Three ways to get printers into an office
Every organisation that prints has made a choice about how its devices arrive and who looks after them, even if nobody made it deliberately. In practice there are three broad options: buy the devices outright, lease them over a fixed term, or move to a managed print service where a provider takes responsibility for the fleet.
The options are often compared on price alone, but the bigger differences are operational. They change who owns the equipment, who fixes it, who notices when toner runs low, who carries the cost when something fails and what happens when a device reaches the end of its useful life. This guide compares the options on those questions. It does not cover tax or accounting treatment, which is a question for your accountant or finance team.
Buying devices outright
When you buy a printer, it is yours. You choose the model, pay for it once and keep it for as long as it works. There is no ongoing agreement with the supplier unless you add one, such as a separate service contract.
Ownership also means responsibility. Your team orders toner and parts, logs faults with whoever services the device, and decides when it is time to replace it. If a device fails outside any warranty, the repair cost falls to you. If your needs change and a device no longer suits, you can sell it, move it or keep it, but the value you paid for is usually well below what it would cost to replace.
- Who owns the devices: you do
- Who services them: whoever you arrange, often under a separate service agreement or on a call-out basis
- Who orders toner: your staff, as needed
- Who carries breakdown risk: you do, once any warranty ends
- Who carries obsolescence risk: you do, since the device stays yours until you dispose of it
- End of life: you decide when to replace it, and you arrange removal and disposal
Leasing devices
A lease spreads the cost of devices over a fixed term, usually as a regular payment to a finance company or the supplier. It avoids a large upfront purchase and can make it easier to have newer equipment. At the end of the term, leases commonly offer a choice to return the devices, upgrade to new ones or continue under a new arrangement.
A lease on its own covers the devices, not the work of running them. Servicing, toner and parts are often provided under a separate agreement, sometimes with a different company and on different terms. That can leave your organisation managing two relationships for each fleet of devices, and sometimes more if devices from several suppliers were leased at different times.
- Who owns the devices: usually the finance company or supplier during the term
- Who services them: often a separate service provider under its own agreement
- Who orders toner: often your staff, unless supplies are included in a service agreement
- Who carries breakdown risk: depends on the service agreement attached to the lease
- Who carries obsolescence risk: reduced, since devices can be returned or upgraded at the end of the term
- End of term: commonly a choice to return, upgrade or extend, with notice periods to check in advance
Managed print
Managed print brings the devices and the work of running them under one provider. The provider supplies or takes over the fleet, monitors it, delivers consumables before they run out, services and repairs devices, and reports on how the fleet is used. You pay through an agreed structure, usually a combination of monthly and per-page charges, and deal with one point of contact.
The main change is where responsibility sits. Instead of your staff noticing that a device is low on toner or making a noise, the provider sees it through monitoring and acts on it. Devices may be supplied as part of the agreement or financed separately, so it is worth asking which model a provider uses. Our pricing guide explains the common structures in more detail.
- Who owns the devices: depends on the agreement; often the provider or a finance company, sometimes you
- Who services them: the managed print provider
- Who orders toner: no one in your team; supplies are usually sent automatically when devices report low levels
- Who carries breakdown risk: largely the provider, within the service levels in the agreement
- Who carries obsolescence risk: shared, through planned device refresh during or at the end of the term
- End of term: commonly a fleet review, followed by renewal, refresh or exit
Comparing the options side by side
Set against each other, the three options trade control against administration. Buying gives the most direct control and the most work. Leasing reduces the upfront cost and makes upgrades easier, but often leaves servicing and supplies to be managed separately. Managed print hands most of the day-to-day work to the provider, in return for an ongoing agreement with defined terms.
A few practical differences tend to matter most when organisations compare them.
- Visibility of cost: buying and leasing spread print costs across purchases, payments, toner orders and service calls; managed print usually brings them into one invoice and one set of reports
- Administration: buying and leasing need someone in-house to order supplies, log faults and track contracts; managed print moves most of that to the provider
- Flexibility: buying is flexible in timing but slow to change at scale; leases and managed print agreements are flexible within their terms, so the terms matter
- Mixed fleets: owned and leased devices from different brands are often supported by different companies; a multi-vendor managed print provider can support them under one arrangement
- Planning: owned devices tend to be replaced when they fail; leases and managed print agreements create natural points to review the fleet
When each option tends to suit
There is no single answer. The right option depends on the size of the fleet, how much print matters to your work and how much time your team can give it.
- Buying often suits very small offices with a handful of low-volume devices and someone on hand to look after them
- Leasing often suits organisations that want newer equipment without a large upfront purchase, and already have a service arrangement they are happy with
- Managed print often suits organisations with several devices or sites, mixed brands, or IT teams that would rather not spend time on supplies and faults
- A mix is also common: some organisations bring owned or leased devices under a managed print agreement until they are due for replacement
Working out which applies to you
Before choosing, it helps to know what you have now: which devices, who owns them, which agreements they sit under and when those agreements end. Many organisations find the answer is a mixture, with devices bought at different times, leases ending on different dates and service arrangements nobody has reviewed in years.
Our free, no-obligation fleet assessment maps that picture for you, including devices, volumes and current costs, whichever option you choose next. If managed print is the right fit, we work across Xerox-Lexmark, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, HP and Ricoh through dealership and reseller arrangements, and you have the freedom to choose a different brand when a device is due for replacement.