Y Soft
3 min read
Customer Profile
The largest privately owned advertising agency in America, The Richards Group, is a highly regarded branding and advertising agency based in Dallas, Texas. Offering a full spectrum of advertising, marketing and interactive solutions, the agency’s clients include such high-profile brands as Home Depot®, Dr Pepper®, Fiat® USA, and Chick-fil-A®.
CHallenge
When The Richards Group decided to move into new offices, they jumped at the opportunity to streamline their large fleet of printers. Yet as a busy advertising agency, they needed to ensure that reducing the number of printers did not negatively affect employee productivity and their ability to serve clients.
YSoft SAFEQ 6 software and YSoft SAFEQ Terminal Professional provided the answer they were looking for. Michael Cook, the system administrator in charge of the project, is pleased with how things worked out. “It’s not often you can provide users with greater flexibility and make your print environment more secure at the same time.”
" We went from 120 printers to 24. YSoft
SAFEQ 6 is a big hit, and we are saving between $1,000 and $1,500 per month."
Over the years, The Richards Group’s print environment had gotten unwieldy, with more than 120 printers scattered throughout their offices. As they prepared to move into their new building, it was clear that streamlining their print environment was crucial – yet it was also important to provide more flexibility to an increasingly mobile workforce that used a wide array of devices.
Michael Cook says, “When we moved to the new building with an open floor concept, we wanted to be more digital and to rely less on paper.” Moreover, their print management solution needed security to safeguard clients’ sensitive information.
Solution
The Richards Group consolidated its printer fleet, reducing it to only 24
multifunction printers placed at strategic locations throughout their offices. Cook wanted to allow employees to easily send a job to print and retrieve the prints at any convenient printer. “We originally tried a solution from a well-known printer manufacturer, but they couldn’t make it work despite all the efforts of their tech support.”
That’s when their Y Soft managed print services solution partner, Verity Group, recommended YSoft SAFEQ 6 and YSoft SAFEQ Terminal Professional. “They set up a demo on one of the busiest floors of the office. After the 60-day demo, we decided to use it for the entire fleet.”
YSoft SAFEQ 6 is a suite of intelligent and cutting-edge enterprise print, copy, and scan management software. This comprehensive print management solution reduces costs, enhances document security, increases workflow productivity, and helps achieve sustainability and environmental goals.
The Richards Group selected the entire suite of modules:
- Authentication
- Print Roaming
- Rule-Based Printing
- Mobile Print
- Scan Management
- Credit and Billing
- Reporting
- Mobile Print
Each printer was equipped with YSoft SAFEQ Terminal Professional – a hardware terminal with an integrated color touchscreen and card reader. Cook says that installation was a breeze. “It took less than a day. Their techs came onsite, set everything up, and checked to ensure it was operating correctly.”
As a result, The Richards Group enabled users to manage print jobs easily, save jobs as favorites, and delete jobs – all directly from the terminal’s interface. And employees can print from any device they choose – notebooks, tablets, or smartphones – anywhere they go.
BENEFITS
Cook reports that users love the print roaming feature. Instead of having to pick up their jobs at a specific printer, their print jobs follow them wherever they are. What’s more, security is no longer a worry. “We don’t have forgotten prints sitting in the printer trays anymore or one person accidentally walking off with another person’s printed document.”
"Security is very high. In an open office like ours, YSoft SAFEQ 6 ensures that prints aren’t sitting where anyone can see them."
“It’s all about convenience for users.“ As an ad agency, employees are always on the move. Now, users can print easily and securely wherever they are – even using a mobile device – and their prints follow them.
”All users have to do is go to the closest printer, swipe their smartcard to be authenticated, and a list of their print jobs appears.”
“Users don´t have to return to their desk if they pick up a job at a different printer.” Another popular feature is the ability to save favorite documents, such as constantly updated production schedules and other routine documents, so they are always ready to print.
YSoft SAFEQ 6 makes life easier for IT staff, as well.
"It saves a lot of time. There used to be printing issues every day. All the different drivers were causing issues. With YSoft SAFEQ 6, I have one driver, and it’s much easier."
From the initial demo through ongoing operation agency-wide, Cook reports that the YSoft SAFEQ 6 print management solution has been trouble-free. “I haven’t had any problems. No server problems. No server software problems. No driver problems. It’s been very smooth.”
