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A move towards greater agility

Finding the right IT solution can have a major impact on an organisation. That was what staff at Monmouthshire County Council discovered when they transformed their printing process and saved the council up to £30,000.

Heather Probert, office manager for the council said: “Our aim was to update an aging fleet of copiers, reduce the volume of printing and give staff the ability to work from various bases. After reviewing the printers and photocopiers on each site we discovered they were supplied by different organisations and managed by various individuals.”

Originally, we had been unaware of a managed print solution but when XMA suggested one to us it changed our outlook completely.

XMA presented the answer by installing more than 30 HP and SafeCom multi-function printers across the county’s offices with an ability for staff to access print jobs on whichever device they chose.

A more agile system

A major advantage was that the XMA process allowed Monmouthshire to support greater flexibility for staff. Mrs Probert said: “We were looking to reduce our office accommodation from a central building to multiple smaller offices. The managed print solution enabled us to allow more flexibility to workers so they could work from a variety of desks, offices or even from home.

“Before, we sat at fixed desks with a computer, hard drive and printer. Now, at our current headquarters we have around 200 desks and our 400 staff can set up laptops at any of them, send requests to print regardless of where they are working and collect it from any printer. It’s a big part of the council’s wider agile working agenda.”

Efficiency guaranteed

Part of the move towards greater agility was to allow the council to become more efficient – an aim the new printing solution can help deliver.

Mrs Probert said: “Our goal was to reduce the volume of printing – something we had wanted to do for quite some time. With the XMA system, we can place the printers strategically across the organisation and staff must walk to the nearest one to activate their print jobs rather than sit at their desks printing away incessantly.

“XMA’s managed print solution is much more efficient and productive for us. We believe we will save £30,000 over three years now we no longer provide and maintain desktop printers. Our volume of printing is much lower, our storage costs are significantly reduced and all consumables are the same brand so recharging can be handled centrally and in bulk which also gives economies of scale.”

Mrs Probert added that the single point of control for managing the organisation’s printing – rather than being handled in a piecemeal way by different members of staff – was immeasurably helpful. “It’s much easier and more efficient and far smoother to manage than the old system.”

The benefits of an experienced technical provider

The ability to tap into XMA’s technical knowledge was also invaluable. Mrs Probert said: “The XMA team’s communication was excellent. They consulted about what we wanted, looked at our printing needs and put forward what they thought was the best solution.“Our printing processes have significantly changed the approach to thinking about how we print and what we print. Thanks to SafeCom – the print management software – we can access reports on which documents are being printed and make decisions based on that.”

“Had we not gone through XMA, I don’t think we would have recognised the benefits of changing to this particular printing strategy.”

An ongoing relationship

The relationship between XMA and the council is also a crucial factor in the success of the project. Mrs Probert commented: “We are now in regular contact with XMA, it’s easy to get hold of someone and their support is first class. We can replace consumables ourselves but anything more complex means that an XMA engineer will be on site quickly to carry out an excellent job.”

We have become used to this service so much that it’s difficult to remember what it was like previously. We have plans to continue to work with XMA in the future to ensure the managed print solution remains robust.

Harrow College has its printing needs all mapped out thanks to a five-year fully managed print solution from XMA.

The ability to avoid unwelcome and costly surprises can be a useful asset for departments who must deal with constantly changing IT needs. It was certainly a consideration for Anton Saverimuthu, Harrow College’s technical services manager, when he investigated how to upgrade the college’s printing solution.

The college was using a mixture of old and new printers to support the printing needs of its staff and students across two campuses but Mr Saverimuthu wanted to introduce a much more standardised printing solution. He, therefore, opted for a fully managed print solution from XMA after finding the company could fit the right solution to his needs – and that printing costs could be spread over a five-year plan.

He said: “We now have a fully managed solution and XMA bill us a fixed price for our printing needs every quarter. It is based on our historical printing figures, what types of prints we use and how many. We have a five-year plan but after every year we assess and can adjust our payments accordingly.

“The fact our pricing is on a five year contract, based on a quarterly payment for the number of prints we do per quarter, means we have a very clear picture of our costs which is very useful for us. There was also no initial capital outlay required for the replacement hardware or software.”

Harrow College now has around 110 HP printers with printers installed in each classroom. They include 70 new HP 2055dn and two new HP 3525n printers. The solution is based on around 1.83 million prints per year.

The College wanted to retain the PaperCut print management solution, and the data available through it enabled XMA to plan the print solution refresh more effectively. The fully managed service option also includes remote monitoring via Jet Advice and a four hour response break fix support. The deal also gives Harrow College the opportunity to benefit from fortnightly preventative maintenance visits although this will not kick in until the printers need a greater level of maintenance.

