Solution Benefits

  • Reduced Costs
  • Increased Security & Control
  • Increased Productivity
  • Improved Sustainability

Customer Profile

  • Communications
  • 19 Locations
  • 1500+ Staff

About KCOM Group

The revolutionary managed print solutions powering communications giant KCOM.

Communications and IT giant KCOM Group Plc is in the business of efficiency, so when it was seeking integrated managed print solutions its requirements were unsurprisingly stringent.

The business, which is headquartered in Hull, was looking to reduce costs, cut waste and streamline its printer fleet across 19 offices and telephone exchanges nationwide.

Challenges

It had numerous printers of different makes from multiple suppliers, the IT department was swamped in management and maintenance, and IT expenditure was soaring along with waste. A streamlined solution was required, and it had to be cost-neutral.

KCOM Group has a strong corporate social responsibility strategy, with a large part of this strategy focusing on the environment. Streamlining their printer hardware would create a reduction in waste and energy consumption overall.

  • High waste and expenditure on print
  • Multiple suppliers
  • Unmanaged fleet and ad-hoc toner ordering
  • Lack of visibility

”They went over and beyond our expectations, delivering additional benefits such as secure printing and the ability to print from mobile phones and tablets.
Moving to a managed print solution was a first for us, however it has proven to be an extremely beneficial move.

Head of IT, Infrastructure, Operations & EstatesKCOM Group
The result

How we helped

Agilico worked closely with KCOM Group’s IT team to deliver the new managed print solution to all of KCOM Group’s sites. In less than one month, 110 multifunctional devices were installed throughout the business and full end-user training had been delivered to key operators and employees.

As part of the contract negotiations, a bespoke SLA was agreed guaranteeing that a trained United Carlton engineer would be on-site to any machine that was experiencing technical issues, within four working hours. Regular maintenance of the machines would also be undertaken and replacement cartridges would be ordered regularly via the print management software to ensure they were received by KCOM before they needed to be replaced.

The only area KCOM Group would have to manage internally was the purchase of paper. This presented a massive reduction of resources and time – something that was welcomed by the client.

The implementation of proximity card readers on the printers means that the users can use their own access cards to collect their prints at any of the devices. In addition to reducing the amount of wasted paper, this introduced a whole new level of security as a user could only retrieve documents once they were at a machine.

Results

The solution provided exceeded all expectations. KCOM’s head of IT, infrastructure, operations and estates, says: “We were able to replace the complete system with new printers and managed print services for the same price we had been paying just for toner cartridges. It’s remarkable, and the on-going customer service we have from Agilico is above and beyond what we had put in the business case.”

The new system includes automated cartridge ordering, which means cartridges automatically appear in the post well before they run out, alongside a print management and cost recovery platform. This defaults all print jobs to double-sided mono and provides follow-me print.

This means print jobs are claimed only by the person who sent them, significantly cutting the amount of waste in unclaimed documents and at the same time increasing security.

The project has far exceeded the cost neutral requirement, saving KCOM money in time, paper usage and power consumption, while reducing carbon emissions and waste.

  • Reduced print costs and waste
  • Rationalisation of print fleet
  • Automated toner replenishment
  • Increased visibility and control