NHS Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group has saved up to 20% on its IT consumables thanks to a customer-focused service from IT provider XMA
Tight budgets in an organisation can put serious pressure on staff to find innovative ways to make savings. Addressing basics such as the supply of IT consumables is one way which can help relieve this burden.
It certainly worked for the NHS Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group, where staff found themselves needing to look closely at the organisation’s spending as its budgets were slashed by wider government cuts. The Group commissions healthcare services for people living in Greenwich and needed to find ways to save money that didn’t impact on its ability to deliver its vital core services.
“Saving money was not our main priority until our organisation was remodelled,”
said Ty Vuong.
“We lost a significant amount of our budget and, after all the changes we went through, saving money became a key issue for us and we had to look across the board for places we could make those savings. We simply had to find things to cut back on.”
The organisation was already familiar with IT provider XMA but used a different main supplier for all its IT consumables such as printer ink, toner and paper. After discussing its needs with XMA, the Group discovered it could receive supplies of the same high standards they were used to – but at significantly reduced prices. Now, XMA has become established as its main provider for printer ink and toner and, more recently, the Group has started to look at ordering paper from XMA too.
Mr Vuong said: “We used to order our consumables through one or two companies but we found XMA’s service could help us save up to 15-20%. The pricing was much better compared to our original supplier.
“Some items have shown a huge price difference between the two suppliers. For example, our XMA account manager directed us towards a product that was not branded but cost significantly less despite being of the same quality. We tried it and, to our surprise, discovered that our account manager was indeed correct. It was cheaper yet still compatible with our machines.”
Excellent customer service
That was just one example of XMA’s superior customer service put forward by Mr Vuong. He said:
“We found it much easier to order from XMA. My account manager provides us with a choice of all the different consumables. She collates it together with all the information we require and she gives recommendations as well. For example, she highlights the choices that are best value for money for our machines and that makes my job a lot easier.”
What’s more, XMA makes the entire process of ordering the consumables much quicker and easier for the Group than their previous supplier. Mr Vuong said: “When we were using a different company, I would have to supply the print model and item number but with XMA, I just give them the model of the printer and she just comes back with a lot of different options for me. This cuts down my job considerably so I am really happy with that. It means that, as well as saving us money in our budget, my time is more efficiently spent.”
XMA’s account management service has also proved to be a big hit with NHS Greenwich. Mr Vuong said: “The customer service with XMA is better than we had from our previous suppliers. I have found our account manager much easier to talk to about orders. In the past, with different companies, I would sometimes have to ask questions repeatedly. I would have to talk to different sales people. With XMA, I have a dedicated account manager who deals with everything and always responds very quickly. Most importantly, we also receive after sales service.”
An expanding relationship
The relationship between XMA and NHS Greenwich has recently expanded with the Group using the IT provider for some of its paper orders. Mr Vuong said: “We had a great relationship with XMA and we were, therefore, happy to give the company a try at supplying some of our paper requirements. In this area, what was ordered was Xerox branded paper, delivered on the same day, and we were able to make a 10% saving on our usual costs.
We intend to carry on using XMA as our main supplier for printer ink and toners and will certainly consider them carefully for other supplies.”
