Case Studies
Ogden City Partners with Printelligent to Serve Citizens by Managing Printer Fleet
Introduction
Ogden City's government employees are very focused on serving its 80,000+citizens in this up-and-coming ski town with a bit of a rowdy past. In the 1920s,Al Capone was quoted as saying that Ogden was “just too wild for his taste.”
The City is rich in history, having replaced fur trapping, railroading, bootlegging, brothels and gambling with the high adventures of skiing, climbing, kayaking and mountain biking. Ogden City is experiencing a renaissance of its downtown corridor. Visionaries, government leaders and hometown citizens are coming together to make the City quite remarkable, attracting growing businesses such as Adam Aircraft and Amer Sports.
The City provides all the standard urban city services, including: police, fire and utility services, parks, recreation centers, museums and a cemetery. There are 32 government buildings (25 with printers) housing numerous city departments providing critical services to Ogden's citizens. The information technology (IT) division works hard to support over 650 employees.
As the year began in 2003, the IT team was clearly budget-challenged. Printer-related costs were skyrocketing, IT staff was spending significant time managing toner inventory to keep printers up and running, and the chief technology officer found himself involved in too many conversations involving printers.
Ogden City's IT division is managed by Jay Brummett, Chief Technology Officer, who indicates the municipality is run much like a mid-sized enterprise. The IT division has a fiduciary responsibility to spend tax dollars wisely while fulfilling its commitment to maximize citizen service. The City's IT budget has been trimmed by over 18% over the past few years, while budget dollars have been maximized through sound practices in IT management. Printelligent has played a key role in keeping the budget inline and providing management tools to Mr. Brummett and his staff.
The IT division focuses on the innovative use of technology to solve the City's most pressing problems including outsourcing printing-related services at a lower cost than what can be provided internally, freeing limited staff to manage — instead of react to — support needs. Having contracted Printelligent services for several years, Mr. Brummett recalls why he initiated a Managed Print Solution.
“Early on when we were facing budget deficits, we needed to get a handle on our printing costs. Printelligent brought a lot of clarity to a confusing world. For the first time we understood the total cost of printing a document, allowing us to make printing decisions accordingly,” said Mr.Brummett. Printer fleet examination highlighted the need to consolidate and increase certain types of printing to reduce the average cost per page. In other cases there was a need to move a printer to a more appropriate location, upgrade equipment, or add or eliminate printers.
Because printing expenditures were so misunderstood and misaligned, the City's printing budgets had become over-extended. When the City accepted Printelligent's proposal for services, selection was based on a perspective of both increasing service levels and bringing budget dollars into alignment. Initiating Printelligent services has proven to be effective for Ogden City. Printing costs were quickly established, demystifying the unknown. Suddenly each department manager was acutely aware of the costs and the burden of managing the document printing budget shifted from the IT division to each department.
Unique Solution
Mr. Brummett doesn't consider Ogden City to be an early IT adopter, but rather the IT division looks for innovative ways to solve specific business needs. Recently, Printelligent consulted with City IT personnel to resolve a unique printer need at the municipal airport. The office copy machine at the municipal airport was not keeping up with the needs of the manager's office, especially as the airport was expanding services into commercial flights. In addition, counter space was limited; the office was filled to capacity with a copy machine, scanner, printer, and fax machine. With a unique need to scan large blueprint documents, Printelligent's account manager, Ben Allan, suggested an HP multi-function printer (MFP) with a large imaging bed. The new MFP is now meeting the needs of the airport manager's office with ease.
In Conclusion
As proof the City's IT division is effectively employing unique technologies to serve its constituency, the division recently received some significant awards. Out of 2,000cities in their size category and resulting from an annual survey conducted by the National League of Cities, Ogden was announced as the Digital Cities Survey Winner in both 2004 and 2006.In addition, Ogden was named a 2006 Computer World Honors Laureate for its Good Landlord Incentive Program, selected as one of the world's top information technology projects best benefiting humanity.
The future for Ogden City is very bright, with a phenomenal economic development strategy in place supported by citizens working hand-in-hand with city government. The IT staff continues to rely on trusted vendors to maximize city budget dollars. Ogden City's IT division enjoys a value-enhanced relationship with Printelligent personnel, and is experiencing all the benefits of a Managed Print Solution. Mr.Brummett had some advice for other city information technology managers:
“Focus on the metrics and what you are trying to accomplish. You then find vendors willing to help you understand your costs and ensure you are spending your money wisely,” said Mr. Brummett. “That's why we are doing business with Printelligent. Together, we're helping Ogden be a 21STcentury leader in the business of government.”