Singapore
Singapore
Founded in 1956, the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) is the oldest not-for-profit professional institute in Singapore. Its main campus along Stirling Road is home to classrooms, life sciences and computer laboratories, a hospitality training centre, a full facility mass communications studio, an engineering laboratory and workshop, as well as a fashion studio. Attending classes at these facilities are more than 10,000 students who hail from 82 countries from across the world.
And, like every other institution of its kind, MDIS deals with more than a handful of paperwork on a day-to-day basis. The Central Registry and Student Care and Administration departments, for example, are in charge of everything from student contracts to student-related administrative matters. The Examination Unit, as the name suggests, handles all the examination papers for the students throughout the year. It is natural, then, that each department has high-volume printing requirements.
According to Mr Go Keng Ho, MDIS Head of Property Department, two different brands of multifunctional copiers were initially purchased to meet the institution’s printing needs. Even though this seemed a viable solution then, it did not last very long.
For one, different brands and models have different types of toners and drivers. Keeping track of all of them, according to Keng Ho, was quite a challenge to say the very least. Furthermore, there were simply too many machines on site, and most of them were often underutilised by members of the staff.
Perhaps a greater concern for Keng Ho was the fact that documents were often left uncollected — even those with confidential information. Such lapses aside, Keng Ho felt that it was near impossible to track print volumes across different systems.
Individually, these issues may seem inconsequential. However, when a department is expected to keep track of the affairs of the student body, it becomes imperative for the administration to iron out these pesky kinks.
The first thing Keng Ho’s department did was to settle for a single brand of multifunctional printers at MDIS. For that, they chose Canon — a simple enough decision according to Keng Ho, “Canon’s products are well known in the market and is a reliable brand to many. It is also user-friendly, making it easier for consumers to use with much ease and convenience.”
Managing the toners, too, became a problem of the past. “The e-maintenance service that Canon offers saves the hassle of making phone calls to order toner replacements. [The system] automatically prompts Canon when the toners are almost depleted,” Keng Ho explained.
Furthermore, Canon’s printers closed a major security loop at MDIS’ offices. Previously, queued print jobs could be printed by just about anybody with access to the printer. Canon’s printers, on the other hand, allow authorised personnel to set passwords specifically to sensitive documents. This prevents student information and examination papers from falling into the wrong hands.
What convinced Keng Ho and his team to make the switch to Canon, however, was the customer service excellence, “[It] served as one of the key deciding factors when choosing vendors. Over the years, Canon has provided excellent service [in terms of] responding to our service requests, thereby reducing our downtime tremendously.”
The transition process, according to Keng Ho, was also a breeze. For one, Canon’s representative conducted a full site review, which helped to rectify some of the printing issues from the get-go. For example, the staff-to-printer ratio was assessed to optimise printer utilisation, and the number of models, too, was reduced in order to better track toner usage.
The quality of service is just as important as the quality of products. And service is one factor that can make a huge difference— that is a statement that we proudly stand by.