MFD Solutions London have been awarded a 3 year contract for a Canon imageRUNNER Advance C5045i colour MFD and Canon’s iW360 document management software at a leading Investment Bank in central London.  Up against a number of competitors offering both Canon and Xerox equipment, MFD were able to demonstrate cost savings and value for money on both a 3 year lease rental and ongoing service support and maintenance costs. The lease agreement has been set for 36 months with the option to extend the service agreement upon the agreements natural maturity.

MFD Solutions have enjoyed huge amounts of success with the current range of Canon imageRUNNER Advance colour MFDs, in particular the Canon C5000 range which incorporates the C5030i, C5035i, C5045i and C5051i. We are experiencing particular growth within the public sector and charitable based organisations where Canon’s support pricing structure has enabled MFD to remain competitive when coupled with our own internal service support framework agreement.

MFD are also welcoming customers who have already purchased or leased a Canon C5045i colour copier / MFD to speak to us about reducing their current service support and maintenance costs or alternatively if you do not have a service agreement we would be happy to look at reducing your consumable costs for CEXV28 toners, drum units and waste toner containers.

uniFLOW for SMB is a simple yet scalable solution, especially designed for small businesses, that enables you to maximise the value of your multifunctional print devices. Powerful capabilities allow you to track and manage print and copy costs, improve staff efficiency and protect your vital information, so you can focus on growing your business. Canon puts enterprise class technology, traditionally for large organisations, at your fingertips.

Manage and Reduce Costs

Canon’s uniFLOW for SMB provides detailed tracking and cost analysis of all network print and copy activity, helping you identify how devices are being used, and where savings can be made. Colour printing has many business benefits but how can you provide access to colour without costs spiralling out of control? ufS can help you understand who’s printing in colour, what they’re printing, how often and how much it’s costing you. As an added layer of control, you can also regulate who can print in colour based on their departmental functions. To allocate the cost of print and copy to both internal and external customers quickly and accurately, ufSMB can allocate these costs to departments or cost centres, and allow you to charge jobs back if necessary.

Protect Vital Information and Improve Efficiency

How many times have you seen confidential documents left unattended in printer output trays? ufSMB allows documents to be
printed only when the user authenticates themselves at the device. This not only protects your information, it also cuts paper wastage. And for added convenience, documents can be collected at any Canon device on the network.

Mobile Printing

Are your staff demanding print support from their mobile devices? Do you want to offer them access to your printing facilities without compromising network security? Now you can with ufSMB. Staff can print regardless of whether they are sending print jobs from their desktop PCs, laptops, Cloud-based system or smartphones, whilst enabling you to retain full cost control and information security. Registered users can simply walk to any multifunctional print device to release their print jobs, either via the device interface itself or directly from their smartphones.

How is it different to normal uniFLOW?

Technically, uniFLOW for SMB and normal uniFLOW are the same. It is the same installer, the same interface and the same functionality. ufSMB just provides a single part number to provide the most common functionality. There are a couple of restrictions which are mentioned below, but for most customers in the small to medium sized market, these will not be relevant.

What are the limitations of the new uniFLOW system?

uniFLOW for SMB will support up to 300 users unless there are more than 6 MEAP or CMFP devices installed in which case an unlimited number of users are supported. While an unlimited number of network printers and MFDs can be connected to provide print accounting, uniFLOW
for SMB only allows Canon MFD MEAP and Canon CMFP devices to have the secure “my print anywhere” functionality. 3rd party devices (such as Xerox, HP and Konica Minolta) secure “my print anywhere” functionality is only available with the normal uniFLOW part numbers.

What functionality does the uniFLOW Device Licence pack provide?

