Managed Print ServicesAuckland University of Technology (AUT)

A Lesson in Success

Case Study Auckland University of Technology (AUT)

“Fuji Xerox New Zealand gave us a completely outsourced and cost efficient print model. They’ve given us freedom and a true partnership. We have a very strong foundation to build on when it comes to expanding the other services we offer our students, and to run a significant and highly progressive university.”

Gina Robinson, Director, ICT Business Services

AUT University

Managed Print Services

A lesson in success Auckland University of Technology (AUT), with close to 20,000 full time students, is the fastest growing university in the country. AUT’s undergraduate and post graduate programmes run across three campuses in central, north and south Auckland.

Setting expectations

In 2013, the AUT ICT Services team searched for a more efficient print solution as their contract with a third-party supplier was coming to an end. The team had clear objectives to have a centralised print service fully managed by the supplier; eliminate capital cost outlay by building costs into cost-per-copy so the user pays; achieve sustainability goals by reducing their printer fleet footprint; reduce overall print costs to ensure a gain in productivity and decreased support effort required from their limited ICT resources.

Testing times

Self-managing the university’s 800 plus print devices resulted in high overhead costs and poor performance. AUT’s dedicated in-house service desk of over 40 staff support students and staff at all campuses. The majority of support requests from this highly demanding user base were issues with the university’s unreliable print solution.

This dissatisfaction became a major concern, and a key driver to overhaul AUT’s complex and cumbersome print environment. Due to the demanding nature of their work, the students

require access to print and copy devices at all times. They have high expectations of both technology and support and believe that the printers should run smoothly, be readily available and fully stocked with consumables. Each student had an account to “buy” internet and print services. Unfortunately, service downtime and problems reconciling pre-paid account balances left students dissatisfied.

Other than authentication and cost management issues, the service desk handled a high volume of print related problems. Almost 2,000 cases were logged within a 19-month period.

Dealing with hardware faults, paper jams, and restocking consumables consumed valuable resource time. Replenishing consumables accounted for nearly 25% of the service desk’s print support, and duplication in orders and overstocking were common.

MACD (move, add, change or delete a device) was major contributor to the service desk workload, requiring additional resources at peak periods.Relocating a printer takes considerable manual work and setup time, not forgetting troubleshooting and resolving any infrastructure connectivity issues arising from the shift.

The huge print fleet consists of leased, rented and purchased devices. Thus, from an operational or support perspective, it was difficult and at times, impossible to understand the total costs of ownership of the print environment,

although AUT could capture the costs of consumables.

Ticking all the boxes

In 2011, Fuji Xerox New Zealand successfully completed an overhaul of the University’s on premise print bureau, and established a position of trust with AUT. To win the university’s print environment project, Fuji Xerox conducted an in-depth fleet assessment, and proposed a comprehensive and farsighted solution guaranteeing substantial benefits and savings.

Fuji Xerox’s Managed Print Services (MPS) solution gave AUT a fully managed fleet of devices. It was the ultimate hands-off solution for the university.

Fuji Xerox replaced AUT’s cost recovery solution with Equitrac, an industry-leading print solution channelling user output through a single print queue. A quick swipe with an ID card releases documents to the most convenient multi-function device (MFD), with reduced paper wastage, and increased document security and privacy. It captures costs accurately, allocating them against a student’s account or a staff member’s department. Equitrac’s mobile print solution gives students who utilise their own devices even more flexibility.

Providing a fully managed and resourced Fuji Xerox Print Service Desk freed up AUT service desk staff to focus on work that best utilised their talents.

By automating the consumables ordering process and with a dedicated Fuji Xerox DocuCare team, devices are always fully stocked, cleared of paper jams, regularly maintained and any faults are promptly fixed through regular maintenance.

The result? Happy service desk staff - and even happier customers.

Rationalising the number of printers to 385 standardised MFD’s reduced costs dramatically, but with minimal impact on users. The smaller and simplified printer footprint reflected the university’s commitment to sustainability and, most importantly, AUT is able to produce a consolidated report showing the actual breakdown of costs and performance of their overall print environment.

Based on accurate reporting by group, location or department, AUT management is now able to make factual decisions on the placement and numbers of printers needed to meet on-site requirements.

Fuji Xerox’s account managers, onsite support staff and DocuCare operators will configure, manage, monitor, and report on the entire fleet. Location of devices, who’s responsible for them, and their current status is fully visible in real time, including faults, consumables and MACD requests.

The transition was carefully planned over a number of months. The roll-out implemented efficiently over a few weekends. By September 2014, the new fleet was fully operational. True to their commitment to sustainability, Fuji Xerox helped AUT broker a deal to onsell their old equipment, helping to defray costs.

