Introduction
Back in the year 2000, many business analysts predicted that copiers would become useless due to the widespread digitizing of data and information. If you think that office copiers are only good for reproducing documents as it is, then maybe, you are not making the most out of your office copier.
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Basic Features of a Copier
Gone are the days when the copiers’ only purpose was to duplicate a document or an image exactly as how it is printed. Copiers are now equipped with functions such as enlargement, scanning, duplexing, collating, faxing, and binding.
Enlargement is a copier feature that allows you to enlarge the copied image by percentage or paper size. (ie. A4 size print enlarged to a legal-sized print) while Duplexing is its capability to print on both sides of a page.
Most office-grade copiers also have an automatic document feeder (ADF) that allows scanning and copying without much human intervention. ADF also allows a faster output which is good for scanning or copying high-volume documents. Multifunction copiers can also send fax messages, so you don’t need to use multiple machines for different purposes.
Collating is a feature that allows you to make copies of documents with more than one page and automatically separates them into individual sets. Lastly, binding is a feature that usually needs some copier add-ons. This feature automatically staple collated documents or punch in 2 or 3 holes into one side of the document for easier ring binding.
Advanced Features
Since copiers now include a built-in scanner, they can convert and save your scanned documents as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file or a Microsoft Word file. Other scanner features are available such as scan to email, where the copier sends a copy of the scanned document to any email, and scan to network, where the copier sends a copy of the document to a specified shared folder in the office network for easy access.
New models of office copiers are now capable of connecting to the internet network, which means you can now print and scan documents using your mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, as long as the devices connect to the same network. Network printing and scanning are only possible if the mobile devices support network or cloud printing.
Since these copiers can connect to the internet, office IT personnel are alerted if a unit needs service maintenance or supply replenishments. Connectivity to the network also means that service technicians can remotely assess a copier’s condition and perform diagnostics and software updates. Early detection of a copier unit’s incoming issues means that technical problems are avoided even before it manifests any symptoms, which minimizes the machine’s downtime.
Lastly, network connectivity makes the copier vulnerable to cyber attacks and dangerous malware. Thus, copier manufacturers include data security features such as password protection, overwriting, and data encryption.
Data encryption jumbles the protected data and transforms it into a secret code. Specific software available only to the authorized security personnel of the business is used to decipher these secret codes. By encrypting data, businesses are sure that their sensitive data cannot be accessed even if the copier’s hard drive is taken.
Copiers overwrite protected data by deconstructing and changing some of its file bits to random values. Depending on the security protocol set up on the copier, protected data can be overwritten after every use, on a fixed interval, or on a specific date.
Conclusion
If you are in Sacramento and you are looking for a Copier in Sacramento for your business, you may contact Clear Choice Technical Services in Sacramento. You can ask about Copier Leasing Services in Sacramento, Copier rental services in Sacramento, and Copier Repair in Sacramento.
The digital age may be already here and is most preferred by many for its convenience, but having a traditional option to fall back to in case of technical issues is reassuring. Copiers may be old technology, but it is a technology that constantly adapts newer and more practical features to help us in our daily productivity.
