Pepperdine University Improves Print Management and Simplifies Document Imaging
Business Environment Challenges
With six campuses across Southern California, including its main campus in Malibu, Pepperdine University serves more than 7,500 students and 2,000 faculty and staff. When the university’s MFP lease expired, Pepperdine needed to find a manufacturer that would not only be able to provide quality printers, but also help control some of the print spending and volume by its faculty, staff and students
Technology Solutions
In September 2016, after quality testing a number of brands, Pepperdine installed a mix of 81 Sharp MFPs, integrated with PaperCut™ MF software for improved print tracking and management for both faculty and students.
Proven results
Integrated with the university’s CBORD system, the new Sharp solution has enabled Pepperdine to link digital imaging costs back to individual students and employee accounts via physical ID cards or manually entered account credentials. PaperCut MF tracks all print activity and generates monthly usage reports for staff to better monitor their spending as well. Reducing print-related costs, as well as print waste, has been a major benefit of the Sharp solution.
“When print jobs are released, both students and employees can see the associated cost, allowing them to not only manage their personal spending, but also make more responsible printing decisions,” says Pepperdine University IT Communications Team Lead, Jordan Lott. “The reports generated by PaperCut MF also help facilitate our interdepartmental recharges at the beginning of each month. By attributing print spending to different departments, including specific projects or grants, we have a much more granular picture of where print dollars are being spent.”
Pepperdine also benefits from the improved quality of output.
“I did extensive color testing on the Sharp devices prior to the contract signing and found that the large image output was far superior to any other printer. I really pushed the Sharp MFPs to see if I could produce high quality copies of non-standard image sizes without training on the devices, of which I was successful,” continues Lott. “I also found that the touchscreen control panel was very intuitive, making regular interaction simpler for everyone.”
In particular, Pepperdine cites the web-hosted printing portal as a major determinant of the solution’s success. Students can upload image files from anywhere and on any device (including mobile), and then release the print job from any conveniently located network printer.
“The entire process after submitting the print job is much faster – you go to the device, swipe an ID card, and your printing is completed. There are no longer release stations and administrative tasks associated with completing a print job,” says Lott.