Major broadcasterstamps out print rage
Major broadcasterstamps out print rage
March/April Edition, 2008: Sales reports, proposals, presentations; all the usual stuff was flying through the printers at Australia’s favourite radio stations. But with inefficiencies raising costs, a fleet in need of a makeover and staff succumbing to ‘printer rage,’ the broadcaster Austereo Network realised a little service help could once again put paper, in its place.
Voices from popular personalities, a song here and there, news bulletins and a few advertisements in between, the role of paper when it comes to the airways doesn’t sound the most likely of problems for the IT department of a major broadcaster.
“Radio is a reasonably simple business,” says Peter Bourke, national IT manager at Austereo. “Yes there are two sets of customers, advertisers and listeners, which is different to some businesses. But there’s nothing surprising in the way we do things here.”
For Austereo, it’s not a matter of running one station across the airways, but rather a number of metropolitan and regional stations presenting everything from the likes of Today and Triple M, broadcasting shows like The Cage, The Shebang and the Kyle and Jackie O Breakfast Show
Presenting so much content, the relationship between staff and paper was tight. According to Bourke, the organisation was paper reliant, especially when it came to printing out sales proposals. Printers, many of them inherited, were also contributing to inefficiencies. “The company grew by mergers and acquisitions historically and new business would come in with all of their existing devices,” says Bourke.
With local deals occurring all over the country, Bourke admits the company had never really approached the growing business in an enterprise fashion. Without a buying strategy, the 30 years of organic growth saw the broadcaster end up with over 60 different models of printers, copiers and faxes. “We had machines out of warranty and many, many different models.”
It was not just hardware affecting processes, but the associated staff morale frustrated by printing challenges. With a fleet of aging, inefficient and unreliable printers causing havoc across officers, printer rage was all too common and IT staff were overwhelmed and soon found one in four help desk calls to be printer related.
Realising a need to get things in order, Austereo set to work reinvigorating their print strategy. The goal was to cut down on the man-power, slice operating costs and target inefficiencies resulting from a disparate fleet of printers.
Bourke began with a detailed study of what was already available internally and then invited Upstream Print Solutions Australia to join the hunt for a bunch of new machines that could actually save money, instead of inspiring inefficiencies and frustration. With Upstream on board, deals with print suppliers were managed externally with the first goal of consolidating devicessuccessfully achieved.
Part of the consolidation involved eliminating personal devices from desks to instead place devices in communal print areas. It was a strategy met with some change management issues, but one reflecting the organsiation’s shift to a team based environment, and an open plan office.
The move has seen Austereo report a 28 percent reduction in document spending since taking Upstream on board. From a cost perspective, a 39 percent savings compared to the year prior to Upstream’s engagement on operating expenses for print/copy and fax was an impressive feat for the IT department.
A drop in printer rage can also be quantified, with Austereo reporting a 15 percent reduction in out-put related Help Desk calls. Meanwhile user satisfaction and staff morale around the equipment is at an all time high, a significant achievement against the usual frustrations prevalent in organisations.
Bourke says incorporating Upstream into their print plans has worked better than they originally planed. While the printer rage might still be prevalent, it’s dropped off dramatically, with Bourke happy to report a more consistent experience and a fleet of more reliable printers.
The improvements have come as a result of seeing the big picture of printing. “If you keep your eye on it, you’ll get through all the little challenges,” says Bourke.
Cultural change, especially for a company embarking on fitting printers into an open plan office, is also important to be wary of. “People like having their own printer so it is a big change, overcoming this and understanding it is important,” says Bourke.