The story goes something like this.
A small college full of ambitious students, working hard to make a future for themselves and save a penny or two along the way found a loophole big enough to roll a Xerox Docuprint right on through. Just down the street, was another college. Equipped with great facilities generously appointed for all students and faculty to utilize gratis, it seemed this fine institution was drawing some of the neighboring students to their computer lab of all places. Could it be a story of two schools coming together in a collaborative spirit for the greater academic good? A timeless tale of collaboration? Or could it be that school number two had free printing and copying? We’ll leave it to you to decide.
This time of year is known for universities across the country putting through RFP for capital goods. And few RFP are as critical to the budget and as closely aligned with operational needs as the wide range of printers and copiers required to support the modern university.
But while networking and computer technology has enabled campus connectivity to thrive, the procurement of printing needs a reboot. As our unfortunate friends with the free printing now know, trust is not a strategy when it comes to such costly assets from both a fixed and variable cost perspective.
The solution to the printing paradox is simple – it’s called ‘pay per print.’
And unlike horror stories of decades ago, no facet of the design or deployment of such a system is difficult. Not a single line of custom code, not a single ad hoc peripheral. Enacting a pay-per-print solution and managing the costs is simple and turnkey with industry leader ACDI easily delivering all of the software and hardware needed to get started.
Pay-per-print systems range from coin operated to card-swiped, existing independently or connected to student accounts. Instantly, universities gain the kind of print revenues that enable cost-neutral printing. With pay-per-print the sound of printing may not exactly be the sound of profit, but it will be far from the wasteful process still seen on too many campuses today.
With ACDI’s one stop, single-vendor approach to pay-per-print, dealers can focus on communicating the tangential values of such a system to universities. It becomes more than savings on paper.
With a more conservative approach to printing, associated staff can be optimized, lowering headcount costs.
Equipment and toner will last longer, with less mileage. Queues and wait-for-print disappear, freeing up facility space.
And perhaps most importantly, privacy (including FERPA compliance) and security where all printing is authenticated, tracked and tallied become easier to guarantee – an important element of digitally-driven ‘document management’ over the analog and inefficient.
Of all commercial printing markets, including healthcare, higher-education presents dealers with uniquely profitable opportunities. Those selling ‘boxes’ will see price pressure. Those selling solutions, like will enjoy new revenue streams. By focusing on solutions, dealers become more than hardware distributors. With the selling of printers and copiers, your products are an expense. With accompanying software, hardware and systems to get the most out of the hardware, and consultative approaches to solution selling, your products become expense, revenue and strategy – enabling higher-level deliverables.
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