Editorials

By Kaitlin Pendagast, Research Editor, October 6, 2014

The Mopria Alliance, a global, non-profit mobile printing organization, continues to expand its membership, with a number of Brother and Epson devices recently receiving certification. Founded in September of last year, the Alliance is made up of leading document imaging technology companies with the stated goal of providing simple wireless printing from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Brother and Epson are joining the ranks of dozens of other companies, including Canon, HP, Samsung, Xerox, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Ricoh and others.

This past July, Brother, which is now an executive member of the Mopria Alliance, launched its first Mopria-certified printers and all-in-ones: the HL-L8250CDN, HL-L8350CDW, HL-L8350CDWT, HL-L9200CDW, MFC-L8600CDW, MFC-L8850CDW and MFC-L9550CDW. These color-laser models support mobile printing solutions including Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, Brother iPrint&Scan and Cortado Workplace.

By Carl Schell, Senior Writer, September 25, 2014

“An opportunity to disrupt means an opportunity to grow,” said Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America (SEA), during his presentation at the company’s 2014 National Dealer Summit in Dallas. This simple yet telling statement was an apropos precursor to the rest of his comments, which were rife with eye-opening statistics and lofty goals.

With over 300 people from around 100 U.S. dealers in attendance, Baxter explained that not only does the company have an aggressive approach in every segment that it plays in, but it also has a track record of success in the electronics industry that few can match. Take, for instance, that Samsung is the worldwide market-share leader in six categories, including smartphones, TVs and—a surprise to most, probably—refrigerators (Baxter noted that the company has the world’s fastest-growing appliance brand); it sits in the second position for tablets. Other impressive facts about Samsung: it ships 1.5 million mobile devices every day, sells 92 TVs every minute and has filed the second most number of patents (4,676 versus IBM’s 6,809) among tech companies.

By Jessica Schiffenhaus, Associate Editor, and Marlene Orr, Senior Analyst, Printers/A4 MFPs, September 9, 2014

Data security is serious stuff. Anyone who follows the news, whether it’s financial, retail or celebrity-related, has seen countless stories regarding security breaches of personal data. At an analyst briefing in NYC, HP highlighted the importance of IT security for business and introduced a number of products and solutions to help ease the pain of the IT director trying to make printing safer for their organization.

Today business owners are doing their research when it comes to replacing their printing fleet. Companies want products that are eco-friendly, reliable, efficient and flexible. Companies are turning to standardizing their printing fleet to reduce network traffic, save space by consolidating multiple devices, lower cost and improve workflow. The most popular option for standardizing is multifunction printers (MFP). Demand for these devices has been on the rise increasing from 2.8 million in 2005 to 3.1 million in 2007. MFP’s are now offering a wide range of features to meet the needs of business owners.

Popular Features Today's Businesses Love About MFPs:

• Offers Monochrome and Color - Shipments for color MFPs increased from 246,00 in 2005 to 477,000 in 2007. When you want a machine to do it all including Wi-Fi, Ethernet, color and monochrome printing, a MFP machine does it all.
• Competitive Prices – As demand for MFP machines goes up, you would think the price would too, but you would be wrong. MFP devices are more affordable now then ever with some dealers offering leasing and renting options.
• Eco-Friendly And Saves Space - When you consolidate large pieces of office equipment into one, you will really notice the change in available space. By consolidating your printer, copier, fax, and scanner into one piece of office equipment you will use 40%-50% less floor space and decrease your electricity bill by only powering one machine. MFP’s also make being eco-friendly easier for large companies allowing double sided printing, eco-friendly mode for printing, and allowing managed print services to control unauthorized prints.
• Only Pay For What You Need – Venders now offer various models of MFP’s with a variety of features and functions. After assessing your office needs, you can order a MFP that suites your needs and budget. By consolidating your devices into one machine you also reduce the need for large support and maintenance teams.
• Boot Productivity – With a machine that can perform more then one task at once, your employees can also multitask efficiently. Giving your company access to state-of-the-art technology gives them the tools to perform at their best.

Since the release of the MFP there has been some drawback with business owners being concerned if one function breaks the whole machine breaks, but that is no longer an issue. With the benefits of the MFP meeting business needs, the demand and improvement of the MFP will increase. When you are ready to save time and maximize your resources contact us to get started!