AUT embraced the new print environment wholeheartedly.

“Our team completely bought-in to the Fuji Xerox solution. We’re passionate about the changes and championed the transition through the whole process,” says Roy Cullum, Director, ICT Infrastructure Services of AUT. “The project is so successful, and we’re so proud of it, we documented it in a video case study. Our relationship with Fuji Xerox is transparent and communication is great. They think about the future and do the right thing by us in terms of technology.”

A winning score

Fuji Xerox New Zealand’s MPS solution reduced the total cost of ownership (TCO) of an essential business service for AUT. The five-year contract will see AUT enjoy overall savings of approximately NZ$1.5m. As compared to AUT’s earlier solution, they had already attained NZ$637,000 in savings for 2015. An estimated savings of NZ$160,000 per year is expected through the reduction of resources needed to support printing.

The introduction of Equitrac saw the immediate reduction of service desk

support time by 50%, and if the solution should ever experience downtime, it will not last for more than 45 seconds. Fuji Xerox’s continual monitoring and reporting highlights opportunities to further rationalise AUT’s print footprint and streamline business processes. This of course further drives down costs.

The transition to an 80%+ proactive print environment resolves faults and problems before end users are even aware of them. Uptime for devices has increased. So has productivity and satisfaction levels among AUT’s most demanding and valued end users – its students.

“Fuji Xerox New Zealand gave us a completely outsourced and cost efficient print model,” says Gina Robinson, ICT Business Services Director of AUT. “They’ve given us freedom and a true partnership. We have a very strong foundation to build on when it comes to expanding the other services we offer to our students, and to run a significant and highly progressive university.”

“We see real value in our regular account management team meetings. The relationship with Fuji Xerox is very open and transparent, so we can have meaningful discussions about the performance of our print fleet. Their team is extremely proactive when it comes to helping to identify other areas of the business where we can realise measurable improvements through technology.”

About Fuji Xerox Global ServicesSince its inception in 2007, Fuji Xerox Global Services has maintained its market leader position in document management and consulting services globally. At Fuji Xerox Global Services, we help our customers re-engineer their document management processes, ensure seamless integration into their current IT infrastructure, transform document intensive processes and customer communications to achieve operational excellence, costs efficacies and sustainable growth. As your business partner, your success is our success. For more information, please email fxgs.marketing@fujixerox.com or visit us at www.fujixerox.com/eng/solution/globalservices/

Founded in 1962, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. is a leading company in the Document Services & Communications field, offering solutions and services to help customers resolve their business challenges. Fuji Xerox is a 75-25 joint venture between FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation and Xerox Corporation, and its direct sales force covers Japan and the Asia-Pacific region including China. We employ approximately 47,000 people globally, with more than 80 domestic and overseas affiliates / sales subsidiaries. www.fujixerox.com

About Fuji Xerox New Zealand Fuji Xerox delivers market leading document services and print solutions to the New Zealand market place. Our core philosophy is to be ‘strong’, ‘kind’ and ‘interesting’; a ‘strong’ company that delivers excellent products and services that satisfy customers, and is able to reward its shareholders continuously; a ‘kind’ company that contributes to local and global communities with a particular focus around young people; and an ‘interesting’ company at which employees find their life and work fulfilling. We aim to be a company with a good balance of all three attributes. Visit us at www.fujixerox.co.nz/solutions-services

At a glance

Organisation:

Auckland University of Technology (AUT)

Industry Sector:

Tertiary Education

Size:

20,000 EFTS, 2,200 staff (FTE)

Business Requirement:

Replace the AUT print environment with a solution which would reduce costs, free up internal resources and increase customer satisfaction.

Primary Objective:

Resolve ongoing issues and dissatisfaction with the university’s cost recovery solution, rationalise an overly-large device footprint, address high overhead costs and poor performance.

Solution:

Fuji Xerox’s Managed Print Services (MPS) solution gave AUT a fully managed fleet of devices. It was the ultimate automated and hands-off solution for the university which included a full cost recovery solution, mobile printing, a Fuji Xerox Print Service Desk with full and transparent reporting.

Outcomes:

• Overall savings of NZ$637,000 in the first year

• Total savings of NZ$1.5m over the five-year contract

• An estimated NZ$160,000 a year saving is expected through the reduction of resources needed to support printing.

• Estimated 1.36million sheets of paper saved in the first year

• Resolution of all issues associated with cost recovery

• Hands-off fully supported print environment

• Freeing up of service desk team to focus on other technology issues

• >50% reduction of print fleet

• A 80%+ proactive print

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