An Architecture Studio benefits from the great quality output, convenience and affordability of the PIXMA MP780 All-in-One printer
At a glance
 Company: DOMA Group
Industry: Architecture Studio
Geographies: Sydney
Canon products used: PIXMA MP780
"Canon's PIXMA MP780 multifunction solution has helped my business immensely. Not only does it conveniently cover printing, photocopying, scanning and faxing in the one device, it also saves space - invaluable for a small office - and delivers outstanding quality outputs. I was very impressed with the cost savings, hugely important for a small business like mine. Not least, the stylish look goes great with the image of my company!"
"This is a great all-in-one printer, probably one of the best out there in the market, and it still comes at an affordable price for less than $600."
- Kosta Kathreptakis, Managing Director, DOMA Group
Anyone trying to successfully manage a small business will tell you it's no easy feat. From juggling to keep costs down while at the same time maintaining good quality products and services, working within confined office spaces and with limited resources, small business owners need all the help they can get.
The Architecture and Construction industry is no different, with the added difficulty of the massive amounts of paperwork involved in building a new home. Colour promotional material and brochures are needed to promote the company, photos of individual house designs are provided to clients, building plans are churned out on a regular basis, and contracts need to be signed, just to name a few. This means that a vast amount of paper is generated and used every day.
DOMA Group, based in Sydney's inner city suburbs, is a residential, boutique Architecture Studio, specialising in the construction and renovation of residential buildings. Kosta Kathreptakis, DOMA Group Managing Director, knows all too well about the difficulties of running a small business.
"When you've got a small office, every little bit of space counts, as well as every dollar you can save," Kosta expressed. "I need convenience and affordability, but I can't compromise on quality. My presentation to clients needs to be impeccable."
Kosta recently acquired a Canon PIXMA MP780 for his studio. As an All-in-One device, it has replaced his previous scanning, photocopying, faxing and printing devices with just one all-encompassing machine. It also offers photo printing capabilities, which he'd never had in-house before. "I'd never thought about purchasing a multifunction before. Now that I have it, I don't know how I managed without it!" he said.
Printer
"You can end up spending a lot of money in printing costs if you don't think about it," said Kosta. "That's why I think one of the greatest features of the MP780 is the separate ink tanks - they are just fantastic! It's such a great idea, and such a great money saving device. In my business, every dollar counts, so I'm very grateful when I see that the manufacturer has thought about features that save me money," he added.
Photo printing was something that DOMA wasn't doing in-house before. Kosta has found this feature in the MP780 extremely useful for his business. "We regularly take photos of existing houses, and now we can make a photo montage and show the client how the house is going to look like after the renovation, without having to leave the office."
"Taking photos of existing houses or sites, and then retouching them to show how they will look like further to DOMA's design, is really helpful with presentations to councils. The MP780's software allows us to modify the photos and include them into a master plan or anything else we need to do through the computer."
Kosta was impressed with the photo quality of the All-in-One. "Photo quality is the best I've seen in this type of printer, even the A4 size prints come out fantastic," he said. "I direct print from my digital camera to the MP780 a lot. I can view my photo in the camera and press print, it's so easy."
Another great feature of the multifunction, according to Kosta, is that is has two paper feeders, so that you can conveniently switch from normal paper to photo paper, without having to get up and manually change it. "When a fax comes in it's really convenient to have normal paper in the tray, and you never know when a fax will come in. If you had to manually change from photo paper, you might get a fax while printing out photos, and it would get printed onto photo paper," he explained.
With two paper trays, Kosta's MP780 can hold up to 300 sheets of paper - ideal for printing out big jobs.
He also found the CD label printing a very useful feature, as it makes CDs look extremely professional, with no work at all.
Scanner
The MP780 incorporates a flatbed scanner, designed to accommodate thick books and magazines if needed, an essential feature for his studio, according to Kosta.
"Clients come looking for us to design their house, but they also look for innovation and design. Before they can see what innovation we can give them, they need to see examples of different styles of houses, so they can decide what they want. We have a great collection of magazines in our office, so rather than giving each client the magazines with the houses they like in them, we can scan them in colour and print them out, so they can take the copy with them."
"Most small architecture firms aren't very well equipped technologically. They are usually only equipped with the bare essentials - a plotter, a computer, and that's it. If we can scan a photo from a magazine, even attach notes to it, and then print it out in full colour, this is a fantastic result at a very low price. If we can offer our clients this type of added value, they feel they're getting great service."
Copier
Kosta found the quality of the photocopies to be very good, both in black and white and colour. Even having a big, expensive photocopy machine in the office, which can do huge jobs, he finds himself and his staff still use the Canon MP780 for most of the everyday photocopying, since it's much faster and easier to use. For most daily copy jobs it's not even worth it to turn the big copier machine on. The practicality of the smaller multifunction is unbeatable.
Fax
Sending a fax is very quick with the MP780. You can just put a heap of paper you want to fax - up to 250 pages - and it does it automatically, you don't need to feed the pages one by one, explained Kosta. Another very useful feature is to be able to scan a document in the MP780, send it to your PC, and then fax it straight from your computer, not from the telephone line. You don't actually need to have a hard copy of the document you're faxing.
"I especially liked that the multifunction actually folds up to cover it so that it doesn't get any dirt and grime in it while not in use. The mechanisms don't get affected by dust. You can close up the fax lid and the feeder lid. Moreover, if the fax lid is closed and a fax comes in, the lid gets released on its own."
Stylish
"It is very important for the image of the firm to have sleek looking equipment. The furniture and fittings we have in the office are all modern and top level, so we need for the office equipment to be on par with this. The MP780 fits right in - it looks like a design model, very sleek."
User-friendly
"My staff and I were very grateful that the MP780 was so user friendly," said Kosta. "It took us no time at all to start using all its features, it's quite self-explanatory. You press the actual fax button, or the actual copy button, instead of a scroll down menu, which can be confusing and fiddly. The screen is also very user-friendly and simple."
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