bizhub C284 - Konica Minolta bizhub

VA LU E A D D E D O F F E R I N G
Konica Minolta South Africa and the
University of Johannesburg dynamically
shape the future
>>> Konica Minolta South Africa (KMSA)
has successfully provided the
University of Johannesburg (UJ) with
sophisticated print services technology
that can easily be adapted for future
ICT requirements.
The agreement between Konica Minolta South Africa and
UJ came into effect at the beginning of 2012 and included
the provision of cashless printing facilities to more than
50,000 students and setting up printing and copier technology
in bulk print rooms on all four of the UJ campuses: Auckland
Park Kingsway, Auckland Park Bunting, Doornfontein and
Soweto.
The company also replaced all existing multifunctional devices
(MFDs) in academic and support areas, as well as copying and
printing facilities in libraries and computer laboratories, which
are available to its more than 8,000 staff members, students
and visitors to the university’s campuses.
According to Professor Thea Voogt, printing facilities roll-out
project leader at UJ, KMSA has successfully provided
managed print services that are flexible, innovative and act as
an enabler to enhance the learning environment.
“KMSA both appreciated and realised our need for a vendor
partner who would not just place devices on our campuses,
but one that would also focus on the intangible side of our
academic environment, such as supporting us in being a
pre-eminent South African and African university that is a step
ahead in terms of offering technology opportunities to students,
staff and visitors, says Professor Voogt.
Due to KMSA’s innovative MFDs and software, UJ now has
the right technology embedded in its current offering to easily
access and integrate with a wide range of mobile device
platforms, such as tablets, smartphones, e-readers and mobile
applications in the future. Voogt explains that this forwardthinking
strategy was implemented to help students take better
advantage of mobile computing in the future and ‘earn on the
move’. In this way, KMSA’s technology input can also be seen
as adding value to the knowledge emanating from the
campuses.
Since the tender was awarded, the KMSA team has included
a number of additional functionalities that the university has
been able to harness.
A major benefit of using the same technology to service almost
60,000 users on four different campuses is the solution’s ability
to accurately calculate usage and the KMSA solution has in its
first six months, shown significant savings for the university.
According to Marc Pillay, general operations manager at
Konica Minolta South Africa, UJ also required a solution that
offered a common good for its students, staff and the
environment and so a detailed electricity usage and emissions
report formed part of the tender process.
A major focus area for KMSA is minimising CO2 emissions and
reducing power consumption. Luckily for the environment, the
company’s bizhub MFDs use Simitri high definition
polymerised toners for low temperature fixing and are
equipped with an advanced sleep mode and energy-saving
technologies to significantly minimise energy consumption in
the office.
Our solution at UJ offers credible, monthly electricity usage
and emission reports, which are being used by individual
departments in their financial planning and by the university in
its reporting.
Importantly though, comments Voogt, harnessing the strength
of the solution is not just about the financial impact but the
influence it is having on the community. “One of the facilities
UJ offers the community are our law clinics and we have, for
example, set up dedicated MFDs on our Soweto campus in
the law clinic so that copies of documents can be made for the
cases reported at the law clinic.
Of significance too is KMSA’s client centric service approach,
which has taken our needs as clients seriously. The extent to
which top management was involved in the roll-out at our
institution attests to that.
At present, KMSA has support staff on all four the campuses
and also employs staff members within the university’s libraries
who assist students and visitors during the libraries 07:00 to
23:00 operating hours. To kick off the roll-out, KMSA provided
‘how-to-guides’, which were placed on UJ’s intranet and
prominently displayed posters for students’ reference to
supplement the basic operation of its MFDs.
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