The University of Johannesburg, the institution formed from the merger of Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) and Technikon Witwatersrand, has outsourced its printing and copying requirements to Bytes Document Solutions in an agreement worth R20 million a year.
Fifty-two Xerox multifunction devices, maintained by Bytes Document Solutions, are in use by the university`s 33 000 students for the copying and printing of 21 million pages annually. The machines are located in the library and print stations in the computer labs at the main Kingsway campus and in the libraries and selected departments on the Soweto and East Rand campuses.
"RAU approached Bytes Document Solutions to provide it with an end-to-end solution for a printing service for its community, after it had unsuccessfully tried to manage the printing and copying environment for itself," says Aloma Beith, account sales executive at Bytes Document Solutions.
"Their costs were spiralling out of control, while the maintenance of the machines became more difficult as they aged. The university found there was more value in outsourcing its document environment needs to a company that specialised in enabling lower cost, higher quality printing. From a print room environment the solution grew to a complete print-for-pay solution to cater for the student community."
The machines in operation at the university`s Kingsway, Soweto and East Rand campuses include 35 Document Centre 425 SLXs, six Document Centre 440 STs, nine DocuPrint 4525 VMCNs and two WorkCentre PE16s. The DocuCentre copier-printers enable students at the university to integrate paper and digital documents with ease, and the Xerox Auto IQ optimises the capture of mixed text, graphics and photographs. These devices also enable print jobs and machine status to be monitored from anywhere on the network.
To make use of these machines, students are required to deposit money into their student cards using paystations scattered across the campus. With funds available on the card, they may then access a device and print or copy what they need, with money being deducted from the card with each print or copy done. Without funds available on their student cards, they are unable to use the machines.
"Our relationship with Bytes Document Solutions has enabled us to create a printing and copying environment that has almost no risk associated with it, and that is operational almost 100% of the time," says Fanie Heyneke, director of facilities management at the University of Johannesburg. "The DocuCentres, DocuPrints and WorkCentre Pros are connected to the campus network so that anyone can print to them from the different departments, the administration buildings, the libraries and any one of the 2 500 computers in the computer labs; and they are used to print and copy anything imaginable, from student letters to exam results, study guides and student assignments. Outsourcing our printing and copying environment to Bytes Document Solutions enhances our ability to track how much printing and copying is done annually, and where this is done.
"With this information, we can ensure that each campus can fulfil its specific printing requirements, that the device:student ratio is acceptable, and that the machines are appropriate for what is being printed."
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Bytes Document Solutions, previously known as Xerox South Africa (Pty) Ltd, is a South African company engaged in the marketing and servicing of a complete range of Xerox document equipment software, solutions and services. The Bytes Technology Group Limited, as a listed entity on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, wholly owns Bytes Document Solutions, the Xerox distributor in 25 African countries. For more information on Xerox, visit www.xerox.com/news.
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