John Hampden Grammar School

The school has provided high quality education in High Wycombe and beyond for almost 120 years. It was originally set up to support the local furniture industry, before becoming a technical school and finally becoming a grammar school in 1970 and serving the wider local area.

The school needed to improve printing efficiency for teachers and students and find a BYOD solution. The costs of running printers was costly and rising and there were over eighty devices in use.

Out with the old

The printer fleet at the school was old and required considerable IT support time. There were two methods of monitoring usage, one for copying and the other for printing which was extremely time consuming.

Printing for students was labour intensive to manage and required dedicated printers throughout the school.

Review

Following a comprehensive print audit and successful tender process, IBS Office Solutions focused on three areas to cut waste from John Hampden Grammar School smooth-running organisation:

Improved Hardware

Reducing the printer fleet with 13 print release stations being high-quality multifunctional devices saved time immediately. In addition to their current equipment in reprographics and administrative locations, all units had the same customised interface making the operation very simple.

“We went through a lengthy analysis in 2013 of our print costs and launched a tendering process where IBS, being the successful bidder put into motion a massive change for the better for all our users. We cut down our fleet massively and decided not to replace A4 colour printers, but put in place faster, more reliable and efficient MFP’s instead.”

FindMe printing

All staff and students can now conveniently retrieve a print job, or scan and copy from any machine. PaperCut’s FindMe print release software requires staff and students to swipe machines with their door entry card to activate a machine. The feature makes it almost impossible to waste paper, or leave a potentially confidential document behind.

“Papercut has been a revelation, IBS worked fantastically well setting this up and also installing the new printers and copiers. Also, we now have the ability to print from mobile devices, also managed through Papercut.”

Device management

To further reign in print costs and remove the hassle of ongoing monitoring and maintenance, IBS Office Solutions put in place a managed print service agreement. This means John Hampden Grammar School now only pays for what it uses on a per-printed page basis and for paper. Repairs, advice, monitoring and cartridges are included in a single consolidated quarterly fee.

“IBS used to only supply our copiers, but now they manage the whole fleet and I am extremely happy with their work ethic, the “can do” approach and their swift response to the rare need for an engineer too. The original setup was excellent, from the removal of the old fleet, installing the new devices, setting up Papercut with its sync to AD took just less than two days. I think we have a super working relationship, one I hope will continue for many years to come.”

Goodbye printer problems

Consolidation of fewer, more powerful multifunctional printers has resulted in lower running costs and access to no-nonsense, fast machines, making a happier workforce and healthier accounts.

Here are the benefits at a glance:

Reduced waste

Print release software has reduced paper waste by 20% – 30%. IBS Office Solutions also configured machines to the organisation’s precise requirements including a default black and white setting. Any unwanted documents are automatically removed from the server memory after several days if left unprinted.



Increased productivity

IBS Office Solutions managed print contract with John Hampden Grammar School has eliminated time wasted on printing problems. A fault on one device will no longer stop a member of staff completing a task, as they have the flexibility to use any printer in the office.



Better business continuity

IBS Office Solutions monitors how the entire printer fleet is operating with specialist software that runs in the background. If a problem is detected, an alert is automatically sent to IBS Office Solutions technical help desk to take action and the response is rapid.

Feedback provided by: Jeremy Onslow, IT Manager, John Hampden Grammar School