Vintage Accounting Firm - Digital Photocopiers - Example

Letter of transmittal From: The Analysis Committee, August 18, 2013. To: The Supervisor, Vintage Accounting Firm Kingsway Street, Complex Technologies Building. RE: ANALYSIS REPORT FOR AVAILABLE PHOTOCOPIERS IN THE MARKET Here is the report by the analysis committee consisting of four members from different departments: Technical Department, Information Technology Department, Purchase And Logistics Department, and Record Keeping Department were required to gather information in order to aid the purchase of a photocopier for the firm. The analysis is in line with the aim and objective of the business; to provide high quality documents with clarity and presentable at all times in every operation in the firm. Likewise, the objective to strike a balance between cost and functionality of assets purchased in order to improve profit margins in the firm without compromise is considered. The report reviews different photocopiers in the competitive market to identify the one that suits the needs of the firm better. It also aims to identify how different manufactures have priced their photocopiers providing comparison for budget limits of the firm to be achieved avoiding overspending or under spending. It is believed that the report results will help in determining the photocopier to purchase to improve the standards of documents presented as well as solving existing printing and photocopying problems. Analysis Committee. ANALYSIS REPORT ON AVAILABLE PHOTOCOPIERS IN THE MARKET Name Module Name/ Code Date Executive Summary The reports was conducted and it covers information about the Vintage Accounting Firm printing and photocopying needs that require to be addressed by purchasing a new photocopier. It looks into three categories of available photocopiers in the market namely digital, analogue and multifunctional photocopiers. The factors considered in the photocopiers are cost, user-friendliness, functionalities, software compatibilities and features of the available machines. By considering a combination of these factors the buyer can make an informed decision that suits his or her needs. Table of Contents Letter of transmittal i ANALYSIS REPORT ON AVAILABLE PHOTOCOPIERS IN THE MARKET ii Executive Summary iii Table of Contents iv Introduction 1 Purpose 1 Background 1 Methodology 2 Discussion 3 1.Digital photocopiers 3 2.Analogue photocopiers 4 3.Multifunctional photocopiers 5 Conclusion 6 Recommendations 6 References 7 Introduction The supervisor of the Vintage Accounting Firm on photocopiers requested this report on August 15, 2013. A committee consisting of four members from different departments: Technical Department, Information Technology Department, Purchase And Logistics Department, and Record Keeping Department were required to gather information in order to aid the purchase of a photocopier for the firm. The committee findings were to be presented to the supervisor on August 20, 2013 as requested. Purpose The major purpose for the analysis research was to analyse the photocopiers in the competitive market to identify the one that suits better the needs of the firm. The additional aim would be to identify how different manufactures have priced their photocopiers so as to compare the one that strikes a balance between features and cost; to be in the budget limits of the firm, to avoid overspending or under spending (Lamb, Hair & Mcdaniel 2000, p.19). The report looks into the accounting firm photocopying needs as well as the different photocopiers offered by the various companies available in the market, to identify which photocopier can help solve the photocopying problem in our firm. The analysis committee used the analysis method of different photocopiers categories, their features, their software compatibility, user friendliness in additional to how they are priced. Background Record keeping is a vital practice in the success of any organisation and over the past many years manual book keeping system has been embraced by many firms and has proved to be a helpful method although faced with several challenges. With the rise in technology growth, other new forms of record keepings have been introduced such as databases, cloud computing data storage, databanks and online data storage services (Owen 2004, p.27). All the modern methods invented has their advantages in different aspects but the manual record keeping system offers the permanence of genuineness to information since the other modern methods can be altered and show no proof of alteration as opposed to manual record keeping. Accounting is a critical undertaking and zeros count since it deals with figures in terms of monetary figures. Printing out of original copies and leaving the modern systems act as back up is the best way out of any situation that arises since proof can be presented in the printouts. To achieve this, our accounting firm wants to purchase a photocopier that will serve the purpose of generation of the original information to be presented to our clients as well as for good record keeping for future reference. In the past few years, the firm has experience printing and photocopying problems that includes malfunctioning of machines and user unfriendliness due to complex interfaces of the machines. Additionally, production of non-presentable documents by the machines, slow document production which is time consuming and leads to work piling up, software incompatibilities, as well as, costly running and maintaining the photocopying and printing systems are part of challenges facing the firm currently (Beckwith 2009, p.55). Due to these problems incurred, it has led the management reaching the decision of purchasing a new photocopier as the solution for smooth running of the firm. Therefore, before the purchase can be made information has to be gathered for conversant decision to be made hence avoiding mistakes done in the past purchases. Methodology Different methods were used to gather information concerning photocopiers namely visiting different online sources that provided information about photocopiers, and visiting several outlets retailing photocopiers in the nearby towns to collect information on available machine categories and their prices. Furthermore, interacting with experts from some major printing companies for advice on the recommended photocopying systems, provided crucial information (Lamb, Hair & Mcdaniel 2000, p.39). Finally, brainstorming of members conducting the analysis on the features, user-friendliness and printing needs of the firm helped come up with these report. Discussion In the market today, there are different types of photocopiers to suit the needs of the user according to the tasks to be completed and the duration of time required to achieve them. Different types of photocopiers come in different sizes, models, printing speeds, user friendliness and their prices vary from one manufacturer to another (Lamb, Hair & Mcdaniel 2000, p.60). We explored the information on different types of photocopiers available and compiled the report below on the same. 1. Digital photocopiers With the current growth of technology, some researchers have recommended digital photocopiers as the best for office use where heavy and random printing and photocopying are made within the firm. The designing of these photocopiers is done in that it uses the scanning strategy of the documents to ensure that the