The 20-year long relationship between OKI Printing Solutions and Absa recently moved to another level, when the banking giant announced it would be upgrading a substantial portion of its existing OKI print-fleet to the vendor`s new range of 6300FB flat-bed impact printers.
Furthermore, it has commited to using this new printing platform as the de facto standard for all of the new branches it plans to roll out in the foreseeable future.
The deal is substantial for both parties, since conservative estimates point towards Absa procuring more than 4 000 of the new printers over the coming year. The main motivator is the roughly 15% reduction in total cost of ownership Absa will experience at a branch level by upgrading to this new printer range.
"Absa`s de facto flat-bed printer for the past 20 years has been the OKI 390FB," explains Neil Rom, managing director of Printacom, sole importer and brand representative for OKI Printing Solutions in South Africa.
"The 6300FB is a totally redesigned machine and as such brings the latest technologies in the flat-bed impact printing space to bear on the total cost of ownership of Absa`s print fleet," Rom adds.
"Absa`s independent and rather rigorous testing process furthermore also confirmed our promise that the 6300FB was every-bit as reliable as its predecessor," he says.
While the new technologies utilised in the 6300FB were the primary contributors to the reduction in Absa`s print costs, the design of the new printer platform also contributed to the reduction in total cost of ownership. OKI took special care to ensure the printer driver interface utilised for the 390FB was perfectly compatible with the new OKI6300FB.
This obviously means Absa would be able to replace the old units with the new units and not have to effect any changes to its back-end systems, something that would have hampered the roll-out and led to additional cost.
A last benefit Rom cites is the updated look of the new units. "The slick, quiet and modern looking design of the 6300FB fits perfectly with Absa`s corporate image," he says.
"We`re reducing our total cost of ownership, gaining access to a new printing technology and updating our branch`s technology image in a single step," says Ian Russell, GM of Group Sourcing at ABSA.
Russell believes this positive experience bodes extremely well for the future relationship of the two companies. "Our experiences up until now have been overwhelmingly positive and with this recent engagement going so smoothly, I`m convinced we will continue drawing on OKI Printing Solutions for our future printing needs," he concludes.
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Printacom, a member of the MBT group of companies, is the sole importer and the leading value-added distributor of the OKI range of printing solutions to the South African reseller channel.
OKI Printing Solutions specialises in designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing business printing solutions which empower organisations to communicate more effectively. As a market leader in the global colour printer market, OKI has representation in 120 countries worldwide offering innovative and leading-edge products and services.
OKI Printing Solutions is ranked among the top three printer brands worldwide and is one of the few printer manufacturers that designs and develops its own components and technology, putting OKI ahead of its competitors` technology. OKI Printing Solutions is dedicated to continually improving the scope and value-add of their printing solutions and all of these initiatives are ably supported by Printacom through its extensive skills and service offering.
More information about OKI is available at: http://www.sa.co.za.
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