Are you tired of outdated, inefficient printers in your office? Are you looking for ways to cut costs on paper, ink, and unnecessary printing? As you search for the best printer for your business needs, you may come across inkjet and laser printers, each offering its own set of benefits.
While choosing between the two can be daunting, understanding the differences can help you make an informed decision. As your friend in the industry, we're here to share our expertise on either option, so you can decide which type of printer is right for your office. With Allied Business Solutions, you can trust we'll help you save money, supplies, and control over your current printing concerns.
What's The Difference Between Inkjet and Laser Printers?
Inkjet printers use pigmented liquid ink, which is directed into the print head, then sprayed onto the page through tiny nozzles. On the other hand, laser printers read electronic data from your computer and beam it onto a drum inside the printer. This creates a static electricity pattern, attracting a dry powder called toner onto the paper. The toner is then fused onto the page using heated rollers.
Which Printer Is Best for My In-Office Printing Needs?
As you search for the perfect type of printer for your office (laser vs. inkjet), consider your specific needs and the kind of printing most often required.
Examine the following benefits/issues with current printing:
Compared to one another, inkjet printers are the best-performing option if you are concerned about the cost of operation (especially with color vs. mono-color prints) and decreasing energy consumption. But, if your main goal is to have higher-quality prints, laser printers are what you need.
For Example
If your business primarily prints reports, either occasionally or frequently, you will benefit from an inkjet printer's consistent and clear results.
But, if your company instead prints a large volume of materials, like a seasonal magazine or pamphlets, and you need them to look immaculate, the laser printer is the right equipment for the job.
Allied Business Solutions Can Help Determine Your Printer Needs
If you're still wrestling with a decision on which printer is best for your office, Allied Business Solutions can help. As a trusted provider of office equipment and services, we can work with you to determine your printing needs and recommend the best solutions. Allied partners with top brands like Toshiba, Xerox, Lexmark, HP, Kyocera, and Brother, ensuring you can access the best products and services available.
Scale Your Business Without Limitations
At Allied Business Solutions, we know that running a successful business often requires more than just hard work and dedication – it also takes the right resources. That's why our team is passionate about providing managed print of all sizes in Boise, Idaho Falls, Ontario, Pocatello, and Salt Lake City.
If you're ready to take your business to the next level – contact us now! Our team is standing by and eager to learn more about what makes your business unique so we can find the perfect solution for you. The future success of your business starts here!
On Friday, September 11, 2026, Allied Business Solutions broke ground on its new Meridian headquarters. Twenty three years after the company started in Boise with three employees, the shovels went in the dirt on a building designed to hold everything Allied does next.
The Allied team breaks ground at 1420 E. Bird Dog Drive in Meridian on September 11, 2026.
Here are the answers to the questions we have been getting most.
What happened at the Allied Business Solutions groundbreaking?
Founder and CEO Tom Beeles gave brief remarks after a ceremonial groundbreaking at 3:00 p.m. at the future headquarters site. The ceremony marked the official start of construction on the project Allied first announced in June 2026.
"Breaking ground is an important milestone for our team and our customers. This new headquarters gives us the space to bring our operations together, support future growth, and continue investing in the communities we serve."
Tom Beeles, Founder and CEO, Allied Business Solutions
Founder and CEO Tom Beeles addresses the crowd after the ceremonial dig.
Where is Allied's new headquarters located?
The new headquarters is at 1420 E. Bird Dog Drive in Meridian, Idaho. The site sits along Interstate 84 between Locust Grove and Overland Road, next to Vertical View Climbing Gym. Allied purchased the property years ago and held it for exactly this moment.
The location is deliberate. It puts the company's warehouse and distribution operation directly on the interstate, which matters for both local service response and national equipment shipping.
How big is the new Allied headquarters, and what will be inside it?
The facility is a two story building of more than 43,000 square feet on approximately 3.5 acres. It brings together three things that are currently spread across separate Boise area locations:
Warehouse and distribution center
Equipment showroom
Company departments and office space
The building is organized around the parts of the business Allied is investing in most heavily: managed IT and cybersecurity, agentic AI and automation, and national distribution of printers, copiers, and multifunction devices.
It also includes room to add staff. Allied currently employs around 70 people across Idaho, Oregon, and Utah, and the existing footprint had run out of room to hire.
Rendering of the completed headquarters.
Who is building Allied's new headquarters?
Three partners are delivering the project:
Hall & Hill Construction is the general contractor, responsible for construction delivery on the site.
BRS Architects is the project architect, responsible for the building design and the way the space supports how Allied's teams actually work.
Paradigm Owners Rep Services is the owner's representative, protecting Allied's interests through budget, schedule, and construction decisions.
Allied leadership with the project team: Hall & Hill Construction, BRS Architects, and Paradigm Owners Rep Services.
When will the new Allied headquarters be finished?
Construction is underway now, with completion targeted for mid summer 2027.
Is Allied Business Solutions still locally owned?
Yes. Allied has been locally owned since 2003.
This is worth saying plainly, because the office technology and managed IT industry has consolidated hard. Across the Treasure Valley, mid sized service companies in nearly every category have been acquired by out of state holding companies. When that happens, local decision making tends to move somewhere else, and so does accountability.
Allied is doing the opposite.
"We are not done growing. This building is a statement to our team, to our clients, and to this community that Allied is here for the long haul."
Tom Beeles, Founder and CEO, Allied Business Solutions
Does Allied only serve Idaho, Oregon, and Utah?
