XMA delivers better printing at lower cost for City College Norwich with eco-friendly Kyocera printers lowering Total Cost of Ownership.
This term City College Norwich’s 14,000 staff and students are reaping the benefits of new printers that are more efficient, cost less to manage and are better for the environment, courtesy of IT solutions specialists XMA.
The College appointed XMA to replace ageing HP units with a batch of 39 new printers, following a competitive pitch.
While the contract was worth just under £9,000, the savings made by the College will be significant due to the Kyocera models it has now installed.
Reducing spend on running costs
Gary Johnson, the College’s Procurement Officer, explains: “We had used HP printers in the past, but switched to Kyocera for the cost and eco-benefits they offer. For the most recent phase of our printer refresh it was important to go with Kyocera because they fitted in with our managed print service, complementing the existing infrastructure. But the savings speak for themselves – our TCO has dropped by a considerable sum.
The College, which prides itself on being a progressive and aspirational organisation, provides further and higher education and training to 14-19 years olds throughout Norwich and Norfolk. The printer refresh is part of the College’s commitment to providing its students with access to 21st Century systems and functions, while maximising value and adhering to sustainable practices.
Mr Johnson adds: “Obviously one of our biggest ongoing costs for running printers is consumables and we estimate we’ll spend thousands of pounds less running Kyocera’s printers over other models.”
The Kyocera printers, both colour (FSC-5250DN/FSC-5350DN) and mono (FS1370DN) were installed during the College’s New Year closure when there was less demand on the system.
For the new print installation, XMA’s role was supply and warranty support. XMA was eligible to bid for the contract through a framework agreement with the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium.
According to Mr Johnson, the bidding process in itself was valuable for testing the market. He says: “By going out to tender we achieved instant savings over and above running new printers. We found the difference between the highest quote for the contract and the XMA offer was huge – XMA’s price was 30% lower than one of the bids, which just shows the exceptional savings that are available.”
Going the extra mile
While the current economic climate puts the spotlight on spending across all areas of industry, education particularly is feeling the pinch. He adds: “In this sector, there is a pressure to reduce spend and to ensure we’re getting the best value for money. The price was right with XMA, and they were brilliant in their service delivery. One of our challenges was that we had no way of storing the printers, which meant we needed multiple deliveries to reflect when the equipment could be fitted. The result was four separate deliveries, so XMA literally did go that extra mile for us.”
Kyocera is one of over 50 leading manufacturers with which XMA is a key supplier partner, providing long-life and award-winning printing solutions.
