- Customer
- Needs
- Solution
- Results
Born in Milan in 2014 as an office and coworking management company, the client is an ecosystem consisting of workspaces, business opportunities, and knowledge sharing.
Four years after the company’s start-up, none of the 14 buildings managed by the client had shared printers.
This situation contrasted both with the multi-tenant architecture of the business and with the pace of growth of the company’s size.
The need to offer customers and collaborators a secure, modern, and economically sustainable printing service, without having to resort to single-use dedicated printers, had become evident.
Furthermore, the model to be implemented had to enable self-service and be connectable to an automated cost control that included maintenance and monitoring of consumable expenses.
For this change program, Techlane acted as project manager, collaborating with the client’s IT department and other service providers involved.
30 HPE printers were installed and distributed across all buildings and integrated with multi-tenant print management software.
The toner procurement process has been automated with a preset alert that triggers a request when the ink quantity reaches a critical threshold.
Each customer and collaborator has only one virtual printer on their device – which avoids confusion for users and update issues for the IT department – and the printers work in pull-printing mode: users send documents to print and these remain in queue until authentication, via personal badge, occurs on the desired printer.
Cost savings and process optimization
-Optimization of ink usage for printing
-Reduction of consumables stored in inventory
-Decrease in incorrect prints per user: documents are not released until the printer is physically reached and the intention to print them is confirmed.
-Cost control: the system allows for the definition of differential budgets for business units.
Business Continuity
The user can use any printer interchangeably: if one is not working, they can use another without having to restart the print job.
Privacy
The sharing of spaces and printers does not jeopardize privacy or trade secrets, as the pull-printing mode via badge unequivocally identifies the author of the print.
Green & Sharing Economy
The smart, shared printer positively impacts the environment in terms of paper and ink usage, as well as toner disposal.
Workplace Health & Safety
The absence of a printer in the office not only protects health, because one is not exposed to harmful sources (noise, heat, toner dust), but also makes it compliant with workplace safety regulations that prescribe a minimum distance of four meters from the printer.
