In 1990 Buckinghamshire Council decided to review its printer fleet with a view to selecting a vendor that could offer a complete range of products appropriate for all the different printing requirements throughout the organisation. After carrying out detailed evaluations of the various products on offer it was decided that Kyocera's range was the most appropriate, as John Wheeler explains: "We were looking for robust, reliable products that could respond to the many and varied printing requirements across the Council. Our main reason for selecting Kyocera was the considerable consumables savings that were demonstrated - up to 60% in some cases compared with the competition."
The council now has more than 1000 printers that cover the complete Kyocera range, from desktops that print at 14 pages per minute right up to departmental machines that deliver high quality output at 50 pages per minute. The council has also benefited from the development of colour laser printers, and has now deployed Kyocera's award-winning FS-C5016N in several departments.
Flexible Working
Buckinghamshire Council has around 3000 PCs and is currently moving to more flexible, remote ways of working, which means that many users now have laptops. This in turn has meant that more network printers need to be available when remote workers are in the council's offices. Audrey Robinson, Public Sector Account Manager at Kyocera, explains how native software can help the council manage its fleet: "All our printers come with network management software called KMNet viewer. This software enables a network manager to monitor the status of every device that is network connected from a central location. It can even monitor devices from other manufacturers giving details such as toner levels, any faults that arise and even if the printer has run out of paper. It's an ideal software solution for a large organisation such as a council with printers sited in disparate locations."
Purchasing Power
Buckinghamshire Council purchases via the Central Buying Consortium contract, on which Kyocera partner XMA is an approved supplier. John Wheeler explains the way in which the Council works with XMA: "We work closely with XMA to determine which products from Kyocera's range are the most appropriate for our needs. As our budgets are devolved, with responsibility for purchasing individual machines resting with many stakeholders, it's vital that these are all kept up to date with the latest information about the current and forthcoming Kyocera products. XMA and Kyocera provide us with detailed technical and end user information so that our fleet runs smoothly."
During the 14 years that the council has been using Kyocera, it has found the products to be reliable: "The printers are very easy to use and refill with toner, so this tends to minimise the number of faults that arise due to end user intervention," explains John Wheeler. "The drivers are simple to install so we can get new printers up and running very quickly. Furthermore, XMA has developed an automated warranty registration system which means that we don't have to register the products manually and if we do have any problems with the printer it is already registered for support. We also have a specialist service and maintenance partner called SSL that has a high level of knowledge on Kyocera machines and offers prompt and high quality service."
Cost Control
While having robust and reliable printers has made life easier for Buckinghamshire Council's network managers over the years, there's no denying that the key benefit has been the money saved on consumables during the fourteen years that Kyocera has been working with the council.
"The amount of money saved on consumables costs must run into tens, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds by now," says John Wheeler. "We are able to devote more budget to other areas due to the savings that we make on our printing fleet, which enables us to adopt new ways of more flexible working and ensure that we provide the best service for the community."
