Copier Hard Drives are One Part of Data Security!

You may have seen the video we recently featured on copier data security and now are scrambling for a way to be sure your hard drive in your copier is protecting your company’s critical data.  Many copier companies are beginning to see this is a good opportunity for marketing (much like the “green initiatives” were 2 or 3 years ago.)  These companies want to talk about their “Data Security Kits” or their disk overwriting on their copiers, but this is a problem that actually requires discipline and effort to actually address.  The simplistic view that the hard drive of the copier is really all that puts it at risk is a bit naive and if you only address this one concern, you may find you are still exposed!

Think of data security as a fence.  The copier, if it is sold correctly and installed correctly will have a fence around all of the malicious threats against your company.

If all you do is address the hard drive, what other threats are you still vulnerable to?

• If you purchase the data security kits and they are not installed, enabled and tested, you may be paying for something that isn’t even working.
• If you have a maliciously intended employee, how do you stop them from scanning critical company information to their own E mail address?
• Does your network card and fax card come on the same board?  There is a data security threat there
• Does the copier encrypt the data as it receives it in case you lost power (or it died) and then those documents are also protected?
• Does it use the https protocol rather than the insecure http protocol?

All in all, copier security is not just dealing with the hard drive.  It is, in its most elemental form, simply treating the copier like a laptop, a PC or any other item you deal with on your network!

Please give us a call if you are curious about copier security or data security here in Denver!  If you are a copier buyer in Denver, ultimately, data security is your problem and responsibility, we are just here to help you out!

There are many copier manufacturers who are doing “direct sales” these days.  There are associated benefits and detriments to purchasing from a manufacturer direct.  First of all, what copiers can you buy direct?  Xerox copiers, Lexmark copiers, HP copiers, Ricoh copiers, Canon copiers, Oce copiers, Toshiba copiers, Konica Minolta Copiers, the list gets endless.  So why buy from a manufacturer?  Conversely, what are disadvantages?

Advantages of buying a copier from a manufacturer:

• When there is a lemon, they are able to swap out and usually do it quicker
• Their set up engineers often are better at independent reps because they are just dealing with one brand rather than 4, they can learn them better
• They tend to stock a few more parts

Disadvantages:

• Customer service takes a hit in most cases, you get to call to India before you get a real service call going
• They tend to lack loaner devices or are unwilling to deploy them
• They are more rigid on contractual terms
• They are often more expensive using “canned” pricing rather than using special pricing so they can beat the competition.

So, why do manufacturers want to sell direct at all?  Profits.  If they can make an extra $1,000 on a copier deal and not share, that can be appealing.  The problem for them is if they get too aggressive selling direct, every reseller they work with will start switching their installed base with competition.  HP has been experiencing this a lot more over the last few years, so they are losing some printer market share.  Why?  No one can make money and people usually like to work with someone local!

If you are looking for a copier in Denver, please give us a call!

How to Throw Away a Lot of Cash on a Denver Copier...

Sometimes it seems people are specifically looking for ways they can throw away money on their copier or color copier in Denver.  I try and always approach my sales as to what would I want to do if I were in the customer’s position.  I guess it is simply trying to apply the golden rule.  However, this method is not common, so people are naturally suspicious of advice.  Who can blame them?

One thing you can do which will cost you a lot of extra money on your copier in Denver is to sign up for the new lease well before the end of the current term.  Here’s why:

• Banks expect to get all the money for amounts they have financed on loans (so the payments will not be “forgiven”), your remaining payments will be rolled into the new lease.
• When you buy a good copier in Denver, it should be able to last for the entirety of it’s lease.  If it can’t, you bought a bad copier and simply rolling into a new lease means you are trusting the same people who got you here in the first place
• People are likely to do this when there are copier problems and therefore don’t take the time to really look at the new lease.

These are the best reasons to avoid this pattern.  If you are needing a copier in Denver, please give us a call!

Are You Paying too Much for Tabloid?

If you have recently got a quote from a Denver Copier dealer, you will know that size matters in terms of copier costs.  A Tabloid (11 X 17) capable copier in general costs twice as much as a copier that does letter/legal paper!  So, if you have been wanting a great deal or a fast copier, make sure you pay attention to the max paper size the machine can handle.  You may actually need the machine to be tabloid capable, and if that is the case, then you certainly don’t have to read this whole article on buying a copier in Denver!

We sell copiers in Denver that will handle tabloid paper, we also sell letter/legal capable copiers.  In this market, a copier company in Denver needs to have both!  We just want to make sure you do not spend an extra $3,000 because you buy the wrong size of copier for your needs!

What to do when your copier rep is laid off...

Your copier rep in Denver has just been laid off or they are quitting for greener pastures elsewhere.  This is always a frustrating time because in general people don’t like copier reps really well so when you find a good one, it really stinks to lose them.  If your copier rep in Denver has been laid off or has quit, there are a few things you need to do before it is too late!

First of all, in any business relationship, there are always unspoken modes of operation.  Maybe your copier rep knows you won’t pay for shipping, so they take care of this detail for you.  Maybe you need to have everything in a formal PO, maybe you overpaid on something, so they have been giving you cheaper toner.  Whatever arrangements you have made, it is wise to get these into writing (It is wise to do even if they are not quitting!).

I know it feels awkward to ask your rep to send an E mail outlining these procedures.  If you don’t it is unlikely the copier company will honor these special arrangements.  You will get frustrated and probably find a new copier company “because they don’t do things right.”

