PRINT.IT
35
MANAGED PRINT SERVICES
Strict
service level
agreements
(SLAs) give
Rexel peace
of mind that
its service
requirements
will always
be met.
One of the country’s largest
business-to-business distributors
of electrical installation supplies,
with more than 420 branches
nationwide, Rexel UK has migrated
to a managed print services model
and standardised on printing
solutions from a single vendor in
order to achieve cost savings and
operational efficiencies.
With a constant need for printers
to output receipts, invoices, reports
and a range of administrative
material, Rexel, over time,
accumulated a fleet of around 2,500
print devices from multiple vendors,
including a number of OKI mono LED
printers.
This situation became increasingly
difficult for Rexel to control:
n
individual printers were reaching
end-of-life;
n
finding consumables was
increasingly difficult;
n
Rexel had a multitude of service
agreements and warranties to
manage;
n
it had only limited insight into how
much it was printing and spending on
print; and
n
it had a plethora of separate
contracts from different vendors,
with a wide range of payment models
in place, from capital expenditure
with a service charge to a full capex
approach.
This state of affairs was
clearly untenable, so when Rexel
implemented a new enterprise
resource planning (ERP) system
across all of its UK operations,
Jason King, chief technology
officer at Rexel Northern Europe,
took the opportunity to review the
organisation’s printing infrastructure.
“ERP is all about delivering
efficient operations across the
business and, being a major focus
area for us, it was critical that
printing was part of that equation.
We realised we needed to implement
a standard printing structure and
function – and rationalise everything
under one print
vendor,” he explained.
“OKI was the
obvious choice. Its
devices have always
proved reliable and
robust and of all the print
vendors we have worked with, it
has always been the fastest to
react to and resolve any issues
or problems we might have. OKI
also has an extensive and broad
portfolio of printing devices, which
will be critical to us as we continue
to develop and expand.”
Standardised fleet
Rexel took the decision to
standardise on solutions from
OKI and set up a central service
contract with OKI partner and
managed service provider Apogee.
Rexel UK’s 2,400 printing
devices are now covered by a
bespoke managed print services
contract, with pro-active monitoring
and a fixed cost per page. The new
unified fleet comprises a mixture
of mono and colour LED printers,
plus 190 new colour multifunctional
devices (MFDs).
“As a result of putting the new
printing model in place, we have
been able to rationalise our printing
fleet over a total of 420 locations
nationwide,” said King. “We can
now see who is printing what and
when, and we have been able to
much more easily ensure we have
the right print device at the right
location.”
He added: “We are talking
about a more than 25% saving in
running costs on what we believe
we could have achieved with any
other available option, due to
consolidating all of our existing
contracts into one and implementing
a new, more functionally rich set of
printers. By giving us much better
awareness of what we print across
the organisation, Apogee’s managed
service and a unified OKI fleet has
Standardising on OKI printers under a managed print services contract has
enabled Rexel UK to cut print costs and improve customer service levels.
Raising
standards
also enabled us to enhance the
level of control we can achieve and
reduce wastage and duplication in
the system. Customer waiting times
for documents have been reduced
and incidences where they receive
multiple copies all but eliminated.”
Service and repair
As part of the MPS, Apogee provides
a comprehensive service and repair
capability and provides management
information reports to Rexel on a
quarterly basis, as well as hosting
regular reviews of service levels and
consumables fulfilment.
To this end, Apogee has set up
a data collection machine on the
Rexel network, so that when any
printing device has just 20% toner
left, the system automatically issues
an alert to the reseller’s head office
in Maidstone to order a replacement
cartridge.
“One of the key benefits is that
it has allowed us to stop storing
piles and piles of consumables
in different locations,” explained
King. “Our teams now appreciate
that new toner does arrive on time,
every time, so there is no need to
store extra consumables on site.
Equally, individual sites no longer
have to raise purchase orders to buy
consumables or potentially waste
large volumes if the machine breaks
down.”
Strict service level agreements
(SLAs) give Rexel peace of mind that
its service requirements will always
be met. For example, if there are
specific issues or repeated failures
with a device, under the terms of the
contract Apogee simply swaps it out
for one that works.
Improved productivity
Today, Rexel UK focuses on the
industrial MRO (Maintenance Repair
and Operations), safety and electrical
sectors. These highly competitive
markets are seeing growing customer
demand for improved productivity
through innovative services, products
and partnering.
Delivering that innovation is
critical to the success of Rexel’s
business, but innovation can
only happen effectively in a well-
managed environment where costs
are kept under tight control and
operational efficiencies supported.
This is exactly what Rexel’s new
managed print services contract is
able to deliver.
