Case Studies
Global Metal Supply and Distribution Company Improves Workflows with MFP Upgrade

Global Metal Supply and Distribution Company Improves Workflows with MFP Upgrade

A leading global metal supply & distribution company turned to Sharp for a solution to reconfigure its multifunction printer (MFP) fleet and implement a solution to expand its global Square 9® workflows, all without raising costs.

 

 

Business Environment Challenges

Sharp initially met with the organization to discuss a multifunction printer and copier fleet takeover from another provider in multiple locations throughout the U.S. and globally. The organization’s printing and scanning environments were not robust enough to maintain numerous workflows. When the company submitted Optical Character Recognition (OCR) jobs, non-OCR jobs were held up for extended periods, causing significant delays. Additionally, the organization utilizes Square 9® software for its scan environment. Square 9® software is deployed according to the expected workload, and was creating a major bottleneck since it was not properly sized and configured.

 

Technology Solutions

Sharp introduced a solution to replace 14 MFPs from the previous OEM in 3 countries – United States, Canada and Taiwan. Since Square 9® software impacts the organization’s day-to-day business, finding a solution to manage its specific implementation, server and workflow setup was imperative. Leveraging our expertise and close relationship with Square 9®, Sharp successfully handled the organization’s heavy scan environment by rightsizing the deployment and configuration to the Advanced Series machines. Additionally, Sharp introduced GoldFax®, a cloud-faxing solution that let the company retire several old fax boards and transition its global environment to Sharp Remote Device Manager (SRDM) to improve fleet visibility.

 

Proven Results

Although the organization still had three years on its lease with the prior provider, it chose to move forward with Sharp due to the consistent communication and ability to provide real-time solutions to its existing business issues. The Advanced Series MFPs, with added cores, allow the business to manage its Square 9® implementation and 2,500 or more pages-a-day scanning volume. The additional implementations of GoldFax® and SRDM all combine to support the organization’s global environment, expanding workflows and quick processing times.

“Sharp adding the one-touch feature and integration with Square 9® offered a big improvement over what we had in our previous environment. The ability to live-remote into the machine leads to seamless collaboration and assisted troubleshooting from an IT perspective.”

IT Specialist

 

Organization

  • Leading Global Metal Supply and Distribution Company

 

Challenges

  • Supply delivery issues
  • Equipment servicing issues
  • Square 9 mission-critical performance issues
  • Poor communication from the previous provider’s support team
  • The original solution was significantly under-engineered to the organization’s needs
  • Multiple workflows across all locations globally were causing significant delays in jobs
  • Lack of visibility into its multifunction printer MFP fleet for improved management and support

 

Solutions

  • Sharp replaced 14 MFPs from the previous provider in 3 countries – United States, Canada and Taiwan

 

Results

  • Complete upgrade with additional licensing and professional services to upgrade and improve Square 9® workflows
  • GoldFax® deployment allowed the organization to retire several old fax boards by porting them to Sharp’s cloud faxing platform
  • Transitioned to Sharp Remote Device Manager to improve fleet visibility within its global environment