To order uniFLOW for SMB, a “uniFLOW Device License Pack” needs to be ordered. There is a device license pack for both MEAP and CMFP devices but both provide the same functionality. The functionality provided by ufSMB is as follows:
1) Print accounting for an unlimited number of network printers
2) Print accounting for up to 300 users (1 – 6 devices) or an unlimited number of users (7+ devices)
3) Pop-up cost code selection for print accounting (same user limits as above)
4) Print and copy budget control for up to 300 users (1 – 6 devices) or an unlimited number of users (7+ devices)
5) Multiple reports showing usage per user, department, device, cost centre, etc
6) Secure Printing for up to 300 users (1 – 6 devices) or an unlimited number of users (7+ devices)
7) Mobile printing allowing users to email their jobs to the secure print queue
Copy accounting for 1 Canon MEAP or CMFP device (1 license per device pack)
9) Cost center selection for copy accounting for Canon MEAP or CMFP devices (1 license per device pack)
10) “My print anywhere” secure job selection for Canon MEAP or CMFP devices (1 license per device pack)
11) uniFLOW Universal Driver technology, including Canon Generic PCL6 drivers, ensuring correct output even
when different models of devices are used.

For more information on uniFLOW for SMB contact the MFD Solutions sales team in  London on 0207 1998150.

Canon has been recognised at the BERTL BEST Awards for individual print solutions from the Canon iR and iR ADVANCE MFD and imagePROGRAF wide format printer product lines, as well as uniFLOW print management solution from Canon. In addition, the Company received ‘Product Line of the Year’ awards for the Canon imageRUNNER MFDs, Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE MFDs and imagePROGRAF large format printer lines.

Recognised for delivering outstanding image quality, alue and performance, BERTL BEST Awards were awarded to Canon in the following categories:-

Best Office Multifunctional Line

• Canon imageRUNNER Advance C2030i
• Canon imageRUNNER Advance C5051
• Canon imageRUNNER 2530i
• Canon imageRUNNER C1028iF

Best Segment 2 A3 Multifunctional Colour Device

• Canon iR-ADV C2030i Colour MFD

Best Light Colour Production MFD

• Canon imageRUNNER Advance C9070 Pro

Best Print / Device Management Solution

• Canon Uniflow

Other award winners were the Canon imagePROGRAF 6300s and 8300s large format printers to complete the line.

This week MFD Solutions have been awarded another contract for a Canon iRC3080i at a prestigious Structural Engineering Consultancy in central London.  Up against a number of competitors, MFD were able to demonstrate cost savings and value for money on both the purchase price of the iRC3080i and ongoing service support and maintenance costs. The agreement has been set for 36 months with the option to extend to a maximum of 60 months.

MFD Solutions has seen a trend developing over the past 6 months with more and more clients looking at good used colour photocopiers and MFDs as a way of reducing their overall spend on copying and printing with part of the attraction being the MFD offer the same levels of service support and guarantees with reconditioned photocopiers as they offer for new photocopiers.

MFD are also welcoming customers who have already purchased or leased a Canon iRC3080i colour copier to speak to us about reducing their current service support and maintenance costs or alternatively if you do not have a service agreement we would be happy to look at reducing your consumable costs for CEXV21 toners, drum units and waste toner containers.

MFD Solutions are launching their own public sector agreement to supply photocopiers, Multifunctional Devices and Managed Print Services specifically designed for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Academies and Colleges. MFD have been busy speaking to a number of Schools over the past 12 months to gain valuable information on the types of reprographic equipment currently being used and the associated costs, some of our findings have been quite encouraging however some have been quite shocking!

The copier / printer industry in general is focusing on the ‘Shift to Services’ with Managed Print still being the hot topic.  MFD’s all encompassing solutions mean we are able to provide a fully managed document service to Schools to provide the following benefits:-

• Reduced purchase and lease costs for photocopiers and multifunctional printers
• Reduced service support and maintenance costs for photocopiers and multifunctional devices
• Remote service management monitoring print volumes, real time fault logging and consumable usage
• Print Management solutions enabling Follow-Me printing, automatic print tracking, document security features
• Reduce environmental impact of printing by routing jobs to the most environmentally friendly printers, MFDs
• Reduced consumable costs for desktop printers (laser and inkjet), MFPs and copiers including toners, drum units, staples, fuser units and waste toner containers
• Industry leading hardware, consumables and solutions from Canon, Lexmark, Brother and Print Audit

Although MFD have the ability to deploy the above nationwide we still try to concentrate our efforts in our key business areas which include London, Surrey, Middlesex, Hampshire, Sussex and Kent.

