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Production devices cut print costs at Croydon College
documents on a printer that is
accessible to others.
Canon’s new platform
addresses these needs, whilst
improving overall usability
through enhanced reporting
and monitoring capabilities
for administrators and MPS
providers and an attractive
user interface that can be
personalised with a customer’s
branding/choice of images and,
for log-in purposes, thumbnail
images of employees.
Canon has also improved
value for money by increasing
MFP scan speeds and including
as standard a number of
features that were previously
only available as optional extras,
notably secure hard disk erase;
searchable scan formats; and
OCR and OpenOffice XML.
Croydon College is on track to
save half a million pounds in
five years by encouraging staff
members to print teaching
support materials on lower
cost production devices rather
than MFPs or desktop printers.
The installation of a Ricoh
Pro C751S colour device and
two Pro 1357EX high-volume
mono machines in the college
print room has improved value
for money by reducing the cost-
per-click and centralising the
printing of class handouts and
information booklets used to
support teaching.
Ricoh says that economies
achieved since August 2010,
when the three devices were
installed, suggest that total
savings could reach £500,000
by August 2015.
The ability to integrate
Ricoh’s devices with existing
print management software has
allowed Croydon College to direct
as much printing as possible
away from the installed base of
MFPs and desktop printers and
balance the need for hard copy
output with the requirement to
save money.
“Although information is going
digital, having a physical handout
in a classroom does supplement
the learning process,” explained
Print Services Manager Mark
Watson. “Pupils have different
styles of learning – some visual,
some hands on and some need
paper-based information. So the
value for money and efficiencies
we’ve achieved with the Ricoh
print solution play a key role in
education at Croydon College.
finishing, such as dual staple,
two-hole punch and card
covers; scanners that enable
documents to be digitised for
filing, copying or posting in
virtual learning environments;
and the ability to handle paper
stocks up to 300gsm and sizes
down to A5, which allows the
college to pre-print post cards
for mail merge printing and
produce forms on thin NCR (non-
carbon copy) paper.
Ultimately, the print room
aims to open up print services
to students so that they, too, can
benefit from the capabilities of
Ricoh’s production machines.
www.ricoh.co.uk
In fact, lecturers often make the
print room their first port of call
in the morning to collect their
handouts for the day.”
In addition to a print policy
to route jobs of 20 copies or
more to the print room, each
member of staff has a £50 print
allowance, which encourages
them to use the most cost
effective printing method. This
is invariably the print room’s
Ricoh presses at 1p per click
compared to 4p per click for
desktop or MFP devices.
Other benefits of the
Ricoh presses are integrated
User customisation
One of the new MFPs’ main
selling points is Canon’s server-
less log-in solution Universal
Login Manager. A useful tool
for any business that wants to
monitor and control print costs
and improve data security, it
features user-level customisation
(e.g. the ability to create
personalised workflows or only
show MFP functions the user
is authorised to use); access
control (via PIN or optional card
reader); and usage tracking and
costing.
...continued
The mobile generation
Another highlight is improved
support for mobile workers
through a simple set of server-
less solutions that make it
easier to print from and scan
to mobile devices and cloud
storage. As standard, these
include Mobile Print & Scan for
Apple smartphones and tablets;
and Google Cloud Print, which
enables users to print from
Google cloud services.
As the first fully certified
Google Cloud Print-Ready
MFP provider, Canon has
also introduced iR Advance
CloudConnect, giving users the
ability to scan to Google Drives
from an imageRUNNER Advance
MFD. In addition, eCopy Scan to
Cloud lets users scan, convert
and send data to cloud-based
services, such as salesforce.
com, Google Docs, Evernote,
PaperPort Anywhere, Exchange
365, SharePoint 365 and
Dropbox.
Coinciding with the launch
of the new imageRUNNER
Advance platform,
Canon has enhanced its
eMaintenance and iW MC
device management tools,
making it easier for service
providers to remotely manage
and replenish consumables,
capture meter-readings,
apply remote diagnostics and
deliver fleet-wide firmware and
application upgrades.
PRINT.IT
21
www.binfo.co.uk
MFPs