September 27, 2004

All In One Document Management (Pst -it's all in the software)

Small businesses, especially those in SOHO environments want as little hardware as possible in order to give them as much room as possible in their offices.

With a finite amount of room in a converted office in a home and/or with rent being expensive in a commercial property the more space a business owner can save - the better. Multi-function devices (MFD) that combine a printer, scanner, printer and fax machine help save space, reduce the number of devices one must learn and make doing various document related tasks easy.

Canon, HP, Dell, Xerox and Lexmark all have MFDs on the market. I had a opportunity to look at Lexmark's X7170 announced earlier this month. It's a sleek machine, designed from the ground up, to be used as simply as possible.

What's most impressive about the X7170 is the intelligent and easy to use document management software that interfaces between your computer and the MFD.

For example, there's no need to purchase a 3rd party PDF creation utility as Lexmark includes one.

Often times you have to first open a document on your computer to see what it is. Lexmark's file explorer window shows document images - saving you time in finding the right document faster.

Most functions document can be performed using drag and drop. If you need to print, scan, fax or email a document just drag and drop it onto the appropriate icon.

The $249 X7170 prints 22ppm in black and 15ppm in color and offers optional network support so more than one PC can share its functionality.

When you look for an MFD for your office you need to consider how easy the device is to use, and ask does it come with the features you need. Lexmark's X7170 is an ideal companion for any small business or SOHO.

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