Our range of photocopiers and solutions can be viewed by following the links below:-

• Canon B&W Photocopiers
• Canon Colour Photocopiers
• Canon Print Management Solutions
• Canon Colour Laser Printers
• Canon Colour Copier Consumables
• Canon B&W Copier Consumables

Please contact MFDs public sector specialist on London 0208 9121481 for further information and to arrange a free consultation.

MFD Solutions London have now added a range of Canon colour laser copier and imageRUNNER / imageRUNNER Advance consumables including laser toner cartridges, drum units, waste toner bottles and staples to it’s website today. MFDs consumables sales team has grown considerably over the past year and looks to be one of our key growth area’s in 2012.

More and more businesses are looking to save money in all areas, consumable costs including printer cartridges and copier toners are often overlooked, MFDs dedicated sales team look at each clients portfolio of products such as photocopiers, multifunctional devices, laser printers, inkjet printers and fax machines and provide them with a bespoke proposal to manage all of their office print and copy based consumable items.

MFD have formed relationships with a large number of manufacturers, distributors and independent trade suppliers of consumables so we can offer leading brands inc Canon, HP, Lexmark, Brother, Xerox, Ricoh, Toshiba, Oki, Epson, Konica Minotla, OCE and Samsung. The large number of consumable suppliers we partner give us an unrivaled stock supply of both original manufacturer branded and non-oem / compatible / remanufactured consumables.

• Canon Colour Photocopier Toners,

• Canon Colour Photocopier Drums,

• Canon B/W Photocopier Toner,

• Canon B/W Photocopier Drum

Today MFD Solutions Ltd have received confirmation from Canon UK that for 2012 they will be classified as a Canon business partner with ‘Advanced Office Imaging’ status.  MFD enjoyed great success in 2011 as a Canon business partner and look forward to building our relationship further by committing to Canon hardware and solutions.

uniFLOW has been awarded the BERTL Best Device Management Solution 2011. Karsten Huster (NT-ware) says “The BERTL’s Best award reflects our ongoing efforts to provide customers with an integrated and flexible platform solution for print and scan management needs,”. “From its very beginning, customer requirements have been the driving force behind uniFLOW. With version 5.1 uniFLOW now addresses end users’ mobile printing needs in today’s business world. This is enabled as part of a company’s managed print solution, retaining full cost control, print and network security.”

BERTL particularly highlighted uniFLOW’s outstanding performance as to:

• Track print and copy costs on networked MFPs, printers as well as locally connected desktop printers
• Perform secure pull printing at any printer simply by using employee badge or PIN Code
• Provide streamlined support for entire fleet with the support for non-MEAP enabled devices and embedded applications for many popular 3rd party devices
• Scan documents into back end document management systems as a highly compressed PDF or in an editable format
• Enhance document security by taking an image of each copy, print, fax or scan which can then be processed for restricted keywords

Why uniFLOW?

Incorporating uniFLOW into your document processes will lead to real improvements in the control and efficiency of Canon multifunctional devices (MFDs). This powerful software is open, modular and configurable, so it can be adapted to fit the specific needs of different businesses: large corporations, small offices, education establishments, local government, copy shops and print rooms.

Scalable to any size

uniFLOW fits perfectly with any size organisation. It is available in 10,50, 150 and unlimited user versions to provide scalability and flexibility regardless of your business type. Its web-based architecture allows the software to be run over multiple buildings, locations or sites with all the data stored in a central SQL Server database.

