Kirklees Council

Increased efficiency and streamlined collaboration

Kyocera were trusted to deliver a fully managed print solution during a period of unprecedented upheaval, helping Kirklees Council address emerging agile working requirements and enhancing collaboration between the print room and its MPS services via intranet communications.

• Fleet reduction of 20% with more efficient devices.
• 100% reduction of staff complaints about printer fleet.
• Embedded PaperCut, high-availability follow-me print and Kyocera KFS fleet diagnostics.
• Lower running costs and a reduced carbon footprint

About the customer

Kirklees Council is the local authority responsible for providing most local government services to the borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire. It serves the two major centres of Huddersfield and Dewsbury, plus several smaller towns. By area it is the third largest metropolitan district council in England and forms one of five West Yorkshire Combined Authority constituent councils.

The council has over 100 sites, including 24 libraries, schools, care homes, sports facilities and civic centres such as town halls serving a growing population of 433,000.

The challenges

Poor SLA levels

The primary issue Kirklees encountered with its print estate was frequent ‘falling-over’ of devices, resulting in multiple service calls. Response times were poor and deemed unacceptable by the council as they did not meet the promised Service Level Agreement (SLA). Engineer support was provided by a third party, which was a major factor in slowing processes down. Furthermore, software support was a significant problem: despite the SLA stating that a service response should occur within six hours, software issues tended to drag on for days.

Outdated firmware and unreliable network connectivity

The council believed the ongoing issues with their previous print devices were primarily due to faulty parts, outdated firmware, and unreliable network connectivity. 

Chris O’Hara, Print Mail Manager for Kirklees Council overseas all the print and mail requirements for over 6,000 users printing 14M pages per annum.

“The quality of print was poor, and we were receiving continual excuses. Engineers would attempt to patch the problems but fixes often only lasted for a short time before the same issues resurfaced. It became a constant battle to find someone who could log-in remotely and address the problems.”

The solution

As a government body, councils must adhere to several procurement and go-to-market tendering procedures. 

Kirklees enlisted the expertise of Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) to help them find the best solution, providing guidance on the pre-tender requirements ahead of the formal Crown Commercial Service (CCS) tender.

Kyocera was invited to attend an on-site presentation as part of the council’s pre-engagement exercise held with suppliers from across the framework. This provided Kyocera with the opportunity to understand Kirklees’ strategies and goals and to discuss the council’s future tender .. Specifically, Kyocera gained a useful perspective of the council’s significant central print room investment and the importance of the fleet tender being compatible and running in synergy with this function. 

Above all Kirklees were focussed on improving service delivery – their previous framework contract no longer fulfilled the council’s needs, service and support was challenging and the software was not fit for purpose.

After two weeks evaluating each response and their proposed prices, Kyocera was selected as the winner based on quality and pricing criteria.

Chris O’Hara at Kirklees commented: “We were meticulous with our desired outcomes due to our experience with previous print tenders . This is the third tender that we have undertaken. As a result, we possess a considerable understanding of print management, and we fine tune our expectations every time”.

Kyocera rationalised the Kirklees’ fleet by 20%, replacing the old machines with 232 new networked Kyocera devices (MFPs and desktop printers) with embedded PaperCut, high-availability follow-me print and Kyocera KFS fleet diagnostics. Kyocera also delivered several bespoke solutions for scanning, AO plotters, plus a new solution for libraries with the option for an online payment gateway.

Why Kyocera

Kirklees selected Kyocera as their go-to partner for reliability, quality, and the ability to resolve issues quickly. The council reports that Kyocera were best on all fronts including price and the solutions they proposed. It was important for Kirklees to be able to get in touch with people and having SLA timescales for 4-hour response on-site and 24-hour software support built into the contract is real benefit.

Chris O’Hara added: “I cannot praise Kyocera enough. From an IT perspective everything is good and working together has been an incredibly positive experience."

The results

Kirklees Council has experienced considerable cost savings and improved performance with the new Kyocera devices. Reduced maintenance requirements mean less downtime and staff hours spent solving problems, and the new printers are much more energy efficient and environmentally conscious. This has led to lower running costs and a reduced carbon footprint. 

Chris O’Hara at Kirklees: “The implementation process with Kyocera went smoothly. We worried about getting enough devices in time due to the pandemic but there was no real downtime and the results have been extraordinary.”

“We have hit all marks – cutting costs and wastage, increasing autonomy, reducing our environmental impact, and becoming a much more productive operation when it comes to print.  Minor issues are solved quickly, or an alternative solution is offered, so we feel we’re now on a much more positive footing as far as our print environment is concerned.”

Following implementation Kyocera introduced regular weekly then monthly meetings. Since moving into BAU – Business as Usual – they are now working on a quarterly basis and benefit from a dedicated Client Success Manager. This was a welcome change for Kirklees as they had not received SLA performance reviews and this level of communication before.

Customer Testimonial

“As a managed service provider, Kyocera are a breath of fresh air compared to what we were experiencing previously..” 

“The reliability, quality of print and speed is good. It’s easy to use to print anywhere, swipe and then collect from any device.”

“There’s a lack of noise from users now. We used to get a lot of comments about engineers. With Kyocera the feedback since start of the contract is extremely positive”.

 “It’s quite refreshing – a smile goes a long way and makes a big difference.”

Chris O’Hara, Print Mail Manager for Kirklees Council