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The National Trust: makes sure every pound counts with managed print services

“Additional quantifiable savings of some 19% have been achieved as a result of introducing a new managed print service at the National Trust's key office locations. Whilst printed volume is down by some 12%, power consumption is down by 23%, with increased device availability to enhance productivity”

About The National Trust
The National Trust is dedicated to the preservation of the historic buildings, countryside and coastline of England, Wales and Northern Ireland and welcomes 62 million visitors to its heritage sites every year. As one of the UK's largest charities, independent of Government, it relies on the support of 3.5 million members, visitors, benefactors and partners to find the resources it needs to protect the nation¹s heritage.

It's vitally important to maintain low operational running costs and consider their impact on the environment at all times. The Trust must also manage its affairs in a transparent and accountable fashion. In 2005, the decision was made to move its Head Offices to a new, highly sustainable complex, built on a brown field site at Heelis, near Swindon, Wiltshire.

The Challenge
The contract for managed print evolved as a result of services provided around the desktop - a successful working relationship of several years' standing. The relocation plan led the charity to initiate a review of its desktop IT working practices and SCC was asked to evaluate print and document workflows. A managed service was recommended as the most suitable - in terms of both the new building's layout and its users' requirements.

Three years on, SCC approached The National Trust to re-evaluate this service, as a result of growth in the number of users and changes to working practices. For example, hot-desking had become commonplace and many employees worked in both the London and Swindon offices. SCC had already delivered a managed print service in The National Trust HQ, Heelis, reducing the cost of the printed page, whilst saving paper, power, and controlling access to colour print. Administration and support overheads had been hugely reduced.

"We need to make every pound count in the management of our operational activities. A long standing partnership around desktop and support services, particularly print management, has played its part in helping to meet this objective. Creating tangible efficiencies, through reducing maintenance costs and cutting energy consumption, we have also continued to enhance the end user experience, with SCC's support". Steve Heath, ISS Head of Service Delivery.

"Additional quantifiable savings of some 19% have been achieved as a result of introducing a new managed print service at the National Trust's key office locations. Whilst printed volume is down by some 12%, power consumption is down by 23%, with increased device availability to enhance productivity". Tony Newman, Director, Document and Print Solutions, SCC.

The Solution
SCC works in close partnership with its customers to understand their ever changing document workflows and ensure the service continues to flex and evolve in line with these requirements. Vendor agnostic, it will always recommend a 'best of breed' solution. The Trust was already using SafeCom smart printing services for pull printing, this involves print being stored in a 'virtual printer' inside the server, matching jobs to users with unique authentication PINS enabling them to collect from any print pod located in the Heelis offices, or indeed any 'pull-print' enabled location.

Through observation, interviewing and analysis of the data from SafeCom smart printing services, SCC formed a proposal for a refresh of the current fleet, and extension of the use of SafeCom's smart printing services functionality to enable further savings and more efficient document workflow.

The underlying Xerox colour MFDs, HP mono MFDs and print technologies were reduced to just four device types so providing a commonality in approach for user interfaces and device functionality, enhancing both productivity and efficiency.

SCC installed the new printer services out of hours and with minimum disruption to The Trust's activities. Several of its original devices were re-assigned, whilst older technology was disposed of or redeployed by SCC's WEEE compliant recycling and disposal facility.

Initial deployment in London and Heelis was subsequently extended to include a Regional Office in Westley Bottom, Cambridgeshire, and The Trust is looking to extend this service to other Regional Offices in the future.

With SCC's IT support role well established, it was easy for print management to be integrated into the Service Desk in order to extend off-site assistance. For example, Print Management tools allow automatic alerts to be raised if a problem occurs - even printer jams. Permanent SCC resource, based at Heelis, manages first line issues and supply replacement, supported by a quarterly maintenance cycle to underpin the effectiveness of the new print infrastructure.

Summary of Benefits

• Cost reduction - Lower print costs of some 19%, through deployment of more efficient devices supported by SafeCom smart printing services.
• Lowered carbon impact - Print quantities reduced by 12%, energy efficiency maintained centrally with savings of 23%, 10% savings in paper usage and older devices redeployed or disposed through WEEE compliant facilities.
• Improved productivity and efficiency - Through monitoring output - using SafeCom¹s reporting functionality - user to device ratios enhances efficiency. Finishing capabilities improved through new HP MFDs and printers, together with Xerox colour MFDs.