Modular Architecture

The core functionality of uniFLOW can be extended with various additional modules. Each module provides exciting new features to the system that allow the benefits of uniFLOW to be extended into other parts of your business.

From providing secure printing for mobile devices to allowing users to capture documents directly to Microsoft SharePoint, uniFLOW really is an end-to-end office management system. For organisations with a print room or professional printing requirements, uniFLOW integrates with Helix Production Workflow to provide job ticketing, internet job submission, variable data printing and print room management capabilities.

uniFLOW Version 5.1 available now!

Mobile Submission

uniFLOW v5.1 provides several different methods* for users to submit jobs including via email, uploading a job via a web browser and printing directly from an application using an Internet-enabled driver. uniFLOW also supports the integrated print functionality of iOS (Apple iPad / iPhone) devices.

Mobile Release

All of the print release capabilities within uniFLOW are seamlessly supported for mobile users. Mobile jobs can be released from any uniFLOW controlled printer via card access or pin code. There is also a uniFLOW native app for Apple iOS devices like iPod, iPhone and iPad. The app enables the mobile device to identify the printer, for example by a QR code, select a print job from the user’s personal print queue, make necessary print settings and release their job.

Advanced Device Management

uniFLOW v5.1 allows IT Managers to control the print environment by collecting information about device status, meter and consumables. Information is gathered across a complete, multi-vendor (Canon and third-party devices) print fleet and can be used to effectively manage consumables, inform customers and service providers about issues and maintain device uptime.

Improvements in Universal Driver technology

The uniFLOW v5.1 universal driver contains an improved image compression technology resulting in smaller file sizes and faster processing. Further, the Canon PCL6 Generic driver is now supported for secure printing workflow, allowing organizations using the Canon PCL6 Generic driver to enjoy the benefits of making finishing changes at the Canon iR ADVANCE, which in the past was only possible with the uniFLOW Universal Driver.

Embedded Applets for Secure Printing

To extend third-party device support, uniFLOW v5.1 features embedded applets for Konica Minolta devices. This applet provides secure printing capability when configured with the uniFLOW server. In addition to the Konica Minolta applet, NT-ware has previously developed applets for HP and Xerox devices.

For more information on uniFLOW please visit MFD’s – Solutions/Print Management area.

Photocopier service support agreements

In most offices a malfunctioning photocopier will cause serious logistical issues and a great deal of frustration. Furthermore, due to the complexity of most modern machines they can be very costly to repair. Because of both these points, it is common practice to have in place a service level agreement (SLA) or maintenance support contract; so that for a pre-arranged monthly/quarterly/annual fee, a third party will take on the responsibility of ensuring all photocopier servicing and maintenance. The arrangements for maintenance contracts vary but if you lease or rent your photocopier, it is likely that you will also be bound to an ongoing service arrangement; so be sure that you have read all the small print. Regardless of this, however, the following should give you a better idea of the sorts of conditions and level of service to expect. Consider these points when assessing contracts: Will you have to pay a fixed monthly fee, a fee based on the volume of usage or both? How long will it take to send out a technician if the photocopier breaks down? Will the contract cover the cost of parts and labour if the photocopier needs to be repaired? At what cost will the photocopier consumables (toners, drums, fuser unit etc) be supplied?

 
Typical photocopier contract terms
A typical photocopier contract will usually charge you a fixed monthly fee plus an additional fee for every page printed over an agreed limit. This is because a heavily used machine will obviously require more in the way of consumables and maintenance than one that is used very rarely. In a similar vein to mobile phone contracts, there are usually lots of different price plans to choose from and these should range from those with very low monthly fees, lower copy limits and higher costs per excess page; to comparably very high monthly fees including unlimited copier use. As pointed out above, in any office a broken photocopier will cause problems, especially as it‟s fairly standard to have a combined photocopier and printer. In order to minimise the disruption this causes, any good maintenance contract will have a predetermined response time, within which the supplier is obliged to send out a technician. It is not uncommon for this to be the same day or even just a matter of hours, provided that the supplier is called within certain times. It should also make absolutely clear who will pay for parts and labour and under which circumstances. However, this will vary drastically depending on who owns the photocopier, and therefore should be thought about well in advance of purchasing a copier outright.