The implementation of the solution went very well. There were a lot of printers replaced at two different campuses but everything happened smoothly and the result has matched up with our plans.

A consolidated approach

Mr Saverimuthu said: “Our project intended to get rid of some of our older printers and replace them as well as keep some of the more recent ones. We had different makes and models, a situation which was not ideal, especially as we also were reliant on different consumables. For example, up until this point we had been forced to buy toner from different companies, which could be difficult to keep track of.

“We knew if we standardised on one or two printer models it would make it easier to manage the whole system and enable us to run a much more effective print solution. We could drastically reduce the number of different consumables we had to use. At the same time, I knew I didn’t have too much money available and couldn’t just replace all the printers outright.”

The right solution

Mr Saverimuthu found XMA could provide the answer. He said: “We managed to reduce our solution by around 30 printers all together, keeping some of our existing printers as well as buying new ones. All our consumables are now provided by XMA and come via an automated ordering system as and when we need them.

“I was pleased the company could offer all HP printers, which was what I wanted. What’s more, the cost of the new printers was also worked out within the five year deal so that minimised our initial outlay too and made the whole project much easier.”

Good value as well as good price Mr Saverimuthu added: “Price played a part but it was not the only factor. XMA were competitive but not the cheapest. What was more important to me was that what they could offer exactly fitted with my plans and they had a value-add.”

Another factor in using XMA for Harrow College’s print solution was the reputation the company has built up in the education industry. Mr Saverimuthu said: “HP described XMA as one of its major print resellers and that played a part. We knew they had successfully offered this type of managed service to others in similar positions within our industry which gave me confidence in them.

When your business relies on IT systems, you need to have complete confidence in your solution’s capability. That was why when CPC needed a new range of printers, Martin Williamson, the company’s stores development manager, opted for a managed print solution from XMA.
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Mr Williamson said: “We send out over one million orders per year across the UK and overseas. We have high volumes of paperwork we need to print – three pages per each of the orders that get sent out of our warehouse. We chose to install three main HP printers, along with 10 others across the warehouse, and needed them to be able to produce high print volumes on demand. At the time, when we were ready for new printers and looking at options, XMA demonstrated a significant saving with heightened levels of service.”

Major savings

Mr Williamson discovered XMA’s managed print solution could save CPC 23% a year on its total cost of ownership. Mr Williamson said: “I worked out the cost of everything from sheets of paper, to annual volume of the printers and the toner.

 “We verified the annual costs on each machine to work out our total cost of ownership. There were other options in the marketplace but XMA’s solution offered a very good saving.”

Now, having provided the HP printers, XMA carries out scheduled preventative maintenance to keep the system running smoothly. The company also provides toner via an automated ordering system, which removes the requirement for purchase orders. All devices are supported through a four hour onsite service level agreement.

A service to depend on. Although the cost savings were compelling, Mr Williamson said it was also important that CPC knew it could rely on XMA’s service. He said: “There was always some risk to choosing a managed solution. We were able to talk to other customers who use XMA to find out how the company operated but we knew that not all companies faced the same pressures as us. In our business, pickers enter the warehouse and have to scan paperwork at the start of their assignment. Therefore, if the paperwork isn’t produced when we want it our business would stall. When print stops, our business stops.”

Planning ahead

For Mr Williamson, a key benefit offered by XMA was the flexibility to make the solution work for his business. He said: “Our printers have a high usage and we have found that if we have them serviced every two weeks that increases a device’s up-time significantly.

To me it’s better to be pre-emptive than to wait for problems. It was good that XMA was prepared to do that rather than fix a problem when it occurred. We also wanted three main printers, which produce in excess of 200,000 pages per month, so we would have a level of redundancy. Our experience told us that this meant if one was down we would still be in a good position. Whatever we needed, it has been put in place by XMA. We certainly ended up with the right solution.”

“Thanks to our deal with XMA, we also have a fixed cost per page for the duration of our contract. It’s good for our business to have those fixed costs.”

The company has recently added two existing printers to the agreement. Mr Williamson said: “We didn’t want to replace them as we felt they still had life left in them so we added them into the agreement and they now enjoy the same service. Again, it was something we wanted to do which they were able to make happen.”

Looking to the future

Mr Williamson said CPC staff knew from the beginning their systems would require a certain level of maintenance. He said: “As our printers have a high throughput, we naturally expect to have problems, so the service XMA provides is vital. My account manager can help with anything. He is always available on the phone or by email and is quick to respond and follow-up any query. It all seems to work well.”

“We are now considering looking at installing new printers and multifunctional devices for the office and administrative side of the business. We will ask XMA for their ideas and look at carrying on with our partnership.”

XMA delivers better printing at lower cost for City College Norwich with eco-friendly Kyocera printers lowering Total Cost of Ownership.

