Solution Spotlight: Total Print Management

Customer: Private, higher-education university
Location: Western Pennsylvania

Highlights

Total cost of printing for a private higher education university fleet of more than 250 printers was largely unknown. In addition, the IT staff was spending significant time on printer maintenance. MCPc implemented a fleet management solution to identify and save costs, as well as relieve staff burden.

Benefits

• Costs were contained, significantly reduced and controlled through comprehensive fleet management metrics and scorecards.
• Potential for greatly reduced output through setting reasonable limits per student, a key strategy determined as a result of total cost reporting.
• Important strategic initiatives are being addressed by IT staff due to the reduction in maintenance issues, which are now managed through automated service alerts that dispatch an MCPc service technician.

Business Need

This organization has been a valued MCPc customer for more than five years and recently identified a need to determine their total cost of print, due to tightened budgets and a lack of current print expenditure information. Billings were spread amongst multiple departments, making reporting sparse and incomplete. In addition, the IT staff was stretched thin and spending unproductive time on maintenance for the university’s 250 printer fleet. The desire to identify and reduce cost while alleviating IT staff maintenance tasks prompted discussions with MCPc.

Solution

MCPc’s Total Print Management Program, a proprietary fleet management solution, was recommended and quickly implemented. This software began measuring all 250 devices utilizing a proven cost-per-page methodology. It provided the university with comprehensive total cost of ownership analysis for all the devices in its fleet, including print maintenance and output costs. This critical information was used to make new business decisions that would subsequently reduce overall cost and alleviate the maintenance burden on their IT staff.

In addition, rather than replace the entire printer fleet as originally thought, MCPc’s fleet management solution revealed that many printers still had a useful life; only a portion of outdated machines needed to be replaced. MCPc’s automated toner replenishment program began monitoring the supply levels of their network printers and copiers. As needed, supplies are automatically ordered through a direct connection to MCPc’s ecommerce system and delivered directly to the key operator for installation, eliminating the need for on-site storage. This process streamlined the university’s supply chain and eliminated the manual ordering process. Automated maintenance and service alerts were implemented enabling an MCPc technician to be dispatched for timely service on the hardware.

Results

After collecting the appropriate printer fleet data, MCPc prepared a comprehensive report that detailed the total cost of print as well as strategies for reducing that costs including: user-to-device ratio, useful life optimization, total cost of ownership data assessment, and device serviceability analysis.

The customer also realized cost savings by utilizing machines that had not reached the useful end-of-life, rather than purchasing a brand new printer fleet. This budget was reallocated to other IT initiatives.

Monthly scorecard reports and consultation with MCPc ensure that the customer now has a clear understanding of their overall print spending and average cost per document output, tracking both overall and granular spending, as well as printing trends university-wide. For example, students currently have no printing limitations, so the university is considering setting reasonable limits on print output per student.

Regular preventative maintenance has increased the usefulness of the existing fleet. Device uptime has significantly increased due to preventative maintenance, automated toner replacement and early printer break identification. The university’s IT staff is able to focus their time and effort on more strategic initiatives, as originally desired.

In addition to helping this customer reduce cost and increase the efficiency of their IT staff, MCPc provides them with best practices, customizable metrics and reporting, security measures and user authentication strategies, strong service support and unique software tools customized to meet the need of their particular program. If your business needs to assess its printer fleet and identify its true cost of printing, MCPc is ready to speak with you about your objectives and customize a total print management solution for your needs.