Whether at school or in the office, printers and copiers play a valuable role – supporting collaboration and keeping work moving smoothly. Today’s print solutions are smarter, designed to work reliably in the background, while users stay focused on everyday tasks.
Founded in 1991, document solutions company, Image Through Quality (ITQ), has moved with the technology, offering customers the most cost-effective and efficient solutions. The company saves customers avoidable printing costs by analysing how people use printers, streamlining document flows, and ensuring systems are used optimally. Businesses print less and waste less, while distributing documents more effectively.
Leasing for schools
A much wider range of equipment can now be offered to schools on lease financing plans, helping to manage budgets and ease cash flow. The introduction of the new International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS 16 Leases) into Maintained Schools and the associated general consent documents granted by the Secretary of State for Education (SoS) opens much-needed lease opportunities for both Maintained Schools and Academies. Learn more here.
ITQ’s Sales Director, Eddie Chaplin, highlights one common source of waste. “Users often hit the print button and then get distracted with something else or simply never collect their documents. Every day, a pile of paper collects beside each printer. Modern print management solutions make this impossible. Documents are only printed at the point of collection, or the request is deleted after a set time. Introducing a secure print solution – where printing is released with a card or PIN – typically reduces print volumes by around 20%.”
Hot desking and hybrid working have made sophisticated print management more important. Eddie continues: “Each machine must be able to connect to a printer, whether the user is regularly in the office or there for the day. It’s surprising how often this is still an issue! We provide a solution where laptops automatically find the nearest printer and download the driver through WiFi.
ITQ’s diverse customer base includes hotels, publishers, schools, manufacturers and even churches. To help manage costs, almost every customer is offered the option of leasing equipment, for affordable access to reliable, maintained print solutions.
| ITQ Director, Roger Bruce, explains, “We wouldn’t be able to deliver our solutions without finance. Our customers rely on us not only for secure print solutions, but also for financing to make these investments possible. We typically offer a fixed-term rental contract through SFS – which makes it easier to upgrade at the end of the term. Software can be wrapped into the finance agreement too.” |
ITQ has partnered with Siemens Financial Services (SFS) for over 35 years. SFS has maintained its position of preferred provider throughout. Roger says, “Once we’ve secured a customer, we need the financing to come through quickly – the last thing you want is complications at this point. SFS typically pays out on the same day, and this is invaluable for our customer relationships. We can use SFS’ online platform, SieSmart, but we also know the team personally and they are very responsive – there’s no call centre or automated system. That human connection is worth its weight in gold.
“This mirrors our own approach – we describe ourselves as providing a digital world with an analogue service. Printer failures are disruptive, so we pride ourselves on a responsive and thorough maintenance service. Even when technicians visit for a minor failure, they’ll still conduct a full check to prevent future issues. Today’s printing equipment is more reliable, but it still needs to be maintained correctly.”
CASE STUDY: RELEASING PRINTING BOTTLENECKS AT A SECONDARY SCHOOL
CUSTOMER TYPE: Secondary school with boarding and day students
CHALLENGE:
· The college had 130 desktop printers with high-running costs.
· Bottlenecks plagued boarding house printers.
SOLUTION:
· 30 multifunctional and more economical devices for colour and mono printing (all financed by Siemens Financial Services) were phased in to replace the old printers
· Staff collect documents using their ID cards, students with their ID numbers.
· ITQ’s wireless printing solution added mobile printing for up to 3,000 devices, allowing students and staff to print from any wireless device to any printer
RESULTS:
· Usage can be analysed and the fleet configured to match demand and financial goals.
· Bottlenecks were eliminated by allowing printing to classrooms and less busy areas.
· 133 trees were saved in the first year by reducing unnecessary printing.
· Scanning and emailing documents between staff streamlines processes such as invoice approval and scanning academic papers into the College’s databases.
| BENEFITS OF FLEXIBLE FINANCE
FOR END CUSTOMER:
FOR ITQ:
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