The Overview
The Dean Trust has a high demand for printing solutions in the traditional, office-based environments, in classrooms, particularly within IT departments, and for reprographics to help develop and create a range of in-house marketing materials. The need is growing in line with its recent rapid expansion. Every time, the trust integrates another school, it needs to assimilate that school’s entire printer estate within its overall approach.
About the Dean Trust
Established in 2012, The Dean Trust is a multi-academy educational trust, with administrative headquarters in the Ashton-on-Mersey School in Sale, Cheshire. Comprising of nine schools and academies across both primary and secondary sectors, the Trust is responsible for approximately 5,000 students. It currently operates in four local authorities: Manchester, Trafford, Wigan, and Knowsley.
The Challenge
The trust is bound by tight IT and printing budgets. It also needs to ensure in-house IT teams are not distracted from the core business by the need to continuously monitor toner levels and place last-minute orders when reserves run low. Even more importantly, it needs to avoid the risk of printers breaking down unexpectedly, and rather than being repaired, are simply being replaced by repeated one-off purchases that raise total cost of ownership and negatively impact the environment.
The Solution
The Dean Trust opted for an approach that combines high-quality, robust, and reliable printers with tight management of hardware, software, service, and support. To deliver this, it chose to implement OKI MFPs and A3 and A4 desktop colour and mono single function printers. This is supported by a Managed Print Services contract from an OKI partner, The DMS Digital Group.
The Benefits
Working with the support of OKI, and as part of the MPS approach, DMS continuously assesses The Dean Trust’s printing needs by regularly analysing its printer usage and recommending the right service to meet its requirements and help reduce printing costs.
The Conclusion
With the contract signed, DMS conducted a full audit of the existing print estate to identify where demand was heaviest and lightest. Based on its findings, DMS recommended changes to the configuration, including equipment. The Dean Trust now has a range of traditional desktop office-based support function printers, both single and multifunction in place across its estate, primarily in school finance and student services departments. There are a range of printing needs including A4 format, A3, colour and some in mono only.
Moving forwards, The Dean Trust is looking forward to an ongoing relationship with OKI and DMS. It plans to work closely with DMS to assess the volume of printing work that it still outsources to third-party suppliers and reduce this further. In line with its focus on minimising environmental impacts, the trust is committed to a continued repair and remedial approach to its printer fleet as opposed to replacing them completely – and that is a focus that fits well with its current MPS strategy. Their partnership with DMS and its use of OKI printers look set to continue long into the future.