produced documents are of high quality. This gives it an edge over the other photocopiers since the work produced is very clear and presentable hence it can be recommended to accounting firms where clarity and presentation of the documents is of paramount importance. Many photocopiers use the analogue process of production where the copier comprises of an internal mirror to that performs the copying of the original document as the master copy to send it to the drum by use of static power. The analogue process uses toner particles to produce the image stored in the drum hence generating a copy of the original copy (Kipphan 2001, p.57). Contrastingly, the digital copier will scan the information in the master copy saving it in the memory and then produce a copy from the information stored in the photocopiers memory resulting to high quality work. Researches have shown that, the maintenance of these photocopiers is easier than the other types. This factor makes it cost effective hence efficient to any organisation or firm promoting the increasing profit margin objective. Since it is a new generation photocopier it has the capabilities of interacting with other systems interconnected to it either wirelessly or networked by cables whenever copies of the original copy is to be distributed. Moreover, it can also send emails to other people in case the information stored in the memory wants to be shared with other branches of the firm, individuals in different locations or distributed to the preferred clients (Zable & Lee 2009, p.23). This makes it economical in the perspective that it saves time and resources. Likewise, since heavy printing and photocopying are done in the firm it reduces the cost of maintenance given that during production lesser movement of parts occurs hence lower chances of breaking down. In addition to this, the amount of ink used in digital photocopiers produces more copies than the exact amount used in analogue photocopiers. Its design provides a user-friendly interface that is well labelled hence convenient to all users (Beckwith 2009, p.46). The price of these photocopiers are usually higher ranging from 80 dollars to 2800 dollars but considering the long term effectiveness, they are a great deal to firms helping them save time as it has been observed. 2. Analogue photocopiers It is usually said that old is gold and therefore the old fashion of photocopiers, also referred as analogue photocopiers, are still available in the market due to their effectiveness in one way or another. We realized that these printers are used by most companies and firms since they are stable and have been tested and proved through experience. These photocopiers use the internal mirror system to produce copies but with the current growth in technology have helped them integrate more power sensors for improved quality of documents produced (Meggs 1998, p.32). Briggs and Burke (2008, p.45) state that, One of their advantages is that they are locally available in almost all the retailers in town and more information about them is available online as well as with the dealers. This helps in their availability whenever they are required as opposed to the digital photocopiers that are hard to find with little information online as well as with the dealers. Another plus to them is the availability of their parts in case they wear out or breakdown. The technical departments can be able to repair them easily since they have experience in repairing them with available wide range of spare parts. The old models of analogue photocopiers had complex user interfaces that were problematic to many new users but the current models have integrated user-friendly interfaces to cope up with competition from their rivals the digital photocopiers. They are relatively cheap with prices ranging from 60 dollars to 2500 dollars but the cost of maintenance is a bit high and requires an informed operator to perform all their functions (Zable & Lee 2009, p.67). 3. Multifunctional photocopiers These types of photocopiers combine different function capabilities into one copier making them super copiers. They can combine more than three functionalities such as copying, printing, scanning and faxing. Most multifunction photocopiers provide the four functionalities hence attracting more buyers who desire to achieve all these functionalities. Moreover, these functionalities makes the copiers fast to produce documents hence saving time. The manufactured new models have the capability of sending emails to other users who require the information stored in the machine systems without using computers (Briggs and Burke 2008, p.53). The copiers have software compatibilities hence no problem working in different platforms. Since these photocopiers combine the digital and the analogue processes, their information is relatively familiar with technicians and operators though they are complex in a way. These photocopiers are perfect for offices and home purposes where space is of paramount importance since they minimize the purchasing of many systems (Kipphan 2001, p.41). This helps the buyer to save money hence maximizing profit margins in any firm. Their prices range from 100 dollars to 3000 dollars according to the budget of the buyer. Conclusion The analysis conducted showed that there are wider varieties of photocopiers offering different functionalities according to the needs of the buyer. The price ranges also guides the buyers the opportunity to stick to their budgets at the same time. The factors considered when purchasing ranges from one firm to another, therefore leading to different firms preferring certain types and models. These factors are mostly the quality of documents produced, the required duration of production, the cost, the availability of the machines, user-friendliness as well as functionalities offered by the machines. Different manufactures available in the markets are Paragon, HP, Canon, Epson, and The committee has been able to access as much as possible the information available to compile this report. Recommendations According to the committee, it is advisable for the firm to purchase a multifunctional photocopier since it cuts across the analogue and the digital field to provide the best quality work. The limited space in the firm is a factor to consider, the overall cost of the production process, the functionalities of the machine as well as integration of new technology and stability in these photocopiers. This will best serve the needs of the firm in additional to solving available problems currently facing the firm. References Beckwith, C 2009 Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from Bronze Age to Present, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-15034-5. Briggs, A & Burke P 2008, A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the internet, Polity Publishers, Cambridge, pp.15-23, 61-73. Kipphan, H 2001 Handbook of Print Media: Technologies and Production Methods, Springer, pp. 976-979, ISBN 3-540-67326-1. Lamb, C W, Hair J F, & Mcdaniel, C 2000. Marketing 5th ed. Southwestern College, U.S.A Meggs, P B 1998 A History of Graphic Design, John Wiley & Sons Inc., pp. 58-69. Owen, D 2004 Copies in Seconds: Chester Carlson and the Birth of the Xerox Machine, Simpson & Schuster, New York, ISBN 0-7432-5117-2. Zable, J L & Lee, H C 2009 “An Overview of Impact Printing”, IBM Journal of Research & Development, ISBN 0018-8646. Read More