Reduce costs and save energy with managed print

A success story from across the pond illustrates well how managed print services can help organisations to reduce costs and save energy.

Cleveland State University has entered into a managed print services contract, to meet the state’s mandate to reduce energy expenditures.

the Welcome Centre at Cleveland State University

Setting up a managed print services (MPS) contract turned into a very smart move for the university – not only has kilowatt expenditure been reduced by more than 50 percent – the contract also saved $685,000 in the first year of a 10-year agreement.

Additionally, by handing over the management of malfunctioning printers, replacement of ink cartridges and oversight of the printer help desk to a managed print services provider,  the school’s IT department has been freed up to focus more time on priority projects.

Jack Boyle, III, senior fellow, Levin College of Urban Affairs with the university, says: “[The managed print services provider] maintains everything but the paper now, that’s the only thing we have to manage.”

Before entering the agreement, the managed print services provider carried out an in-depth assessment of the university’s needs. It demonstrated how switching to fewer printers could save money – and showed that the school’s many one-function desktop printers could be replaced with multi-function units that could print, scan, copy and fax. “This enabled everybody to be able to do virtually anything from their desk,” Boyle says.

After implementing the contract, the university was able to decrease the number of printing devices from approximately 2,500 to 350 units – while still giving the majority of faculty and employees access to at least one multi-function device on their floor, if not in their suite. “Printers were always a problem child,” Boyle recalls. “IT was spending a lot of time on things like paper jams and handling nitty-gritty details.”

A variety of printing devices are now in use at the university. Some offices – including the President’s Office (which creates a lot of PowerPoint presentations), Vice President’s Office and Office of the University Architect – have colour printers. Printing jobs are set to default to two-sided, black-and-white printing, but a colour job can simply be sent to the nearest colour printer. “Everybody has the functionality to be able to get colour,” Boyle says.

A networked system has also created improved printing efficiency. Previously, when a printer malfunctioned, faculty members were unable to do anything until IT came to the rescue. Now, they simply route their job to a nearby printer, and the managed print services provider – not the university’s IT team – comes in to fix the broken printer. “The networking is really one of the keys to making this work,” Boyle says.

Now two-and-a-half years into the agreement, the university has added more printers to deal with expansion and new construction at the school. It also has made changes in other areas, based on printer usage. Boyle says: “One of the things we kept track of early on was usage patterns,” and, “There were a lot of departments that said they needed two printers. We looked at the usage patterns over the first year and made changes when we found that one of the printers was not being used—or was seldom being used.”

With the implementation of the managed print services contract, the university’s energy usage dropped from 425,000 to 200,000 kilowatts per hour, and also brought in substantial cost savings.

At Blueprint Document Solutions, we have a range of print services to help you reduce your costs and energy usage.

Our Infinity service – for home office users, small businesses and schools, enables you to print as much as you like, without worrying about running low or out of ink, for a low fixed monthly cost (starting at just £9.99). We can supply you with a brand new top-of-the-line inkjet printer and enable you tap into an unlimited supply of printer ink – saving you time, money and hassle. Find out more here.

Our Enterprise service – for medium to large businesses, comprises of a flexible range of printing solutions, tailored to meet the individual requirements of your company. From an automated supply of high quality printer cartridges using our Print Manager software, to managing and maintaining your entire printer fleet – we will establish the best printing solution for your business, at a cost-friendly monthly fee – and take care of it all on your behalf. Find out more here

The first step towards reducing your business printing costs is to arrange a free print audit.

During your audit, we will take an inventory of your printers to establish what they are used for and gain an understanding of how much your business is printing. We will then provide a free no obligations proposal and calculate a cost-effective fixed monthly fee for the provision of a tailored printing solution to help reduce your business printing costs.

Drop us a line or give us a call to find out more.