Well over half of our Libra clients have fully converted
to Laser printing. This goes for reports, invoices, purchase
orders, cheques and assorted other forms. Laser printing has significant
advantages over older Dot-Matrix printing in terms of sound reduction, printing
speed and general readability. For anyone looking at re-ordering any forms
printed by your Libra programs such as Work Orders, Purchase Orders, Invoices
or Cheques, Laser printing has to be a consideration.
Laser printers have come down substantially in price as
well. You can usually find one for less than the least expensive Dot-Matrix
printer. Many models can also print in Duplex Mode (both sides of the page) and
can print envelopes, laser labels and such. Many models can double as a Fax
Machine and Photocopier as well.
But be forewarned, not every model or brand is adaptable
to printing from Libra programs. Generally we recommend HP printers both for
compatibility and reliability reasons. We have also successfully used some
models of Brother, Canon, Minolta, Okidata &
Pitney Bowes printers as well. Unfortunately, many other models were found to
be incompatible. Generally the printer must support the PCL printer language
for Libra compatibility. Even some low-end HP printers do not support this
language and as a result will not work.
A list of compatible HP Printers we can supply:
Model Printing Fax Copier Price
1320 Simplex/Duplex No No
$375.00
2420 Simplex No No $625.00
2420d Simplex/Duplex No No
$725.00
4250 Simplex No No $1025.00
3050 Simplex Yes Yes $350.00
3055 Simplex Yes Yes $575.00
3380 Simplex Yes Yes $825.00
3390 Simplex Yes Yes $775.00
The main differences as the price increases are speed
and durability rating. The more expensive models are rated for more pages per
month. The more expensive All In One units have better
photocopier features as well. Most of the printers are also available with
multiple trays and optional network cards at additional cost.
We have used all of the above models with success. Any
other model that you are considering should be referred to us to confirm its
compatibility. Most of the high-end Digital Printer/Photocopiers supporting the
PCL programming language can often be used as well.
For some time now we have offered Monthly Support Plans
and about half of our clients have taken advantage of the program.
Unfortunately, many clients have preferred to go on a Pay as You Go basis,
which results in a variety of problems both for Visual Accounting and the
clients themselves as they try to avoid placing a technical support call to
save money. This often results in minor problems turning into major ones as
clients struggle to solve problems themselves. These major problems often
require us to come on-site to resolve what may have taken 5 minutes up front.
Monthly support plans start at as little as $20 per
month. Typical installations, with networking, multiple users and applications
cost about $50 per month. Monthly support plans help to keep costs down and
make sure that we as a company can continue to offer our services to our
clients now and well into the future.
The advantages of Monthly Support Plans are:
1) Technical Support Fees are fixed.
2) Staff can inquire as to the best way to do something
instead of wasting time experimenting with solutions.
3) Problems are solved while they are still simple instead
of having users trying to fix them themselves and ultimately making things
worse.
4) Support extends to advice about home computers and
computer related purchases for all users on the monthly support plan.
5) The availability of Libra Support is guaranteed.
6) Payroll, Sales Analysis, Accounting Features and other
updates are included free of charge.
July 1, 2007 is coming fast. The Canadian Bank
Association has dictated new standards for all corporate cheques to enable
standard clearing, scanning and imaging of cheques. If you are ordering new
cheques, make sure that they meet the new standard. What will happen when the time
comes and your cheques do not meet the standard is unclear. The deadline has
already slipped by 6 months. Whether the
banks have decided to charge fees to clear non-compliant cheques has not been
cast in stone but seems all too likely in the Canadian Banking Tradition.