CDP Print Management Celebrates 25th Acorn Client

In a milestone event, Walsall Housing Group (WHG) has become the 25th Social Housing provider using CDP Print Management’s “Acorn” web ordering and template system.

“WHG own over 19,000 homes and is one of the largest and most successful providers of high quality housing in the West Midlands” says Fay Wood, Facilities Coordinator, WHG. ““Print is a key communications channel for whg and we needed to look at ways where we could streamline our processes, reduce admin, improve efficiencies, and deliver true VFM for our Tenants”.

“CDP commissioned a survey on the Social Housing sector*, and a challenge to many is managing a wide range of printed materials on limited resources” says Tim Fitzgerald, Business Development Director, CDP Print Management. “By working closely with WHG, and thoroughly understanding their needs, we introduced them to Acorn, CDP’s on-line solution that answered all of their concerns about processes, efficiencies, and of course, VFM”.

Acorn is a secure password protected web ordering portal. Its primary function is to reduce print procurement administration so that clients can focus on core business activities. Added to this is real time reporting on stock levels which means that clients never run out of important printed items again.

“But Acorn offers much more” says Tim “WHG are using Acorn to create & proof new Business Cards from pre-set templates. This takes about 90 seconds instead of days, and the cards are delivered within 72 hours. That’s efficiency”.

From a marketing perspective Acorn also provides several clients with a corporate template system whereby artwork for brochures and leaflets are stored on-line. The client can then amend the artwork as & when required. In addition, they can create new brochures from existing templates at no cost. “The cost savings are potentially huge” says Tim “with the added bonus that Brand Management is 100% protected by using Acorn”.

WHG have several Acorn users who can order products for various offices. This gives a complete audit trail on stock usage and even allocates products to specific cost centres. 

“Acorn has certainly helped whg to streamline our procurement processes, reduce costs, and improve efficiencies” says Fay “Acorn is very easy to use, saves us a lot of time, and gives us complete control over budget spend and product usage”.

For more information on Acorn from CDP Print Management click here – http://www.cdp.co.uk/print_procurement.shtml

* CDP conducted a survey of Procurement, Marketing, & Finance Managers within the Social Housing sector. The focus was on print and the problems people were experiencing with their suppliers.

“The results gave us a clear insight into an often overlooked, but very important area of a Housing Associations business” says Tim. The results of the survey highlighted 5 key areas for concern...
For a copy of the survey click here: http://www.cdp.co.uk/info.shtml