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. Maryās Menston Catholic Academy (SMMCA), is the best.
Better yet, heās happy to report SMMCAās 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 isnāt just any Catholic school:
āSt. Maryās is known for being the top Catholic School in Yorkshire. Itās very prestigious,ā says David, who ā with less than a year under his belt ā isnāt part of the famed furniture just yet.
Unlike his relatively fresh tenure at SMMCA, Davidās time with PaperCut MF throughout the years has been pretty extensive, and positive to boot.
āIāve been involved with PaperCut at various stages in my IT career, from initial setup to troubleshooting and upgradesā¦
āIn the six years Iāve used it, Iāve never had negative feedback from users on PaperCut itself ā I only hear about what goes wrong with the printers!ā
The goal
āI wasnāt here at the time, but my understanding is that SMMCA wanted to better manage printing and its associated costs.
āPrinting 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.ā
I know what youāre thinking: who could meet such printing goals for a prestigious institution like SMMCA? š
We love a good school crest ā 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.
āIn the past, Finance would get huge bills without knowing where the spend was coming fromā¦ There was a lot we couldnāt answer for.
āNow, we show them PaperCut MFās automated reports, and it answers their questions before theyāve even asked them. Theyāre invaluable to department faculty heads.ā
Itās also led to behavioral boons and resultant paper/money savings:
āUsers are aware their printingās being logged now, so they take more of a cautious approach.ā
A dream for IT techs…
āIt all works very well. The fact that itās web-based means we donāt have to load any softwareā¦ Each user has their own PaperCut MF client account, so itās really easy to manage from an IT perspective.ā
On top of being a breeze to set up on the technical front, David recalls how PaperCut MFās flexibility made it an easy sell from the get-go.
āBeing 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? Weāve had Davidās back there, too:
āIāve called to confirm upgrade details or get copies of the manuals ā which are excellent, by the way ā and the service is greatā¦ Things either get done at the time of the call, or a ticket gets logged and resolved quickly.ā
…and a user-friendly paradise for users
āI like that itās simple to use. For the copiers, users log in with their ID cards, then scan, copy, release prints, whatever else ā itās all really quick and easy.ā
On the specific feature end of things, David and the school body are huge fans of Secure Print Release:
āThe schoolās quite big, so users can print flexibly across different departments, which is great. Itās also beneficial in terms of confidentiality ā uncollected documents don’t just sit around on the printer anymore.ā
An A+ partnership
Six years of PaperCut, and it seems David isnāt sick of us just yet (phew).
āWould I recommend PaperCut? Definitely ā with no hesitation. Easy to implement, easy to use, easy to supportā¦ Itās just so easy.ā
