Success Story
Customer: Mirani State High School
Country: Australia
Industry: Education
A pioneering approach - how a Queensland State High School streamlined its print and copying with Toshiba and Whitsunday Office Machines.
Mirani State High School sits in the Pioneer Valley, a half hour drive inland from Mackay. Mirani is one of the ‘sugar towns’ of the region, surrounded by fields of cane that underpin the local economy. It’s also an area rich in beautiful natural surroundings, known particularly for its rainforests and waterfalls.
The school teaches over 900 students from Mirani and the surrounding areas, taking students from ten different primary schools. It prides itself on being small enough to provide a friendly atmosphere, and large enough to offer a broad range of subjects, preparing students for the world of work or further education.
PRINTING - AN ESSENTIAL PART OF SCHOOL LIFE
Like all schools, Mirani State High has a high reliance on printing and copying - with teachers needing to reproduce high quality classroom materials. Increasingly, they also wanted to make printing more readily available to students too.
Whilst they did have some printers, there were not enough for the school’s very large campus, and it could take students up to an hour to get across the grounds to a device, create a copy and return to their classroom. The school knew they needed to act, so they turned to Whitsunday Office Machines
- their trusted printing and copying partner for over 20 years.
Jodie Battese, Mirani High’s Business Manager, explains: “Whitsunday Office Machines looked at where we were doing the most printing and suggested upgrades, as well as additional printers spread out across the school.”
Shelley Beldan, Managing Director of Whitsunday Office Machines takes up the story: “We did a full review of the existing print and copy services”, she says, “and suggested that the school move to a managed print service with Toshiba multi-function devices (MFDs). They had a number of smaller printers from six or seven different vendors. Each brand required a different toner, and running small printers was not very cost efficient. The school was spending more money than it needed to, and the printers were taking a lot of time to manage.”
A NEW APPROACH
Whitsunday Office Machines installed 8 large Toshiba MFDs, which run at a speedy 65 pages per minute and have the ability to print A3 as well as A4 pages. These, along with 20 other A4 devices were placed around the school to make access easier for students, with one in each staff room for exclusive access by teachers.
“The students or staff log in to the printer using their swipe card or id badge”, says Jodie, “and the PaperCut software ensures that the printing is only released once they’re there. It’s eliminated wasted printing.”
The school pays a single flat fee each month, which includes hardware, printing, toner, maintenance and servicing.
“From a budgeting perspective, it’s so much easier”, says Jodie. “I know what my printing costs will be for the whole year - the only thing I have to pay for is the staples!”
Whitsunday Office Machines remotely manages the devices, making life much simpler for the school’s hard-worked administration team. Using Toshiba’s Kōdo Raven service software, which runs directly on the printers, Whitsunday Office Machines can see toner levels, when toner was last added, duty cycles on preventative maintenance processes, and any repetitive errors. “They provide us with a supply of toner”, says Jodie, “and when stocks are getting low, more just turns up, without us having to do anything.”
“We check the devices every day”, says Shelley, “and we do a more formal audit every month. It means that we can ensure that the school never runs out of consumables, and we can prevent any issues before they happen.”
Brendan Beikoff, the school’s IT support officer is equally impressed. “The solution is incredible value for money, and the service is great”, he says. “Our printers are the latest models, and the technical people know the machines inside out.
The printers are really reliable and there’s hardly any downtime. If we do ever have a problem, Whitsunday Office Machines will know about it before we even call, because of the Raven software. Shelley and Peter will try to fix it over the phone, and if it needs an engineer, they’re usually here within the hour.”
A TOP CLASS SOLUTION
The school really values its relationship with Whitsunday Office Machines: “They provide us with a really personal service”, says Jodie. “You know that everything’s looked after, nothing’s too difficult, it just gets sorted.”
The relationship extends beyond just the technical too. “We like to give back to our customers’ communities”, confirms Shelley, “so we also sponsor the school’s junior dux every year with a bursary. It’s our way of saying ‘thank you’ for such a long-standing partnership.”
Mirani State High is delighted with the Toshiba solution that Whitsunday Office Machines proposed. It frees up a lot of administrative time, and saves the school significant amounts of money every year. They can offer a highly available, easy to use print and copy service to students and staff, with a single monthly fixed fee and a fully managed service.
For Mirani State High School, the Whitsunday Office Machines and Toshiba solution is top class.
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