allied express case study
TRANSCRIPT
SUMMAR
Y
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there was limited take up of scanning, with outdated technologies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.