This term City College Norwich’s 14,000 staff and students are reaping the benefits of new printers that are more efficient, cost less to manage and are better for the environment, courtesy of IT solutions specialists XMA.

The College appointed XMA to replace ageing HP units with a batch of 39 new printers, following a competitive pitch.

While the contract was worth just under £9,000, the savings made by the College will be significant due to the Kyocera models it has now installed.

Reducing spend on running costs

Gary Johnson, the College’s Procurement Officer, explains: “We had used HP printers in the past, but switched to Kyocera for the cost and eco-benefits they offer. For the most recent phase of our printer refresh it was important to go with Kyocera because they fitted in with our managed print service, complementing the existing infrastructure. But the savings speak for themselves – our TCO has dropped by a considerable sum.

The College, which prides itself on being a progressive and aspirational organisation, provides further and higher education and training to 14-19 years olds throughout Norwich and Norfolk. The printer refresh is part of the College’s commitment to providing its students with access to 21st Century systems and functions, while maximising value and adhering to sustainable practices.

Mr Johnson adds: “Obviously one of our biggest ongoing costs for running printers is consumables and we estimate we’ll spend thousands of pounds less running Kyocera’s printers over other models.”

The Kyocera printers, both colour (FSC-5250DN/FSC-5350DN) and mono (FS1370DN) were installed during the College’s New Year closure when there was less demand on the system.

For the new print installation, XMA’s role was supply and warranty support. XMA was eligible to bid for the contract through a framework agreement with the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium.

According to Mr Johnson, the bidding process in itself was valuable for testing the market. He says: “By going out to tender we achieved instant savings over and above running new printers. We found the difference between the highest quote for the contract and the XMA offer was huge – XMA’s price was 30% lower than one of the bids, which just shows the exceptional savings that are available.”

Going the extra mile

While the current economic climate puts the spotlight on spending across all areas of industry, education particularly is feeling the pinch. He adds: “In this sector, there is a pressure to reduce spend and to ensure we’re getting the best value for money. The price was right with XMA, and they were brilliant in their service delivery. One of our challenges was that we had no way of storing the printers, which meant we needed multiple deliveries to reflect when the equipment could be fitted. The result was four separate deliveries, so XMA literally did go that extra mile for us.”

Kyocera is one of over 50 leading manufacturers with which XMA is a key supplier partner, providing long-life and award-winning printing solutions.

Businesses, large and small, are now taking a considerable interest in the environment. ‘Sustainability’ has become a buzzword as many businesses look to become more socially responsible in how they buy and work.

Companies such as HP, are no exception. HP is leading the shift to more environmentally friendly printing by introducing key sustainability initiatives that helps both themselves, and end users become more aware of the environment.

Sustainable printer supplies

A key part of HP’s product innovation involves developing and delivering print cartridges that help reduce environmental impact and are manufactured and recycled responsibly – promoting good corporate citizenship. From the outset, HP’s Design for Environment (DfE) programme ensures HP cartridges are designed with the environment in mind.

Also, HP requires its suppliers to certify that all HP printing supplies and their packaging comply with the HP General Specifications for Environment (GSE) – a set of guidelines that prohibits the
use of specific substances that are potentially harmful to the environment.

Recycling empty cartridges

Developed over 20 years ago, HP Planet Partners Programme pioneered a simple and free-of-charge system for customers to return and recycle their used Original HP LaserJet toner cartridges through state-of-the-art ISO 14001 certified facilities.

This programme has since expanded to include Original HP ink cartridges and is now available in more than 60 countries and territories around the world. Through our Planet Partners Programme, HP guarantees that it will never refill or resell print cartridges, or send them to a landfill. The results of this recycling have been phenomenal.

HP has produced more than 2.6 billion original HP ink and toner cartridges with recycled plastics since 2005. 628 million HP cartridges have already been recycled since 1991. This has resulted in:

• A 33% carbon footprint reduction
• A 54% reduction in fossil fuel consumption
• A 75% reduction in water used

This has assisted HP in being awarded the Green Apple Award in 2014 and the Green World Ambassador Award in 2015 – both to recognise their efforts towards sustainability.

Sustainability in the future

Of course, HP cannot achieve these sustainability and recycling results without customers buying original and genuine printer supplies from HP. It is this support that is helping both the company and its customers look after the environment.

Counterfeit products that are not purchased from an authorised resellers, as we’ve spoken about in a previous article, can be detrimental towards our shared sustainability goals. Only buying your HP printer supplies from an authorised seller, like XMA, can guarantee that the company continues to fight sustainability in order to look after the environment.

For more information on buying your next HP printer supplies, speak to your XMA Account Manager today.