If you are looking for a new copier company in Denver, please give us a call.  We will do everything we can to give you a good copier buying experience!

Another Dishonest Ploy from Copier Reps

You may be nearing the end of your copier lease and you are hearing your copier rep sing a song of “bigger, better, at the same price.”  It sounds great at first, after all, why not go faster and be able to do more and if you can do it at the same costs as you currently have, all the better.  Here is the problem, you are probably paying too much for your copier in Denver!

Let’s change the product to illustrate the point.  You go to your local Starwhatever coffee house and let’s say they are charging you $8.00 per cup of coffee.  (It seems like they do sometimes) Anyway, this is way too much, and them promising to give you 32 oz instead of 20 oz does not make the $8.00 cost a good deal.  A good deal is based on fair market value and what you get for that value.

When you are buying a copier in Denver, don’t get suckered into thinking that just because the copier is faster than what you already have for the same price, that the new copier is a good deal.

Copier Rentals in Denver

Now you know you are going to need a new copier in Denver, but you are not really wanting to commit to a $10,000 to $12,000 copier right now.  You could also look at cheap copiers in Denver, but do you really want to deal with the bad quality?  Ultimately, you may want to consider a copier rental in Denver!  Why?  Because you aren’t stuck in a long term copier contract, but you also don’t have to deal with a bad copier.

Copier rentals are perfect for locations where you may be thinking about opening a new office, but aren’t sure if it will be successful or not.  Maybe you find that you are going to go ahead and have a large 6 month project.  These are circumstances where copier rentals in Denver make sense.  Who knows, maybe you are just going to be doing a show or a convention…  These are all good times to get quotes on a copier rental. 

When is a bad time?  When you know you are going to be using the copier in Denver long term.  This is when a copier rental in Denver is rather silly.

Our Favorite Lexmark Product!

When you sell as many brands of printers and copiers as we do, it gets a bit overwhelming at times trying to keep up on all of the options.  As of today, we sell HP Copiers, Kyocera Copiers, Copystar Copiers (same as Kyocera), Ricoh Copiers, Lexmark Copiers, Okidata Copiers, Xerox Copiers and a few other copiers here and there.  It gets overwhelming because of the sheer volume of devices out there.  If we look at Lexmark, for instance, here is what is in their product line along with a little summary of some of the devices…

Lexmark Black and White Printers:

Lexmark E120 -Small office or personal use only

Lexmark E260/E360 – Still for small office use.  Maybe 2 reams a month or so of paper.

Lexmark E460 — Still small office, up to about 2,500 sheets of paper a month.

Lexmark T65o Series, This series contains the Lexmark T650, the Lexmark T652, and the Lexmark T654 printers.  These are god high volume black and white printers which we would feel comfortable having up to 15,000 pages a month printed on.

Lexmark Color Printers:  There are a bunch more printers in this lineup!

Lexmark C540 Series, includes the C540, the C543 and the C544 printers.  These are solid low use devices.  These get expensive if you do a lot of color printing so that’s not recommended.

Lexmark C734, Lexmark C736, and Lexmark C780 and Lexmark C782 are excellent color printers for a mid sized office.  They compete well with the HP Laserjet 4700 series. The cost per print is reasonable, but not the best in the market.

Lexmark C935 color printer.  This used to be a Xerox printer as you will find it looks very similar to the Xerox Phaser 7760 or the Xerox Phaser 7750.

Now these are just the laser printers of one brand.  When you multiply this by 7, you might be able to see how this can get confusing.  This is why we built our free printer comparison tool (to the right of the page…) 

Please give us a call if you need a printer or copier in the Denver area.

Xerox Copier Denver

Let's Be Thankful Before Buying Copiers in Denver

Yes, we are a copier company in Denver, but this is really the time of year where buying a copier in Denver is secondary to being grateful for what we have and showing thanks to those we love.  Let’s be real, in 20 years, who will care if a copier was 20 pages a minute or 75 pages a minute?  These things, though important to help a business be efficient with copying needs, is not what we look back on at the end of our days.

Who looks back and says, “man, I wish I would have bought that Konica Minota copier rather than that Sharp copier when I owned that company in Denver!”

These pieces of technology are fleeting, they fail, they die.  Really, they are not that much different than we are.  We all have the same end as these pieces of equipment at the end of the day.  This is why it is important to take inventory of what we have and give thanks!  You may have differing religious views, different philosophical views, but really, I would assume we all can find something we can be grateful for this holiday season.

Of course we will help you buy a copier.  Sometimes a copier purchase in Denver is not the most important thing in the world.  I am just hoping I can remind you of this simple fact!

Don't Have Your Head in the Sand for a Copier Purchase?

Most people are concerned with offending their copier rep by getting a competitive quote.  Instead of asking some tough questions, they don’t have the time to really look at quotes and see exactly what they are getting charged for.  If you are in the market for a copier, here are some things to ask your copier rep.

1. Does this copier create ozone? Most will in relatively small amounts, there are a few “green models” that don’t.
2. What happens if I do full color copies all the time?
3. Is installation included?  How much is being added to my quote for this service? 
4. How many PM calls are expected given my workload?

Thes questions will start opening some doors for your Denver Copier purchase.  If you have other questions about purchasing a copier in Denver, give us a call!