No matter how big or small your business may be, odds are that you’ll need to use a printer on a regular basis. Whether it’s for contracts, business meeting handouts, marketing materials, or basic document review, a printer is an important component of any business’s operations. But a small business’s print needs are very different from those of a large corporation, and they certainly don’t need the same kind of printer. How can you find a printer that fits your small business’s unique needs? Keep reading to find out.

Understanding Your Printing Needs

Small businesses’ print needs differ from corporations’ printing habits in a couple of key ways—primarily, in volume. Large companies are much more likely to be printing dozens of pages a day, while small companies are more likely to print just a few pages a day, or even only print documents a couple days a week. This difference in volume means that your printer doesn’t need to have a very high duty cycle (the number of pages it can print in a month), nor does it necessarily need to be an extremely fast printer, since you’re not likely to have a lot of print jobs coming at once.

For most small businesses, a basic inkjet or laser printer is usually sufficient. However, it’s very important that you’re not confusing “basic” with “low-quality,” and that’s where a very important balancing act comes into play.

Balancing Quality and Cost

As a small business, it’s particularly important that you don’t overpay for a printer. Doing so can land you with a large bill for a machine with a lot of features and capabilities you don’t need. When buying a printer for a smaller company, there are a few areas where you can settle for lower performance without impacting the quality of your printouts. These are generally duty cycle, speed, and add-on features like individual user authentication (a less important security feature when you only have a few employees). Areas you don’t want to cut corners on include image resolution, multi-functionality, and the overall durability of the machine, as these impact the printer’s performance and longevity.

Considering Additional Features

As mentioned above, there will be certain add-on features available on modern printers that won’t offer much benefit to a smaller company. The exact features you can do without will depend on your business and your specific printing habits, so review the available features carefully and determine which ones are worth the added cost.

When you take the time to consider what your priorities are and how those impact your printing habits, you can easily find a small office printer in Fairbanks, AK, that fits your needs.