Challenge
With 46 organisations, 1600 staff and 24,000 students and learners, WWETB needed to upgrade its capacity to meet the print, scan and copy needs of all its educational centres. It was important that a new solution would offer sufficient analytical data, whilst also being secure and easily managed
To meet wider company goals, WWETB wanted the new solution to be as sustainable as possible and reduce the overall carbon footprint of both individual learning centres and the provider as a whole.
Solution
In May 2020, WWETB partnered with the Office of Government Procurement to run a mini competition for the provision of a Managed Print Service. WWETB worked with Independent Photocopier Services to deliver Lexmark devices alongside Lexmark Cloud Print Management Applications which allows Lexmark to support the ecosystem and provide a stable, flexible print environment. IPS provided a seamless service, installing the devices on site with amazing speed and minimum disruption.
Lexmark was also able to provide a sustainable solution through its Cartridge Collection Program, which ensured that all empty consumables would be 100% recycled, avoiding any waste going to landfill.
Results
During deployment it was quite evident that the implementation of a Cloud Print Management Service delivered on Lexmark hardware significantly reduced the impact of replacing an incumbent supplier. IPS managed the installation, delivering a forward-thinking and future-proofed print solution. Once the Lexmark Cloud Print Management solution had been configured to match the WWETB Printing Policy, IPS ensured all devices arrived onsite, preconfigured, and ready to print. The average install for a device was 10 minutes, saving a significant amount of time during deployment. Plus, users had received all their PIN’s, training material and how-to documents in advance, meaning the onboarding process was simple and easy, and downtime was effectively non-existent.
Thanks to the Lexmark and IPS solution, students, learners and teachers now can submit print jobs from their smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops on any platform with all prevalent file types supported. Each user has their own Lexmark printing portal whereby documents can be dragged and dropped, allowing users to queue and retrieve print jobs without having to install a print driver. Print Submission via the Lexmark portal is steadily increasing as users become more accustomed to utilising this service.
WWETB now also has access to key analytics that enable them to manage trends, better understand their print environment and apply policies that reduce costs across the entire organisation and IPS is on hand to support with any issues. Colour usage is controlled via the Lexmark Cloud Print Management application with a key ratio of 78% mono usage and 22% colour usage since the system went live. 65% of all jobs are converted to duplex, saving significant costs on paper usage and over 20% of submitted jobs are deleted automatically when users do not retrieve within three days. Overall, the Lexmark and IPS solution will deliver over 35% project savings over the contract term.