Assessing the Imaging and Printing Environment

2010-04-19_181223 These days, IT operations are under a microscope like never before. The pressure is on to run compliant, cost-effective operations that maximize productivity and minimize costs. At the same time, decreased operational costs and proven returns on investments have become baseline requirements. There is, of course, no single solution that can achieve all
these goals. However, there is at least one very prominent area that businesses of all sizes and types may exploit: the opportunity to streamline and organize imaging and printing strategies. Resolving this situation is a no-brainer, because it can enhance the bottom line, increase employee productivity, and ultimately, create competitive advantage.

DOCUMENT PRODUCTION TRENDS
How have organizations reached this current state of imaging and printing chaos? A number of factors come into play here. For example, the sheer number of imaging and output devices deployed has steadily proliferated year after year. While everyone was waiting for the paperless office to arrive, waves of single- function hardcopy output devices were deployed, oftentimes haphazardly. It’s not surprising that market research firm International Data Corp. projects the number of document pages printed annually by U.S. companies and consumers to burgeon to nearly two trillion by 2006.

Advanced Imaging Solutions assists Southwestern Michigan College in bold printer fleet upgrade

Challenges
    • IT department was spending too much time maintaining large desktop printer fleet
    • Outdated network printers were causing network crashes
    • Numerous projects were being printed off-campus
    • Complaints about poor print quality

“Excellence with a personal touch” is a working principle that guides the staff and faculty at Southwestern Michigan College (SMC). At SMC, there are no teaching assistants, no 400-seat lecture halls. Most of the classes are fewer than 25 students which means that the students know their instructors and the instructors know them. The 240-acre Dowagiac Campus brings together thousands of students, many of whom juggle work or family commitments along with school. Southwestern Michigan College also has a Niles area campus where students get the same SMC experience with small classes and personal attention at a location that is convenient for Indiana residents.
 

Advanced Imaging Solutions helps Mishawaka School Corporation graduate to document management software

Challenges
• Compliance to State and Federal privacy and public records regulations
• Large volume of paper records
• Improvement of quality of service to students and families
• $2 million budget shortfall in 2006

Mishawaka, Indiana, with a population of 46,500,
is a medium-sized metropolitan area near South Bend, Indiana. Like many similar U.S. school districts, Mishawaka finds itself under continual budget pressures, much of it caused by diminishing State and Federal funding levels. At the same time, it is coping with the need to maintain and improve services to students and families in the Mishawaka district, including compliance with public records requirements imposed by those same State and Federal bodies. With nine schools, 1000 employees, and 5100 students, Mishawaka faced the reality in spring of 2006 of a $2 million dollar budget shortfall, which has squeezed the staffing levels within the school system.
 

Advanced Imaging Solutions helps Allied Physicians of Michiana pay bills with less paper

Challenges
• Proliferation of paper documents
• Cumbersome workflow
• Need to integrate document management solution with existing accounting software

Allied Physicians of Michiana (APOM) represents an exciting new approach with value for patients and physicians. It’s a management services organization that encompasses 10 medical practices—the objective of APOM is to combine the business operations of multiple physicians in several group practices of varying size and specialty into a single, efficient company. The result has been that the physicians involved can continue to devote their time and talents to patient care.
 

Adams County Auditor Provides Tax Relief with Advanced Imaging Solutions and Westbrook Document Management


BACKGROUND: Adams County, Indiana, with a county seat in Decatur, includes 12 Townships in the northeastern section of the state and serves a broad and diverse population of 33,000.

The County Auditor’s office handle a wide range of duties, most of which include volumes of paper records and public documents. The Indiana state tax laws involve a number of tax exemption opportunities for individuals which impose documentation, certification, records keeping and public information duties on the county auditor, without, however, providing electronic tools to help in discharging those duties.
 

Managed Print Services Solutions for Hammond Lubricant Works LLC

casestudy

Successful Solution
Hammond Lubricant Works’ Administrative Manager needed to identify and control printing expenses,
reduce wasteful purchasing practices, cut long distance fax charges, and correct redundancies
in the company’s printing fleet.Advanced Imaging Solutions rightsized the printing fleet with strategically placed printers and multifunction devices and implemented a Managed Print Services
program.Hammond Lubricant Works now has an organized and transparent supplies program, an
efficient printing fleet and a scheduled maintenance plan.The company realized a 23% monthly
savings in the first quarter of their Managed Print Services program.

Hammond Lubricant Works, located in Hammond, Indiana, is a manufacturer of petroleum-based lubricant products. The company was founded in 2002 and employs approximately 60 people. The business can be very fast paced, especially when the price of crude oil is volatile.