Print Solutions get "A" From National Heritage Academy
Streamlining the Workflow Process
National Heritage Academy (NHA) runs 39 charter schools in Michigan, Ohio, New York and North Carolina. They are privately-run public schools, financed with public funds. The curriculum is built around the "basics" and the E. D. Hirsch Cultural Literacy standards.
Applied Imaging of Grand Rapids, Michigan has worked with National Heritage Academies for the past 3 years, in an effort to help them improve productivity and reduce cost in the area of document management. Last year they began to work in earnest with Max Hunsicker, the Director of IT Operations to identify single function printer cost on their current Lexmark printers. "We challenged them on their current printing costs," TenElshof recalls. "The idea was to move them from the 'Let's get the cheapest printer that we can' stage to looking at their total printing costs." The school's review confirmed the Applied Imaging/Ricoh estimates. As a result, all of new school installations and replacement printers are Ricoh printers, which to date totals close to 50 in number, with more on future.
One of the major reasons Applied Imaging and Ricoh were awarded the initial contract was the evolution of Ricoh's Web SmartNet Monitor, which enhanced NHA's ability to manage/control both Ricoh and competitive output devices across their Wide Area Network (WAN).
NHA was immediately impressed when they downloaded the SmartNet Manager software. As Joe Barganier, Major Account Manager for Ricoh's Printing Solutions Division, who worked with Applied Imaging on this account, noted: "SmartNet Manager gives us the advantage and a differentiator over our competitors." One requirement the customer had was to separate color clicks vs. b/w clicks. Ricoh's Brian Garland worked with Ricoh Japan who proceeded to design an enhanced version of SNM to address the "separation need."
"We look forward to other ways that we can help National Heritage Academies streamline the document workflow process," said TenElshof.
Source: Ricoh
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