Government

Meridian Brings Immediate Cost Savings and Offers Continuous Process Improvement to Premier Municipality

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Project Overview

When Meridian Imaging Solutions (Meridian) met with key decision-makers at a local County Government’s Department of Information Technology, the solutions team came prepared with a deep understanding of the mission and goals and how they relate to County operations.

The development and implementation of a Managed Document Services (MDS) program would offer considerable opportunity to improve public service and stretch tax dollars. MDS is a holistic approach to document management – including managing user behavior, centrally monitoring device activity
and optimizing the performance of each – tailored around the County’s specific environment and aligned with their objectives.

The program components include sophisticated software applications configured to integrate with the
County’s IT infrastructure, award-winning, environmentally sustainable hardware, and dedicated onsite administrative and technical support.

One of the best run governments in the country, this County is a hub of commerce and technology. Although often recognized for innovation and achievement, with 60 different agencies and over 200 locations, environmental, technical, and financial objectives with respect to document output activity were not met without challenges.

Challenge & Solutions

Scalable Design

With such a concentration of residents and businesses, the County’s needs are ever-changing. Recognizing technology must be adaptable, Meridian’s solutions experts developed a flexible MDS program that quickly integrated with the environment, but accounted for future technologies and enhanced business practices.

Success Factors

  1. Solution must accommodate all departments
  2. Enlist emerging technologies that can evolve with need and support shifts in priorities and/or changes to personnel
  3. Provide software components that are nonproprietary/ compatible by design, allowing ongoing integration
  4. Support post-deployment efforts to develop and streamline workflows where practical to enhance processes and applications

Communication Security

Meridian’s MDS program specifically adheres to the County’s published initiatives regarding security risks and enhancement. The program integrated with the County’s employee HID/common access cards and existing print infrastructure without compromising network integrity or violating data sharing policies.

Success Factors

  1. Ensure the integrity and security of all information and data residing on IT equipment in accordance with Federal, State, and Local regulations
  2. Improved access and security through controlled access to sensitive documents
  3. Mitigate security risks via locked printing, document tracking, audit trails, and reporting

Functional Standardization

An established pre-configured line of multifunctional devices was deployed in areas of central access, each with uniform operator panels and touchscreen displays. Strategically placed higher volume devices offered a lower total-cost-of-ownership, resulting in significant savings over time. By containing hardware/ software types, MDS benefits weren’t hampered by increased costs associated with additional integration resources.

Success Factors

  1. Benefit from economies of scale and standardization in technology
  2. Provide common, compatible platforms across a variety of technologies
  3. Better develop comprehensive training programs and materials, enhancing materials based on specific departmental applications and customized workflows, not different platforms

Environmental Sustainability

While most MDS components emphasize efficiencies in the workplace, these indirectly translate to and support, the County’s “green” initiatives. Acknowledging the County as a leader in sustainable IT initiatives, Meridian was able to provide tangible data that supported the County’s efforts to conserve tax dollars while reducing its environmental impact.

Success Factors

  1. Provide evidence of responsible consumption with rules and routing technologies
  2. Through measurable data, make actionable recommendations on how to conserve
  3. Limit product endorsement and placement to established,  environmentally-sound manufacturers
  4. Employ technologies to most efficiently dispatch contractor staff, reducing fuel usage in County travel

Project Management

Meridian’s team of consultants, project managers, technical specialists, and administrative support provided the framework essential to best execute a turnkey MDS program. Combining the talent,
resources and expertise exclusively focused on program performance, Meridian’s onsite support ensured the County’s internal resources were able to focus on more relevant endeavors.

Success Factors

  1. Provide all levels of technical support to fulfill the agreed expectations and requirements
  2. Place qualified personnel to provide ongoing program governance onsite, in collaboration with the County’s designated IT contacts
  3. Appoint and coordinate additional resources as needed
  4. Provide executive oversight to review, refine and demonstrate progress and value through tangible measures of success

Results

As technologies evolve, new applications are introduced and agencies or departments grow, change, move and merge – the task of managing document costs will continue to be a challenge – without a professional partner.

Meridian provided the County with detailed reports and analysis of program performance. While quantifiable savings were evident, making adjustments to the program on an ongoing basis are recommended for optimization.

Prior to engagement, County decision-makers discussed concerns about partnering with a business of Meridian’s size. The benefits of Meridian’s vendor-neutral, brand-agnostic approach outweighed the perceived risk of contracting with a small, independent entity. Meridian’s account management team demonstrated a profound understanding of IT’s objectives and the far-reaching successes or consequences at stake.

Process Improvements

County employees were given the freedom to conquer traditionally cumbersome tasks with
improvements such as:

  • Faster warm-up times and output speeds
  • One-off, ad-hoc, mobile printing capabilities
  • Integration with existing authentication techniques

Intelligent Reporting

Activity over a sizable digital multifunctional system (MFDs) and 10,000 end-users were itemized by function. Analysis and data visualization showed activity to be generally proportionate across models,
indicating a right-sized environment.

Reports identified heaviest and lightest usage by device, making recommendations to relocate overutilized and under-utilized models. Data was compiled, filtered, and presented in multiple ways to best indicate trends or irregularities.

Account Management & Onsite Support

Meridian assigned five (5) full-time employees to fulfill the day-to-day responsibilities and operations of the MDS program. Dozens more were enlisted on-demand to meet temporary or special needs. Break-fix metrics showed that helpdesk personnel, field technicians, and network engineers exceeded the required response and resolution times.

Manage Change, Review, Refine

Change Management. Providing new technologies, better processes, lower costs, improved services, and dedicated support wasn’t enough. Meridian wanted to ensure that end-users had an opportunity to understand the benefits of an MDS program and endorse the concept.

Meridian explained the benefits and provided advanced training to demonstrate how processes were impacted. Custom marketing materials, training documentation, end-user surveys, and other branded messaging was distributed.

Feedback. Meridian launched an automated outreach program, sending a “closed call confirmation” email after service calls. The message was non-intrusive and required no response, but included a feedback option via direct reply and/or survey. Responses were monitored in real-time so any complaints could be immediately investigated and resolved.

Targeted Outreach. Based on Equitrac and AutoStore reports, the least active users were contacted for additional training. “Expired job” culprits were offered additional training.

Advanced Workflow Implementation. Meridian targeted the heaviest Scan-to-Email, Scan-to-Folder users as candidates for process automation, and developed custom workflows to enhance routing and archiving practices.

Complete Green Office Solution

Print Governance

The print governance application facilitated the storing, releasing and managing confidential documents and tracked all user activity, prevented excessive printing, and reduced abandoned jobs. This solution supported the County’s green initiatives by way of substantial reduction in unnecessary
printing.

1.4 million pages were not printed, translating to:

  • Cartons = 274
  • Reams = 2,743
  • Weight = 13,716 lbs. / 6.85 TONS
  • Trees = 164.6
  • Saved Paper Expenses = $10,960

Environmentally Responsible Features

Eco-Friendly Hardware. Placed devices reduced energy and CO2 emissions and were manufactured with environmentally friendly substances in product design; including cradle-to-grave recycling programs for equipment and consumables.

Sleep Mode. Devices go into “sleep mode” when not in use, saving energy and utility costs, but have a very short warm up time when resuming activity.

Duplex Printing. This double-sided printing feature saves paper and reduces
waste in the office.

Sample Copy. Sample copies help reduce wasted paper from large copy jobs with incorrect data or formatting.

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