No. Allied has five offices in Boise, Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Ontario, and Salt Lake City, and those offices anchor onsite service across the Northwest and Intermountain West. But Allied serves clients nationwide, and the new headquarters increases that capability significantly.
The consolidated warehouse and distribution center means faster equipment staging and shipping to client sites anywhere in the country. Managed IT, cybersecurity, and Managed AI are delivered remotely, so a client in another state gets the same coverage and the same guaranteed response time as a client down the road in Boise.
That is the combination Allied is built on: all the capability of an enterprise partner, all the accountability of a local one.
What services does Allied Business Solutions provide?
Allied works with organizations of every size, from single office businesses to large enterprises, across healthcare, legal, education, government, manufacturing, finance, nonprofit, automotive, retail, and more.
Six service lines:
Managed IT. Day to day support, cloud services, and help desk coverage that keeps businesses running.
Copiers and Printers. Office printers and multifunction devices, plus service and supplies.
Security and Compliance. Cybersecurity across networks, devices, cloud environments, and data, built to stop threats before they reach the client.
Managed AI. AI and automation applied to the systems clients already own, handling routine work and pulling together the information teams need to make decisions.
Phone Systems. Unified communications and collaboration tools.
Production Print Equipment. Commercial print systems, wide format, and finishing for organizations running high volumes.
Who are Allied's manufacturer and technology partners?
Allied works across multiple manufacturer lines rather than a single brand, which means equipment options are matched to what the client actually needs.
Print and equipment partners include Xerox, Kyocera, Toshiba, Lexmark, Brother, Epson, and Duplo. Technology partners include Microsoft, Dell, WatchGuard, Datto, Crexendo, PaperCut, and ABBYY.
Two of those relationships carry formal recognition. Xerox has named Allied a Diamond Solutions Dealer, and Toshiba has awarded Allied its ProMasters Award multiple times. Both are among the highest honors those manufacturers give their dealer partners.
What awards and recognition has Allied received?
Inc. 5000, the list of the fastest growing private companies in the United States
Top Companies in the Treasure Valley, Idaho Business Review
Best Places to Work in Idaho
Xerox Diamond Solutions Dealer
Toshiba ProMasters Award, multiple years
Pros Elite certification
Net Promoter Score of 91.64 for 2026, against a North American average of 30
4.9 stars across 140+ Google reviews
How does Allied measure customer satisfaction?
Most technology companies claim to have the best service in the business. Very few can prove it with a number.
Allied surveys customers after service calls using the Net Promoter Score system, with data collection and verification handled independently by CEO Juice. NPS asks one question: how likely are you to recommend us to a colleague or friend? Promoters score 9 or 10. Detractors score anywhere from 0 to 6. The score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, which means it ranges from -100 to 100.
The average North American company scores 30.
Here is where Allied lands:
Allied score
Promoters
Responses
2026 year to date
91.64
93.26%
371
All time
89.87
92.28%
3,149
For context, these are the highest scoring consumer brands in North America as published by Satmetrix: Amazon at 83, T-Mobile at 82, USAA at 75, Southwest at 71, and Apple at 61.
Two things matter more than the score itself.
The first is consistency. Allied has not posted an annual score below 82 in ten years of tracking, and has been above 87 in each of the last nine. That is not one good quarter. That is a decade of the same answer.
The second is volume. The all time score is built on 3,149 individual customer responses across nearly 40,000 surveys. A high score on a handful of responses is noise. An 89.87 across three thousand of them is a pattern.
What is it like to work at Allied Business Solutions?
A building is just a building. What Allied is actually investing in is room for its people.
Allied has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Idaho, an award decided by the people who work here rather than by the company that employs them.
Tom Beeles founded the company in 2003 on a simple idea: treat clients like neighbors and employees like family. Twenty three years later that is still the operating principle.
Continuity is part of why the service numbers hold. When the same engineer has supported your network for years, they know your environment before they open the ticket. When the same account manager has handled your print fleet since the first install, nothing has to be re-explained.
The company has grown from three employees in Boise to more than 70 across Idaho, Oregon, and Utah, and the new headquarters is built with room to keep hiring. Bringing the Boise area team under one roof also means the people who have been working in separate buildings will finally be working together.
Allied is hiring. Open roles are posted on the careers page.
Meridian groundbreaking, September 11, 2026.
Why is Allied the Official Business Technology Partner of the Boise State Broncos?
Because Idaho's technology team should show up for Idaho.
Allied is the Official Business Technology Partner of the Boise State Broncos, the Boise Hawks, and the Idaho Steelheads, and the Official Technology Sponsor of the Boise Chamber of Commerce, including its annual Sun Valley conference, where Tom Beeles was invited to speak on an AI panel.
Beyond sports and business organizations, Allied supports Ballet Idaho, Ronald McDonald House Charities Idaho, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Idaho, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ada County and Nampa, Girl Scouts of Silver Sage, Girls on the Run Treasure Valley, College of Western Idaho, and Ducks Unlimited.
Allied is the Official Business Technology Partner of the Boise State Broncos.
What does the new headquarters mean for Allied clients?
Three practical things.
Faster equipment delivery. One warehouse and distribution center on the interstate replaces inventory split across multiple sites.
More capacity to hire. More technicians, more engineers, and more help desk coverage, which is the constraint that matters most to response times.
Deeper investment in IT, security, and AI. The building is designed around those service lines specifically, including space for the AI and automation work that is growing fastest.
