Aldridge, UK, July 14th 2009: Skipton Building Society, the UK's fifth largest building society, has completed the implementation of an extensive document management and digital print solution with Azzurri Communications, saving the organisation around £64,000 per annum. Updating and consolidating its sprawling estate of digital print, copying and scanning devices, the contract with Azzurri has provided an immediate reduction in print costs and maintenance overheads, whilst the introduction of innovative software is set to improve waste management and user behaviour across the organisation.

In the financial services market, printing, photocopying and scanning documents, such as mortgage offers and KPIs, is essential to the role of Skipton's 1500-strong workforce. With almost 600,000 print-outs per month, operational costs were at a premium and needed to be addressed.

Dorothy Frankland, Head of Computer Services for Skipton explains, "It was clear that we could become more efficient with how we operate our print services. We wanted to reduce the management overhead as well as the operational costs of printing. As an existing IT partner, Azzurri was the obvious choice to address our digital print strategy, which would help minimise operational cost and help toward the reduction of the organisation's carbon footprint."

Azzurri first undertook an extensive audit to gather critical intelligence surrounding the volume and frequency of printing and a profile of Skipton employees and their printing habits. Immediately identifying cost-savings, Azzurri completed the implementation of a multi-functional print/copy/scan strategy, successfully consolidating the number of devices by over 50% and deploying an innovative software approach to print security and management. Linking intuitive printing software to each employee's security access card, Skipton is able to better control the workforce's everyday use of printers and copiers and reduce waste across the business.

"By introducing a swipe card system we realised that we could not only increase user awareness of their excessive printing patterns, but improve security of sensitive paper documents, increase user productivity and save on operational costs," adds Frankland. "Each printer in the head office is now linked together and has a unit that any employee can swipe their access card through to access individual print jobs. From a security perspective, this means that only the owner of the document can retrieve it and with employees' made aware of paper usage, we can reduce the volume of prints sent to the devices - limiting excess cost and paper waste."

Azzurri is also providing Skipton with ongoing support and remote monitoring for its devices, removing the ongoing operational complexity from the IT Team.

Frankland concludes: "In addition to the cost-saving and increased productivity benefits of the solution, the payment of our digital print services has now been consolidated into one bill that is received each month, greatly easing cost management. That said, each department or printer can be analysed individually for usage and costs if required, which is enabling us to better plan departmental budgets and pre-determine individual costs across the organisation."

Jason Standerwick, sales and marketing director of Azzurri Communications explains, "Consolidating and converging technology and it's spend can help businesses like Skipton to manage costs effectively and better operational efficiency. Print services are often overlooked, but this is a perfect example of how a thorough analysis of an organisation's use of technology, can quickly realise significant cost-savings. Not only that, the digital document management solution at Skipton is increasing levels of user productivity, working in-line with corporate social responsibility and helping the organisation stay lean in today's economic climate."

About Skipton Building Society, www.skipton.co.uk
Skipton is the UK's fifth largest building society, with approximately 860,000 members, £16bn of assets and a national presence represented by its 90 branches, covering the country from Aberdeen to Plymouth. It heads the Skipton Building Society Group, whose subsidiary companies have significant interests in estate agency and related businesses (through the Connells and Sequence groups); third party mortgage servicing (Homeloan Management); credit referencing (Callcredit) and market data supply, as well as independent financial and related advisory businesses and support services to the mutual sector.

Skipton is the first UK-wide financial services provider to receive the Customer First Framework - a quality assurance standard aimed at putting the customer first.

About Azzurri Communications, www.azzurricommunications.com
Azzurri is transforming the way organisations use communication and information technology.

We are a leading managed services company delivering flexible voice, data and mobile communications. Ours is one of the largest independent network management and support teams providing converged solutions that are no-longer tied to technology and supplier.

At the core of our managed service is our Virtual Network Operator (VNO) capability. As a VNO, freedom and flexibility distinguish us from our competitors. We give you the flexibility to change and adapt to new requirements and technologies.

With increased agility our customers gain a competitive edge, and with dramatic savings and management information they have total control of their voice, data and mobile infrastructure.

Azzurri Communications was formed in June 2000 and is headquartered in the UK, offering global access to sales, service and support to customers in 130 countries.

For more information, please contact:

Dan Roche

Azzurri Communications

Tel: 01932 264850

Email: dan.roche@azzu.co.uk

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