The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA) has reduced printing costs and improved service levels in its document output environment in partnership with its printing vendor and service provider, Itec Central.
IoDSA is a non-profit organisation representing directors, professionals, business leaders and those charged with governance duties in their individual capacities in southern Africa.
The organisation has an average printing volume in excess of 25 000 pages per month for general office and training requirements. Thanks to the Itec solution, it is practical and affordable for IoDSA to print its own training materials, rather than outsourcing this need at great cost.
Following a successful partnership with Itec Central, IoDSA asked Itec to audit its printing environment and help it to identify opportunities to drive down its costs when it was time to renew the contract. Itec Central upgraded the Institute's multifunction products (MFPs), took responsibility for supply of all consumables, including paper, and implemented its Itec Sentry and Print Director software.
Says Angela Oosthuizen, chief operating officer at IoDSA: “We have had a great relationship with Itec throughout the years and have always found it to be a proactive partner. They don't just sell hardware, but really engage with our needs and help us to find the best solution for our business. They have really helped us to improve efficiency through the latest contract.”
Through the partnership with Itec, IoDSA has managed to identify opportunities to drive its printing costs down, says Sam Taylor, IoDSA's events and office manager. Itec's Print Director software has played a central role in helping the Institute to manage its costs by curbing printer abuse and identifying inefficient print use, she adds.
Print Director is an enterprise tool that tracks, audits and controls all printing and photocopying on a network. It includes features such as a follow-me-printing feature, which forces users to release the print job at the printer before it will print. It also allows organisations to track prints made by each user, so that they can put an end to careless and personal use of corporate printing resources.
Sentry, meanwhile, has helped to boost uptime. Sentry is Itec's MFP management solution, which enables the entire device fault management process to be automated. This improves service levels and allows MFPs to be managed in a proactive manner.
“Now that we are using Itec as our paper supplier as well, it is a true one-stop solution provider,” says Taylor. “We can pick up the phone and get access to any product we need with a single call.”
Itec Central's flexible contracts and volume pricing are also major benefits, she adds. “With our high volumes, Itec's costing is a major benefit. We are able to print our training materials ourselves, at high quality and at an affordable cost, rather than outsourcing at great expense,” says Taylor.
“Organisations such as IoDSA are increasingly looking to vendors to provide them with a complete solution that starts with an audit of their costs and requirements, and carries through to the supply of hardware, services and value-added software,” says Chad Stuart, sales director at Itec Central. “They want true partners to help them optimise a function that plays a central role in their business processes.”
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