If you run a small office, the print decision usually comes down to three things: getting the specification right, knowing what it will cost each month, and having one person to ring when it stops.
This page is about how to get those three right without over-buying.
The most common mistake is over-specifying
Small offices are routinely sold more machine than they need. A device built for a busy department will run happily in a six-person office, but you pay for the capacity whether you use it or not — in the agreement, in the accessories, and sometimes in the floor space.
The opposite failure is just as expensive. A device sized for occasional use, put under real daily load, becomes the thing everyone queues at and the thing that keeps breaking.
Getting this right is arithmetic, not judgement. It needs:
- your actual monthly volume, mono and colour, from your current meter readings or invoices
- the paper sizes you genuinely use — A4 only, or A4 and A3
- how many people share the device, and whether they are all in at once
- the finishing you use — stapling, hole punching, booklets — as opposed to the finishing that sounded useful
- what you scan, and where it needs to end up
If you do not have your current volumes, that is the first thing to find. Most existing agreements bill on meter readings, so the numbers already exist.
One accountable supplier
The arrangement that causes the most friction in small offices is a split one: equipment from one place, consumables from a second, support from a third, and a fourth party who set up the network. When something fails, each can reasonably point at the others.
We supply the device, the service and the consumables with a single route in; equipment purchase or lease is arranged separately from the cost-per-page service agreement, as set out in your quotation. Every service contract covers the same essentials, and a service call is triaged the same day it is raised — by phone, remotely, or on site, depending on the fault.
Our service-system data records a 4-hour average response time across service requests; the nationwide service and support page explains how service response works.
Cost you can plan for
Small businesses generally want to know the monthly number and what is inside it.
Equipment can be paid for over an agreed period rather than purchased outright. What that costs depends on the device, the accessories, whether it is new or refurbished, the value and term of the agreement, and the provider’s assessment. We do not publish rates, because a rate quoted without those inputs is not a rate — it is a guess. The variables are listed on the finance and leasing page, along with the questions worth asking before you sign anything.
That page also states plainly that it is general information, not an offer of finance, financial advice, or confirmation that finance will be available.
Where print costs need to be attributed rather than just totalled — to a client, a matter, a job — that is a software question rather than a hardware one, and it is covered under apps and software.
Room to change
The reason "and growing" is in the title is that small organisations change shape faster than their equipment does. Two years into a five-year agreement you may have twice the staff, a second office, or a workflow that has gone from paper to scanned-and-filed.
Worth establishing before you commit:
- what happens if your volumes rise well above the agreed level
- whether the device can take the accessories you might add later, or whether that means a different machine
- what changing the agreement actually involves
- whether the scanning destinations you use today will still be the ones you use next year
None of that requires buying for a business you do not have yet. It requires knowing which decisions are reversible and which are not.
If you are just starting out
New businesses often ask whether they should buy a small desktop printer and be done with it. Sometimes that genuinely is the right answer, and we will say so.
It stops being the right answer when several people are sharing it, when you are scanning documents you need to keep, when consumable costs start to mount, or when you need the thing to be reliable rather than merely present. At that point a properly sized multifunction device on a managed agreement usually costs less to run and takes less of your attention.
Security is not only a large-organisation concern
A four-person accountancy practice handles client financial data. A small legal firm handles matters that must not sit uncollected in an output tray. The obligations do not scale with headcount.
The relevant controls — user authentication before a job reaches paper, secure print release, AES 256-bit hard drive encryption for data at rest — are described on the print security page and are available depending on the model, licences and configuration supplied. Which of them you need depends on what you handle, not on how many people you employ.
What we supply
New Toshiba e-STUDIO and Develop multifunction devices across A4 and A3, mono and colour, and refurbished equipment where that suits the budget better. Accessories pair to specific models, so the finishing you want is part of the specification conversation, not an afterthought.
A worked example
W.E. Jameson & Son, an animal feed manufacturer in Masham established in 1930, replaced an unreliable and expensive print arrangement with Toshiba A3 and A4 multifunction printers under a fully managed service. Their case study sets out what changed and by how much, in their own figures.
Our published case studies are Toshiba installations and we describe them as such. Develop is part of our current new-device range; we have no Develop case studies to show yet and will not imply otherwise.
Next step
Tell us your current monthly volumes and what is not working. If you do not have the volumes, tell us how many people share the device and what you print most.
Request a quote — the form asks for paper size, colour and rough monthly volume, which is most of what we need to give you a relevant answer.
You may also find it useful to look at your sector or your location.