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Case Study
Global accountancy firm
Professional services
Outsourced MPS and Production Printing
Services
Ricoh helps global
accountancy firm cut
costs, deliver 1st class
client services
Print is one of the most important operations for one of
the world’s largest professional services organisations.
Its clients rely on high-quality reports and documents to
receive key financial information. The business decided to
deploy outsourced Ricoh managed print services to help
improve document quality and production efficiency. But
it has also cut overall print costs by around 30 percent,
improved information security and reduced the print
estate by almost 50 percent.
Executive summary
Name: Location: Size: Activity: Global accountancy firm
London, UK
14,000 partners and staff
Business services
Challenges
• High-quality printed material critical to customer service
• Reduce the cost and environmental impact of print
operations
• Further improve data and information security
Solution
•Outsourced Ricoh Managed Print
•Office Print and Production Print Services
Benefits
•Ensures efficient, high-quality delivery of business-critical
products and services
• Reduces office and production print costs by around 30%
•Cuts print waste by 25%, equivalent to 50 tons of paper a
year
•UK-wide fleet reduced by 45% and staff-to-printer ratio
up from 10 to 25
Case Study Global accountancy firm
Challenges
This international business is one of the world’s largest
professional services firms, offering a range of accountancy
and related services to other businesses and organisations
worldwide. In the UK, the business has up to 14,000 staff
working out of 24 locations.
One of the most important aspects of the company’s
operations is delivering information to clients. It carries out
financial auditing and advisory services and produces
printed, bound reports for clients, sometimes involving
hundreds of pages.
The company had around 1,000 office printers and highvolume print centres for producing documents. However,
many devices were reaching or exceeding end of life, help
desk calls to fix and repair devices were on the rise and
support costs were increasing. Since the print maintenance
contract was coming to an end, it was an opportunity for the
business to review its approach to print management.
The business also wanted to reduce the environmental
impact of print, lower print costs and, in particular, further
improve information security. Existing policies such as
restricted office and computer data access ensured high
standards. But the business wanted to go even further and
tighten up security around printed documents, to minimise
the risk, for example, of sensitive documents being left on
a printer.
The company’s Print Services Manager says, “Information
and data security is a very important issue for us and for our
clients. We have in place a broad range of robust measures
and policies to protect that data but we are always looking
to improve security. We’ve been monitoring how print
services are used around the business and identified it as an
area where we could make changes to reduce risk even
more.”
Several different suppliers were invited to tender, from which
two, including Ricoh, where shortlisted. A rigorous selection
process followed, which included testing how the equipment performed and if it was fit for purpose. Devices were
also thoroughly security tested by an independent security
organisation that examined vulnerabilities such as virus
attacks and hacking.
The Print Services Manager says, “We put both the shortlisted suppliers through some pretty tough testing. But in the
end, everything about Ricoh ticked all the right boxes. As
well as an innovative solution, Ricoh has a good understanding of our business and how we work. Ricoh also has a clear
grasp of the security issues, the challenges we face and how
to cut costs in an effective way.”
Solution
The business has deployed an outsourced Ricoh Managed
Print Service (MPS), comprising office and production print
functions. The Ricoh Office Service involves 550 Ricoh
Multifunction Products (MFPs) networked, but distributed
around 24 UK office locations.
Equitrac software is used to control and ring-fence print
queues within each office or department. Because of the
volume, and the typically large files printed by staff, the
business has limited printing between one office and another. However, when staff do move or work from another
office, it is easy to set up a local print capability. Equitrac is
also used to apply some basic policies, such as default mono
printing. @Remote and DMNX Pro are used to monitor MFP
performance and improve reliability.
The Ricoh Production Print Service comprises seven print
centres around the UK, with Ricoh digital colour production
presses and finishing equipment. Typically, jobs of 100 pages
or more and client-facing work are sent to a print centre
rather than an office-based Ricoh MFP. Around 40 Ricoh
employees manage production print, with an additional four
Ricoh employees supporting office print services.
The annual volume of print that the Ricoh MPS handles for
the company is huge: 20 million colour and 40 to 50 million
mono impressions in offices and 30 million mono and 20
million colour through the print centres.
Benefits
Print services, which are seen as essential to the company’s
operations, have been significantly improved as a result of
the Ricoh solution. The Print Services Manager says, “Our
product is the auditing and reporting we deliver to clients;
continued overleaf
www.ricoh.co.uk
Case Study Global accountancy firm
often in printed format. If we can’t produce these documents to the high standards expected of us, along with
consistent branding, then our services capability will suffer.
So the managed print solution Ricoh provides is a critical
business function for us and our clients.”
when at a device, so that unwanted printing has been
virtually eliminated.
The Ricoh solution has helped the company cuts its office
production print costs by 30 percent. This has been achieved
by a combination of more efficient use of print resources,
less waste, fewer devices and more reliable technology.
The company’s carbon footprint has also been lowered,
without impacting productivity, by a 45-percent reduction in
the printer fleet which decreases energy consumption. The
Ricoh solution has meant more efficient use and more
ergonomic placement of MFPs, with more staff sharing each
device. The ratio has increased from 10 users per device to
20 or even 25 users.
Productivity has also improved. The print resources staff use
and access are more reliable, further improving day-to-day
working. Facilitating faster production of documents to a
consistently high standard translates into a better service
for clients because documents can be delivered from any
UK office.
The Print Services Manager says, “We have developed a very
good partnership with Ricoh, from staff working in our
offices right up to board level. Ricoh has a strong ‘can-do’
work ethic and issues are always discussed and resolved
quickly and effectively. We’re very happy with the working
relationship, which bodes well for future co-operation.”
The business is also able to control and manage print
resources more effectively. Instead of printers breaking down
and senior managers complaining, @Remote and DMNX Pro
are used to spot and repair potential faults before they
occur, limiting downtime and disruption to work. More
accurate and real-time reporting means that other issues,
such as excessive printing or a regularly faulty device, can be
dealt with quickly. Better reporting also helps with fleet
management so that over or under used resources can be
redistributed more efficiently.
As a result of the success of the Ricoh MPS, Ricoh has started
providing other outsourced services and is looking at additional ways to increase efficiencies and improve productivity.
One of the objectives for the Ricoh MPS was to improve
sustainability. In this respect, it has reduced the amount of
wasted print by as much as 25 percent, measured by some
50 tons less paper being recycled a year. The Follow You
print capability of the Ricoh solution means staff only print
Solutions/Products
• Ricoh Multifunction Products
• Ricoh Production Presses
• Equitrac
• @Remote
• Digital StoreFront (DSF)
• Pace
• DMNX Pro
“Our product is the auditing and reporting we deliver to clients; often in printed format. If we
can’t produce these documents to the high standards expected of us, along with consistent
branding, then our services capability will suffer. So the managed print solution Ricoh
provides is a critical business function for us and our clients.”
Print Services Manager, Global accountancy firm
www.ricoh.co.uk
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