Since 1886, Ascham School in Edgecliff, Sydney, has provided high quality education to day students and boarders. It’s driven by a strong and widely respected academic program from Prep to Year 12. Ascham is the only school in Australia to use the Dalton Plan; a unique educational concept that provides students with an extraordinary skill set, not only for school, but also beyond the school gates in future jobs and careers.
"Konica Minolta has really helped us maximise the managed print room’s potential. It now assists staff and students daily, enhancing their teaching and learning experiences respectively."
- Dane Marcus, IT Operations Manager
Ascham has its own in-house managed print room. The school’s contract with its existing print supplier was coming to an end, so it was time for the school to explore other options. The new supplier needed to provide equipment as well as service.
It was essential that a new print provider would have the technology, skills and expertise to complement and enhance Ascham’s print experience and capabilities. The school also needed to find a cost-effective solution that would deliver smart and modern print options to prepare students for their future careers.
Dane Marcus, IT Operations Manager, Ascham School, said, “Ascham has a print room to take the pressure off teaching staff. We want teachers to focus on teaching not standing in front of a printer waiting for print jobs.
“Furthermore, Ascham School had previously experienced some integration issues with third-party suppliers, which meant sometimes students had trouble topping up credit on their print accounts. Ease of use and accessibility for students were key priorities.”
Having worked with Konica Minolta at another school, Dane Marcus was keen to work with the company again due to its excellent service.
Dane Marcus said, “It was one week before Christmas, and we needed immediate print support. Despite the busy holiday period, the Konica Minolta team responded quickly, and managed to get someone onsite to evaluate our current position, and future requirements.”
The cost-effective and user-friendly nature of Konica Minolta software and hardware were major driving forces behind Ascham’s decision to purchase Konica Minolta C3070 and 6120 production machines.
In addition to the 25 multifunction devices installed across Ascham campus, Konica Minolta supplied a fully managed print room service including an experienced full-time Konica Minolta print room operator.
The supplied solution for the print room includes C3070 and 6120 production machines, a range of offline finishing equipment and Accurio Pro Flux software to streamline the print room workflow and provide teachers and staff with a fully customised online job submission portal.
A key requirement for Ascham was that the new print services be installed as smoothly as possible, with minimal impact on users. Ascham was concerned that a disruptive and enduring installation process could alienate staff and students from the print technology when it was finally ready to be used.
Dane Marcus said, “Konica Minolta ensured installation was quick and simple. This played a major role in helping staff and students feel comfortable uploading documents and sending print jobs through the new systems.
Ascham even changed the location of its print room a few weeks prior to installation without any negative impact on the project.
As a result of the new print technology, staff and students can now print with minimal interruption, and experience excellent turnaround on jobs.
Dane Marcus said, “The new print equipment just operates in the background without anyone having to think about it. And, the IT team is now never burdened by requests to attend to frozen print jobs or faulty equipment. Konica Minolta takes care of all printing queries and maintenance, providing a major relief to our IT department, staff, and students.
“We’ve received overwhelmingly positive reviews from our teaching staff on the new technology, particularly towards the Accurio Flux software. Accurio Flux is far more modern and streamlined than our previous system, and staff have reported how much quicker and easier it is to upload files, select options for print jobs, and quickly receive print jobs back in their hands from the managed print room.”
Dane Marcus, IT Operations Manager
