Different Needs for Different Departments: Picking the Perfect MFP

It would be nice (especially for small business) if all multifunction printers were created equal. The fact is, some printers just work better for certain situations. Business-class network printers are much more sophisticated than consumer-class printers. They’re capable of large-volume production. Some focus on speed, while others specialize in full-color clarity or wide format. 

Here’s how to shop for MFPs to determine the best fit for your business’s needs.

MFP for Business Operations

Business Operations is the bulk of any business. Internal departments like customer service, tech support, accounting, human resources, data entry, and mailroom are all part of Business Operations. These are the business units typically thought of as the “corporate office,” and handle all the back-end operations. While color printing may occasionally happen, the real need is for fast, quality black-and-white copies.

These business units need production laser multifunction printers made from companies like Konica Minolta, Xerox, Lexmark, and HP. 

The Xerox IGEN 5 Press is a high-end workhorse for black-and-white prints. It can print up to 1,000,000 pages per month on a variety of print sizes at speeds of up to 150 pages per minute. It’s the perfect printer for mailroom or document control units. One of the best features is its built-in security features that require users to log in for printing. This helps pinpoint which units are using resources and budget accordingly.

Konica’s Bizhub 958 is also a high-throughput black-and-white production MFP capable of print speeds up to 95 pages per minute. It’s ideal for general office use and can be the sole printer for a small business, while print shops and larger businesses can take advantage of multiple.

Because these printers are designed to print large volumes at high speeds, they make the office more efficient.

MFP for Marketing, Sales, and Engineering

There are three departments in a business that have specialty printing needs. Marketing and sales need access to high-quality color printing. Because they often print brochures, magazines, coupons, and other physical items that go directly to customers, these printers need to handle a variety of sizes and materials with preciseness and a high dpi print resolution.

HP’s LaserJet Pro MFP prints, scans, copies, and faxes in full color with a great resolution of 2400 x 1200 dpi. This provides professional-quality color photos as fast as 20ppm. The HP Designjet Xz6200 Production Photo Printer takes this same quality and speed up to 42 inches wide format for full-color graphics up to 2400 x 1200 dpi.

Meanwhile, the Xerox D95A is the perfect large-format, black-and-white printer for engineering. These departments often print large-scale blueprints that need to be high-resolution to meet production and quality needs. D95A produces up to 700,000 pages per month at speeds of up to 125ppm.

MFP for Customer-Facing Operations

Finally, there are customer-facing printers that require an extra level of print security. Internal office printers should already be secured by the business’s device management and security processes. In addition, all business-grade MFPs come with OEM security monitoring software. So long as the network they’re attached to is secure, they’re exposed only to internal employees that can be trained, monitored, and disciplined.

Customers are different. A self-service customer is less likely to care about wasted materials or machine integrity. These users have less training, and customers can’t be disciplined like employees. In addition, customers need to print from a wide variety of sources, from USB drives to email, Bluetooth, and more. 

HP’s Enterprise 600 Series MFPs represent the pinnacle of production for quality and security. It has enhanced workflow capabilities to enable printing directly from SharePoint, OneDrive, Office 365, email, and even straight from an iPhone or Android smartphone through WiFi.

A recent partnership with Xerox also opens HP’s printers to Xerox’s app ecosystem, which includes support for Salesforce and more. These full-color LaserJet MFPs are perfect to set up a network connection between your CRM, POS platform, and any other customer-tracking tools.

Get Help Finding the Right MFP

This is just a small sampling of the multifunction printers available on the market. These companies make specialty printers designed for every size team from solo entrepreneurs and small businesses all the way up to large enterprises.

MFPs are a major purchase for any company, and it takes due diligence to ensure the needs of the office are met. Pushing an MFP too far can be a costly mistake.

Contact Edwards Business Systems today to learn which multifunction printers will keep business running smoothly.