Quick wins to drive savings

The effects of the Government’s £4 billion budget cut for social housing are far from over. Most of you will have seen staff redundancies, fewer affordable homes delivered and more people added to England’s 4.5 million housing waiting list. Budgets are under increased scrutiny as social housing providers scramble to help families into homes, so it is a smart approach to look at in-house costs and how they can be reduced before looking at more staff redundancies.

Social housing providers need to capitalise on in-house savings to reduce costs.
Print rationalisation is a good starting point as it’s easy to do, and easy to measure the savings from reducing the number of devices in operation, print consumption and usage.

Knowsley Housing Trust (KHT) is a good example. The Group wanted to rationalise the whole printer copier fleet consisting of over 40 networked printers and over 12 copiers and multifunctional devices (MFD's). Based on M2’s detailed assessment, the fleet was strategically replaced with only 16 MFDs and two retained devices as these were confirmed to be the right machines to complete the job. All were supported and configured with print management software to create a defined workflow.

M2 differentiates itself through an independent approach to managed print services and an in-depth knowledge of this industry, having supplied over 60 PfH members as well as many other housing associations around the UK. Furthermore, having a combined managed print service that ensures devices are appropriately monitored by IT and software solutions help to maximise savings. With Knowlsley Housing Trust, M2’s print and IT solution saved on toner costs, sourcing, print, paper usage and waste, uncontrolled colour costs and energy costs. All without adding to IT’s existing workload maximises savings.
Another benefit of managed print solutions is the visible green improvements. Through a recycling programme and raised awareness of print waste, print can help social housing providers achieve their green targets.

David Knowles, director of public sector and education at M2 said, “Approaching each housing provider’s problems isn’t as simple as auditing what print solutions are currently being used and the volumes handled each year to suggest a generic proposal. Instead, the focus is on challenging the current print environment. Questions need to be asked about the existing systems and print consumptions, but the solution should be based on innovative and customised services that improve the situation and inevitably cut costs.”

M2 is continuously delivering innovation to its existing social housing customers in response to each provider’s evolving requirements. For example, M2 added additional value to Contour Housing Group after a follow-up site visit to assess the current situation. By revisiting their needs, M2 was able to evolve the print solution by removing existing stock and updating equipment. The fully managed print services suggested by M2 helped provide Contour with quarterly savings, in print costs, energy costs and more control whilst improving the print situation.

“So to answer the question, can managed print services really help with budget cuts? Yes.” Knowles explains, “An independent managed print IT services company, like M2, can offer social housing providers another way of helping to address Government budget cuts. Our approach is to look at the individual requirements and challenges to provide a solution capableof overcoming any IT obstacle,maximising workflows and ensuring cost savings.”

M2 is the UK’s leading independent managed print IT services company. Offering a proactively managed ranged of office print strategies, infrastructures and document processes, M2 helps organisations reduce office print costs, waste and risk. Through an audit and assessment process, M2 provides organisations with a customised best practice solution that benefits from the company’s vendor agnostic approach. Its professional account management team helps to secure sustained benefits and provides a continuous improvement programme.

The emergence of independent Managed Print Services (MPS) provides organisations with access to best-of-breed hardware, software solutions and multivendor support and service according to Quocirca in a report “Rethinking MPS: The independent approach” available for free download.

Senior analyst at Quocirca, Louella Fernandes said, “IT departments struggle with print management challenges – providing reliable print services that meet organisational expectations while containing operational costs. The market landscape for MPS providers has never been more competitive –or more complex. Seeking to differentiate their services and boost customer satisfaction, emerging MPS providers are taking a ‘best-of-breed’ vendor-agnostic approach. By retaining the flexibility to add devices from multiple vendors, independent MPS providers have the freedom to innovate with the latest technology and introduce new capabilities, without being dependent on any single incumbent printer or copier supplier.”

M2 operates the four leading hardware brands including Xerox, HP, Canon and Ricoh, as well as the leading software providers such as Equitrac, Safecom and Uniflow. M2 provides all its own expert resources including engineering break-fix services to IT consultancy and support services. M2 provides a national UK service and specialises in the mid to large corporate market. Customers include Atkins, LSBU, Kings, Manchester Airport, Moorcrofts, Westwood College and Shoosmiths. For more information visit www.m2.uk.com.