SECTION 2
Evaluating Workgroup Color Printers
While the benefits of color are easy to see, evaluating color printers for purchase and deployment into your business
can be more challenging. Based on years of experience and research into the real-world needs of color printer users,
Xerox has identified some key issues for you to consider as you conduct your color printer evaluations.
Workgroup printers are typically shared by as many as 25 people on a day-to-day basis; even more people are
likely to use it on a sporadic basis. Further, larger workgroups often comprise employees who work off of different
platforms and operating systems — such as Microsoft Windows
®
, Apple Mac
®
OS or Linux
®
— so driver support
for multiple platforms is another important factor. Further, many small- and medium-size businesses interested
in adopting color printers lack full-time IT staff — so the machines they ultimately deploy must be strong
performers with broad interoperability that are simultaneously easy to install, manage and use.
Currently, the single most common use of color printing technology is print media creation for your company’s
customers and partners. Such media includes marketing and sales collaterals, reports, proposals, user guides and
the like. As workgroup color printer utilization grows more pervasive, traditional black-and-white documents
will be transposed for color prints, which will improve end user retention and understanding of their content.
Regardless of application or environment, the following areas remain very important factors when customers
contemplate purchasing a color printer.
Evaluate Printing Performance
More than just pages per minute, the overall printing performance of a color printer indicates whether it can
support the workload of your busy employees.
Evaluate Print Quality
Think about the intended audience for the documents this printer will ultimately
produce. Is the print quality good enough to enhance your internal documents
and dazzle your customers?
Evaluate Installation
The color printer you choose must be quick and easy to install, whether
you have IT staff on hand to assist or not.
Evaluate Ease of Use
Your employees need a printer that’s simple and intuitive to
use on a daily basis: Supplies must be easy to replace and
issues must be easy to resolve.
Evaluate Management
Examine the tools available for IT administrators in larger
organizations to manage printer settings, user access, printer
status and more.
Your challenge is to evaluate the color printers available on the
market today and choose the one that most completely meets
your company’s needs in each of these areas. This section of
the Evaluator Guide will examine each of these areas, suggest ways
you can evaluate a prospective product candidate against that require-
ment, and explain how the Phaser 8560 solid ink color printer
exceeds the expectations of color printer users on all counts.
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P H A S E R 8 5 6 0 E VA L U AT O R G U I D E
