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Success StoryAllied Express

Services & Other Industries

Allied Express moving forward with cost reductions and business improvements from new Managed Print Service

The CustomerAllied Express is the largest, independently owned courier and express

freight company in Australia. With offices in all major mainland capitals and

a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles, as long as there’s a road, Allied Express can

deliver. It’s the additional value beyond the traditional courier service that

differentiates Allied Express, and this is why many of Australia’s leading

organisations trust Allied Express to move their precious goods across the

country.

The ChallengeWhen Allied Express approached AOMIT nearly four years ago, they

had no visibility over their 100-device printer and MFP fleet. As a

result, they were working with an inefficient, disparate and ageing

fleet of printers and MFPs which were underperforming and costing

the business more than it realised.

“At the time, we didn’t really understand how much print was costing

us, but we were aware that we were frequently spending unnecessary

dollars fixing printers,” said Michelle McDowell, Managing Director,

Allied Express.

Costs were on the rise as recurrent maintenance was required on the

ageing technology. Many devices were overused while others were

significantly under-utilised. Some were constantly in need of repair

and others were always out of toner.

In addition to rising maintenance costs, there was little to no direction

or control over the printing behaviour of the users. A large number

of internal documents were being printed in colour (when colour was

not required), significantly inflating costs. And despite the business

acquiring devices to enable the in-house printing of marketing

collateral, some materials were still being outsourced to external

printers.

Furthermore, many users were not utilising features of the existing

technology such as two-sided printing and multi-page printing, and

there was limited take up of scanning, with outdated technologies

such as faxing and copying being used instead.

AUSTRALIA

Lexmark and AOMIT provide Managed Print Service to Allied Express, improving the visibility of device management, contract terms, reducing costs and paper wastage, and improving user experience.

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“At the time, we didn’t really understand how much print was costing us, but we were aware that we were frequently spending unnecessary dollars fixing printers.”

– Michelle McDowell,Managing Director,

Allied Express

Success Story 2Allied Express

Lexmark and Lexmark with the diamond design are trademarks of Lexmark International, Inc., registered in the United States and / or other countries. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

Cost, however was not the only focus for Allied Express. Of equal

importance was a reliable fleet of printers and MFPs that could ensure

the business operated at the pace required by an industry-leading

logistics business.

“The nature of our business demands that we have to be operational

at all times,” said Michelle McDowell. “We simply cannot afford lost

productivity associated with a machine fault or a device without toner.

We were committed to finding a print solution that would provide

use with the performance we required to execute on behalf of our

customers.”

The SolutionAOMIT’s first step was to better understand how Allied Express was actually

using its print technology. It became apparent through this discovery

process that Allied Express would benefit greatly from a standardised fleet

of devices that all shared the same user interface. This familiarity would

be a productivity benefit for all employees regardless of which building or

department they were printing from, because it would mean learning only

one interface that could be used across any device in the business.

Additionally, AOMIT identified a number of cost saving opportunities

by simply deploying more effective and appropriate devices for specific

departments across the business. This included the use of A4 printers

and MFPs where users had little or no requirement for A3 printing and by

replacing colour devices with mono devices in departments that did not

require colour. It also involved replacing standalone faxes and scanners

with MFPs to reduce the total number of devices, with the objective of

saving money and providing more relevant functionality for the users of

each device.

Allied Express standardised on a range of Lexmark business printers and

smart MFPs. The entire range shares the same customisable and easy-to-

use interface across the entire fleet of A3, A4, mono and colour-capable

devices.

To ensure the fleet was truly optimised at all times and that future cost

saving opportunities would be identified, Allied Express engaged in a

Managed Print Service with AOMIT. Through the managed service, AOMIT

provides premium device maintenance and management; automated just-

in-time toner delivery and continuous measurement of the environment – a

service that identifies ongoing opportunities for improvement across the

fleet.

“We felt that the best way to achieve the optimum outcome for our business

was to have our environment managed by a company that specialises in

print management,” Michelle McDowell said.

The Results & BenefitsAllied Express has realised overall savings of 38% to its bottom line by

standardising and rationalising its fleet and implementing AOMIT’s Managed

Print Service. The original fleet size of 102 devices has been reduced by

more than 50% to around 45 devices, and aged devices have been replaced

with new, fit-for-purpose technology from Lexmark. User satisfaction has

also improved significantly as the technology is now uniform throughout the

business and much easier to use.

Ensuring that the right technology has been deployed in the appropriate

environments has also helped to improve how the devices are used, leading

to a 25% reduction in colour printing and removing a largely redundant

fleet of more expensive A3 devices. Maintenance costs have reduced

dramatically due to the improved reliability of the new devices and the

proactive management of the environment by AOMIT.

The nature of the ‘managed’ relationship provides Allied Express with

complete transparency across all costs associated with printing, enabling

the company to make educated decisions that will continue to improve its

return on investment in the future.

“Overall we are extremely pleased with the performance of the Lexmark

devices as well as the proactive management provided by AOMIT,” said

Michelle McDowell. “We have already realised significant costs savings and

productivity benefits in our business and are encouraged by the persistence

of AOMIT to help us further discover more areas for improvement.”

“We felt that the best way to achieve the optimum outcome for our business was to have our environment managed by a company that specialises in print management.”

– Michelle McDowell

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AOMIT is an authorised partner of Lexmark. As a 100% Australian owned business solutions provider, AOMIT specialises in providing integrated business solutions, cost reduction strategies and services.