Konica Minolta digital services help City of London Corporation save £2.5m over five years

Konica Minolta has announced that its digital technology and services, along with its dedicated on-site fleet manager, have helped the City of London Corporation cut print costs by half, resulting in almost £2.5m in predicted cost savings over five years

The fleet manager is helping the City Corporation to surface and resolve operational challenges, deliver on its public authority commitments and create a smarter, more efficient digital workplace.
The City of London Corporation was relying on an ageing fleet of multifunctional devices (MFDs) and printers across its diverse portfolio of facilities, from the guildhall headquarters and Barbican property estate, to schools and the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre. Challenges included the lack of common print policies across the estate and an inability to dynamically monitor print volumes and act quickly upon changes in device usage.
“We wanted to shift from a traditional supplier/customer relationship to a partnership that could help us not only make cost savings but also advise on continuous optimisation,” says the City Corporation’s commercial lead for ICT, Rajiv Rathod. “Konica Minolta provided a commitment to delivery and showed a strong intention to work with us to transform end-to-end delivery.”
Following a competitive tender process on the RM3781 framework (developed in collaboration with Crown Commercial Service (CCS), Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) and Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO)) Konica Minolta successfully retained this contract.
Konica Minolta proposed an innovative managed services approach – one aimed at creating an even smarter way for employees to work, streamlining processes and reducing costs. This included fleet rationalisation and the adoption of a consumption-based pricing model, designed by Rajiv, for improved transparency of volumes output and cost savings.
More than 500 Konica Minolta MFDs are now deployed across 80 sites within London and the South-East, all backed by Konica Minolta’s SafeQ security controls to protect sensitive information and PrintFleet, the next generation fleet management solution.
One particular challenge was to effectively manage this fleet on a day-to-day basis and optimise it for future operation. Previously, fleet management was provided by a disconnected group of staff across the City Corporation. This fragmented approach could sometimes lead to a delay in resolving fleet issues; while the lack of unified insight also undermined accountability. For example, the City Corporation struggled to understand who was printing what, and from which device.
“The advantage of our relationship with Konica Minolta is their focus on continual improvement,” said Rathod. “Working in partnership, we jointly recognised the need for a single, dedicated fleet management resource – one that would not only deliver instant, on-site support, but also provide proactive, professional advice on how we could enhance our document processes.”
Konica Minolta recently extended this fleet management solution into the City Corporation’s on-site print room. Both mono and colour devices are supported by Konica Minolta on a managed service delivery model, which offers the City Corporation a more predictable cost model and improved quality of output, while freeing staff time to focus on other print opportunities. The solution includes a workflow solution that supports the printing of payslips.
The managed print service also encompasses the City of London Police and the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey. City of London Police is responsible for protecting one of the most challenging environments in the UK whilst leading the national response to fraud. Konica Minolta is ensuring the managed print service meets the City Corporation’s stringent security requirements.
The Konica Minolta fleet manager is a dedicated single point of contact – with full accountability and ownership of print related issues. Everything from monitoring consumables and break-fix issues, to fleet rationalisation, and associating machines to volume are in the fleet manager’s trusted hands. Crucially, this frees up time, money and resources that Rajiv can devote to other pressing public authority tasks.
Rathod concluded, “I manage many business partners for the City Corporation. Konica Minolta is a key strategic partner we work very closely with, and we are confident that the partnership’s strong performance will continue.”
Don’t forget to follow Dealer Support on Twitter!