 
Alternatives to service contracts
In some cases it‟s possible to have an extended warranty for your photocopier (small A4 desktops). This will usually only apply to lower value machines (sub-£2,000), where it is not economically prudent to take on a service contract. Extended warranties will usually cover much less than a typical service contract and it is highly unlikely that a technician would be sent to your office on the same day as the call-out. As such, relying solely on a warranty will usually mean longer delays to repair your copier.

MFD Solutions provide Canon photocopier service support nationwide.  Our key business area’s are London, Middlesex, Surrey, Hampshire, Kent and Sussex.  We can provide service support in all others regions of the UK through the Canon UK dealer support network.  If you already own or lease a Canon photocopier and are looking for a new service support company the please contact MFD on 0207 1998150.

Office photocopiers are an expensive piece of business equipment, and companies looking to procure one may be reluctant to spend thousands of pounds in one go (unless they’re cash-rich or simply don’t entertain the idea of paying interest on leases). There are many different payment options with their positives, negatives and occasional pitfalls.

Photocopier Leasing Broadly speaking there are two main types of lease. But within these categories, every lease contract is different. When you’re leasing a photocopier it’s absolutely crucial that you check the terms and conditions of the contract, because while the right lease can be a useful option, some leasing companies terms and conditions are less than transparent in the small print.

Photocopier Lease rental This involves paying for your photocopier over a period of time specified in the contract (usually a 2-5 years). Almost all of these stipulate a minimum term for the lease, so if you want to back out early and upgrade the photocopier you will have to pay the remaining instalments up front. The important thing about this type of payment is that the leasing company retains ownership of the photocopier even after the lease expires and title of the equipment is generally offered to the original supplier for a set fee. Be aware of this when you’re signing the contract – some people end up paying thousands of pounds over a period of years under the misapprehension that they will own the photocopier at the end. This is not always the case. The positive aspects of this sort of agreement are you don’t have to pay any large one-off payment, and that it usually entails a maintenance service and the option of upgrading to a newer model free of charge.

Photocopier Lease purchase A lease purchase agreement follows the same idea as lease rental – lower monthly or quarterly payments over a fixed period of time – but when the lease comes to an end you are given ownership of the photocopier. As with lease rental, you must pay a settlement figure up front if you wish to end the lease and get ownership before the minimum term is up. With all leases you should thoroughly check the terms of the contract, including the interest rates on the total amount payable. Also be careful regarding what happens at the end of the agreement – sometimes your lease will run on beyond the minimum term unless you expressly say you wish the contract to end. Maintenance agreements and consumables (paper and toner) are sometimes, but not always, included in the terms of the lease.

Photocopier Rental Renting an office photocopier is the best option for those who know that they only need the equipment for a shorter period of time. You will not get ownership of the machine unless you agree a final fee with your supplier, but unlike lease rental the minimum term can be anything from one week to twelve months so there is much greater flexibility in length of use. Photocopier rental is usually provided through second hand / used photocopiers with maintenance/online service support  for the duration of the agreement.

Photocopier Purchase Buying an office photocopier outright requires you to pay the full sum up front, which in turn may mean you have to take out a bank loan. This is why leasing is often a more preferable method for financing the deal, because the schedule of payments is more reliable and transparent than the repayments of a standard loan. If you are cash rich though, you won‟t be tied down to any form of lease contract and you can choose to either take a service support agreement or simply take a call-out based approach. The downside is you‟ll need to provide all the extra paraphernalia such as paper and toner and if the photocopier requires attention you will be charged in the region of £85-£125+vat for the call-out.

MFD Solutions in London give our clients the choice of all of the purchase and lease options above, for more information please contact on 0207 1998150.