THE CLIENT
Beaconhills College is a co-educational Early Childhood to Year 12 independent school with nearly 3000 students and a broader college community of 10,000 parents, teachers and other staff. The school is set out across three campuses – the Village Campus in Berwick, the Little Beacons Early Learning Centre and the Valley Campus in Pakenham.
Beaconhills College is committed to providing a challenging, enriching and collaborative learning community, empowering children to nurture their talents and develop as deep reflective thinkers and responsible citizens.
THE CHALLENGE
Beaconhills College has experienced huge growth in its student population across all three campuses. At the same time, the number of Multifunction Devices (MFDs) increased from four to 20, but there was no uniformity across the MFD fleet, with varying rental and service contracts starting and finishing on different dates.
The College also had 80 ageing HP printers in the school that were not regularly serviced. The College’s internal IT team was responsible for managing printer consumablestocks and ensuring that the printers were operational, a mammoth task which was taking them away from their primary job.
The Beaconhills College phone system evolved as the school grew. Six years ago and with just two campuses, the College had two independent phone systems with separate phone numbers. The systems lacked integration and connectivity. An outside project resulted in an upgrade of links and a new, integrated phone system, however, the system still lacked performance and functionality, particularly the ability to contact staff easily as they moved between campuses.
THE SOLUTION
Viatek solutions experts took the time to learn about Beaconhills College and their needs. Most of the printers and more than half of the MFDs were upgraded to take advantage of the latest technology, with improved reliability and added functionality under a single Managed Print Service Agreement.
Initially, the installation was scheduled to take one full week to put in place 70 printers and 12 new Xerox MFDs, however with careful planning; this work was completed in three days in early January. Over the next two weeks, Viatek assisted the College in setting up email accounts, scan folders and Auditron print management accounts, so that by the time school resumed all staff had the ability to print from day one.
Viatek implemented an NEC telecommunications solution based on the SV8300 with Zeacom presence management and redundancy links across all three campuses in 2009. The system is administered centrally and provides significant integration of IT functionality into the phone network.
"Working with Viatek across a range of services takes the stress out of having to deal with multiple retailers and suppliers. We’ve enjoyed very big benefits, but even smaller organisations can benefit from access to Viatek’s level of expertise. We’ve saved on staff time even as the school as grown. It’s good to have Viatek’s ongoing support."
THE RESULT
Viatek supports most print devices at Beaconhills College, leaving their IT department free to focus on more meaningful projects that will improve productivity across the campuses.
Monthly finance contracts have been reduced from five contracts to a single contract, and 23 individual service contracts to one Managed Print Services contract, reducing administrative time spent on contract management and Accounts Payable activities. In dollar terms, Beaconhills College’s overall print costs have reduced by approximately 17% per month.
Viatek is also assisting Beaconhills College to achieve its Sustainability goals, including a commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 50% against 2009 levels, and dispose of no waste to landfill sites by the end of 2015 through the installation of energy-efficient Fuji Xerox and Hewlett-Packard products designed to support recycling, re-use and re-manufacturing at end-of-life through our stock recycling programme.
Integration of the telecommunications system with the College’s IT has significantly improved communications, especially for staff moving between campuses. They can receive voicemails as emails and divert phones to mobiles. The system is flexible, easily managed and reliable. Pre-recorded voicemail messages have been prepared to streamline processes in the event of an emergency.
If one link drops out, the phone system simply switches across to the other server and communications are maintained, meaning that the College suffers no downtime due to connectivity issues.
