Six years is a while in the software game.
So finding out we have a long-time devotee (even serendipitously) in David Garwood, IT technician for St. Mary’s Menston Catholic Academy (SMMCA), is the best.
Better yet, he’s happy to report SMMCA’s thoughts on PaperCut MF are in keeping with the observed trend: they absolutely love it.
The St. Mary’s setup
The landscape
Founded over 50 years ago, SMMCA is a Catholic school in Yorkshire made up of 1200 students and 150 staff. But it isn’t just any Catholic school:
“St. Mary’s is known for being the top Catholic School in Yorkshire. It’s very prestigious,” says David, who – with less than a year under his belt – isn’t part of the famed furniture just yet.
Unlike his relatively fresh tenure at SMMCA, David’s time with PaperCut MF throughout the years has been pretty extensive, and positive to boot.
“I’ve been involved with PaperCut at various stages in my IT career, from initial setup to troubleshooting and upgrades…
“In the six years I’ve used it, I’ve never had negative feedback from users on PaperCut itself – I only hear about what goes wrong with the printers!”
The goal
“I wasn’t here at the time, but my understanding is that SMMCA wanted to better manage printing and its associated costs.
“Printing can quickly spiral out of control in a school, so there was a need to track printing, apply quotas to students, and be more transparent to the finance and department heads.”
I know what you’re thinking: who could meet such printing goals for a prestigious institution like SMMCA? 😉
We love a good school crest – even if there’s zero green to be seen
How PaperCut brought the goods
Transparent, accountable, and reduced costs
With built-in reports and tracking of pretty much everything, David and SMMCA can see exactly where print activity goes bananas, not-bananas, and everything in between.
“In the past, Finance would get huge bills without knowing where the spend was coming from… There was a lot we couldn’t answer for.
“Now, we show them PaperCut MF’s automated reports, and it answers their questions before they’ve even asked them. They’re invaluable to department faculty heads.”
It’s also led to behavioral boons and resultant paper/money savings:
“Users are aware their printing’s being logged now, so they take more of a cautious approach.”
A dream for IT techs…
“It all works very well. The fact that it’s web-based means we don’t have to load any software… Each user has their own PaperCut MF client account, so it’s really easy to manage from an IT perspective.”
On top of being a breeze to set up on the technical front, David recalls how PaperCut MF’s flexibility made it an easy sell from the get-go.
“Being able to give different levels of access is extremely useful. No one likes change, but with PaperCut MF, the IT team can choose how deep they want their control to go.
And in terms of support? We’ve had David’s back there, too:
“I’ve called to confirm upgrade details or get copies of the manuals – which are excellent, by the way – and the service is great… Things either get done at the time of the call, or a ticket gets logged and resolved quickly.”
…and a user-friendly paradise for users
“I like that it’s simple to use. For the copiers, users log in with their ID cards, then scan, copy, release prints, whatever else – it’s all really quick and easy.”
On the specific feature end of things, David and the school body are huge fans of Secure Print Release:
“The school’s quite big, so users can print flexibly across different departments, which is great. It’s also beneficial in terms of confidentiality – uncollected documents don’t just sit around on the printer anymore.”
An A+ partnership
Six years of PaperCut, and it seems David isn’t sick of us just yet (phew).
“Would I recommend PaperCut? Definitely – with no hesitation. Easy to implement, easy to use, easy to support… It’s just so easy.”
