Clifton High School goes for a one-vendor approach with OKI

Posted by Stephanie Broad | September 19, 2016 | Technology

• #oki
• #printers
• #clifton-high-school
• #independent-schools

About the customer

Clifton High School in Bristol is a lively co-educational and independent all-through school – from nursery to sixth form – with over 500 pupils. Established in 1877, it is now seen as forward-looking, nurturing in its approach and academically strong. 

The challenge

The size and mix of ages in the school means that any piece of equipment needs to be strong and reliable enough to withstand heavy use and robust handling. This is particularly the case with printers, which are used throughout the school both in classrooms and offices. 

In recent years, the school had accumulated a mix of different types of printers from a variety of vendors on an ad-hoc basis. Each of these came with a different maintenance contract, with their own individual contacts and conditions. As such the equipment needed a range of consumables, at different times and from a long list of vendors. As a result the overall printing function was time-consuming and expensive to manage.

Janos Fulop, Clifton High School’s IT systems and support manager suggested that the number of printers made systems inefficient and consolidation was needed. 

The solution

The best way to rationalise the school’s printing function was to standardise on printers from one vendor. This would make it easier to manage the printers, involving only a single point of contact and one maintenance agreement. The school would also benefit from economies of scale when ordering consumables. 

After conducting online research and comparisons, the school chose OKI to provide the new service, settling on a variety of A4 colour printers and a number of multifunction printer (MFPs) for scanning and copying as well as printing. The total package comprised around 20 new printers replacing the larger, mismatched collection of devices previously in place all around the school.

To further streamline costs, the school also invested in PaperCut, an easy-to-use print accounting and management software designed to help organisations cut overheads by preventing unauthorised printing.  

The benefits

“The school’s printing function is now much more efficient and less expensive,” says Janos Fulop, the school’s IT manager. “Any maintenance needed comes from the same source, regardless of the printer type and higher capacity toners mean there is less downtime.” 

PaperCut has been simple to set up and deploy. “It’s now easier to manage large numbers of constantly changing users which we can now do remotely via a web interface,” says Fulop. “This has resulted in less waste and more responsible printing. It also means confidential information remains safe and secure.

“We now have fewer problems across the board. Just efficient, good quality printing. We have no complaints.”

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