A Guide to the best Photocopiers & Managed Print Solutions for Educational Organisations
Schools, universities, and generally all educational institutions are large consumers of photocopier and printer solutions. Most educational institutions have 2 main priorities in this department, to be able to produce large numbers of prints reliably and the ability to do this at an affordable cost.
The information found below will apply to most educational institutions including:
- Pre-Schools and Creches
- Primary and Secondary Schools
- High Schools
- Technikons
- Universities
- Skills Development centres and Training Colleges
Schools typically require two types of printing machines; one is a traditional Multifunction (MFP) Photocopier which is capable of copy print fax and scan functionality. MFP Photocopiers can handle and quickly adjust to print runs of under 2 000 pages this enables schools the ability to do short variable runs of print. Most modern photocopiers come with colour as standard, the colour printing can be locked to avoid abuse.
See our 2 most popular School photocopiers/printers below:
The second machine commonly used in schools, is a Duplicator also known as a Riso, Duplo or Risograph machine. Riso machines are designed to take one master page and exactly duplicate it many times at a very low cost this is excellent for schools that are producing the same document hundreds or thousands of times, Risographs typically run at 25% to 35% the price of a photocopy per print, for this reason many schools purchased both a Riso and a photocopier to address short variable print jobs and long repeated print jobs.
See our most popular School Duplicators below:
How Schools can control their Print Costs:
Printing comprises a large portion of the day to day running costs of a school, College or University below we layout some of the most common ways that we assist educational institutions in controlling their costs
- Print Management Software - This software enabled schools to monitor who is printing which documents and when it also allows schools and educational institutions the ability to charge pupils if required. We use Uniflow, Equitrac and Prinfleet.
- Transparent Online Pricing - all our Photocopiers and Printers have their pricing listed online and this ensures that you always know what you should be paying for the device, nothing is hidden behind unclear pricing structures or slick sales techniques.
- User Controls Including limiting access to colour printing – Our technical team will assist you in limiting who can print colour pages via user codes.
- Selecting the correct machine for the correct environment – Don’t ever purchase the incorrect device again, chat with an expert in educational print before buying.
Some common questions that Educational institutions ask us?
Do I need a service level agreement?
Our answer is that any organisation printing more than 2000 prints per month does require a service level agreement. service level agreements ultimately cost organisations printing at higher volumes less money than the alternative of purchasing their consumables and repairs as needed. Service level agreements also provide maximum uptime which is critical for educational institutions. Learn more about Service Level Agreements here.
Should I rent or buy?
This is entirely a personal choice, we always recommend rental, here’s why:
Photocopiers are rapidly deprecating assets, you will need to replace them every 36 to 60 months if you want to run an efficient print room. That means there is not point in buying a rapidly deprecating asset that needs to be replaced regularly.
We have an excellent article laying the details of this out here: Renting Office Technology in South Africa – Why it’s right for Modern South African Businesses
Are Remanufactured Photocopiers and Printers Reliable enough for a school?
We are South Africa’s leading supplier of remanufactured photocopiers and office printers; all warehouses hold hundreds of units which are remanufactured through a 64 point process. we also include a full swap out warranty with every device for the life of the service level agreement.