cost effective to have those documents printed at a local print shop.

Budget printer usage

Once you’ve selected the most cost effective small business copiers for your office, it can be helpful to budget the number of copies made by your employees. Konica Minolta Bizhub copiers make it easy for you to track how much is being printed each month. This works by allowing you to assign a code to each employee, department, or project. At the end of the month, you can run a report that allows you to see where the most printing is taking place and even assign dollar amounts based on department or project. You can further use these codes to give certain departments permission to use certain functions. You may allow your billing department to print only in black and white, but allow your art department to print in full color. These great features allow you to have a high level of control and to identify and correct areas where waste is occurring.

Small business copiers are an expensive, yet necessary aspect of conducting business. By choosing the right model of copier, being thoughtful about color copying, and budgeting copier usage, you can reduce the operating costs of small business copiers.