Price and service are usually the determining factors in most printer sales for resellers.However, Laser Networks of Toronto, leading with Kyocera Mita Ecosys print solutions, provided one of Canada’s elite schools with totally green printers.
Upper Canada College (UCC), the oldest independent school in Ontario (founded in 1829), required printing solutions to support its faculty and its student body. One challenge was that the school had implemented an initiative called Green School to promote environmental awareness and responsibility.
David Wyse, senior ac-count manager, with Laser Networks spearheaded the implementation for UCC along with the school’s director of IT at the time Kelly Ambrose.
With the green initiative in place, Wyse believed Kyocera would be a good fit to bring into the account.
“Kyocera has basically more environmentally friendly products and they have recyclable toner container. All the parts, even the operational parts, are internal. Toner is the No. 1 disposable item on any machine. It is good that you can throw it into a box. Their toner comes in a plastic toner container and when emptied there is nothing else in the plastic container. It is fully recyclable as opposed to others with drums and other moving parts. It is easy to throw away in a blue box,” Wyse said.
Environment minded
Wyse, who has an environmental background in fish and wildlife management, thought UCCs green program was very progressive. He added that Laser Networks is also an environment-minded company. However, it wasn’t the school’s green initiative that posed the solution provider with a problem.
“With any new implementation of equipment there are growing pains and you have to rise to the challenge and be able to at least have the equipment up and running in a reasonable amount of time.”
UCC transitioned over to a fleet management program where it pays for pages printed. The program also covers all operational expenses such as parts, labour, consumables, cleaning and preventative maintenance.
UCC refreshes its printer fleet every four years. “They want the newest product on the market and they want to stay within its operational budget,” Wyse said.
Laser Networks installed 50 new Kyocera Ecosys printers at UCC. The challenge for Wyse and staff was not just to install green printers, but to do so at a reasonable price. Also part of the implementation challenges was the switch from HP to Kyocera. “You have user issues and training that Laser Networks provides,” Wyse said.
In the end, UCC furthered its green initiative, and also lowered operational costs by 35 to 40 per cent, Wyse said.
“Kyocera toner has a high yield and less inventory. It also has less weight and less energy consumption (than other printers),” Wyse said.
Margins made
For Laser Networks the UCC project was more than just making money, Wyse added. He said the environmental printer initiative impacted the company’s margins slightly.
“They are not as high with this, but we feel comfortable with them. The overall revenue cost dropped, but we still feel comfortable because it was what the customer wanted. It is not always about making a buck, but providing the right solution to keep customers long term,” Wyse said.
Kyocera margins are around 10 per cent, which he thinks is fair.
“You never want to make too high a margin because it is not fair to the customer,” Wyse said.