A classical office situation
Wijnand Brosius, in charge of Corporate Facilities & Services, paints a fairly sober picture of the old situation, a classical situation in many respects: ‘Documents were printed on fifty to sixty printers, colour and black-and-white. When necessary, copies were made on decentralised, analog copiers. For longer runs, centralised repro came into play; longer runs in colour were outsourced. The messenger service took care of distribution, but the employees also did a lot of the running about themselves.’ The move to the new situation took place in a renovation exercise lasting eight months. Primarily in terms of office layout, but also incidentally in terms of cabling and network configuration. Not only the many desktop printers, but also the analog stand-alone copiers in the corridors were replaced with smart multifunctional machines incorporated in the network. The centralised repro, which can now also be accessed via the network, was fitted with digital high-volume black-and-white systems. Colour was completely repatriated from the decentralised domain and addressed centrally with management in-house.

 

Objectives
Neither Brosius nor Hans Rijnberg, General Secretary of NIBCapital, has any difficulty in linking specific objectives to development of the new situation. ‘The main goal was to improve the document workflow and its efficiency, that much is clear’, they explain. ‘In addition, there was a lot of room for improvement of the print quality, mainly because the already rather elderly analog equipment was also fairly limited in functional terms. That was connected with the serviceability of the system as a whole—something that also caused problems with so many different printers—so that we were not really in a position to guarantee constant quality. And then cost reduction, obviously. And lastly, at least as important, user-friendliness. People are unwilling to change to the unfamiliar and we therefore had to expect a certain amount of scepticism. But seeing is believing. Userfriendliness is therefore an important condition that the new situation had to meet. With good training and support, of course.’

The fit with business strategy
NIBCapital’s 2003 report (February 2004) notes in at least two places an element in the business strategy which is developed in the newly installed document strategy. To start with, an improved efficiency ratio is signalled. NIBCapital is working consciously on this ratio: with a cost reduction of 20 to 25% in document supply, the investments are therefore a mirror image of the business strategy.

More interesting is the way the newly installed colour systems fit in with the business strategy. NIBCapital has explicitly formulated a strategy of wanting to be less dependent on interest and to generate a greater return from commissions and fees from financial services. Services have to be ‘sold’, and selling services presupposes presentations. In turn, presentations in 2004 imply colour documents. And colour documents require a different level of guarantees with regard to house style, (constant) quality, readiness for action and flexibility. NIBCapital already had colour in the old situation. After all, some of the desktop printers were colour printers. However, these printers were unable to live up to the above-mentioned guarantees. With the installation of an Océ CPS700 for larger runs and an Océ CS125 for more specific, straightforward colour productions, NIBCapital has brought the use of colour in presentations up to a higher level of manageability and consistancy. Outsourcing is now a rarity.

Why Océ
When Brosius explains why he has chosen Océ, he puts forward arguments which could have been advanced ten and more years ago. Océ systems are very user-friendly, unlikely to break down and require little maintenance. Océ itself is a reliable partner, lives up to its commitments and is just as dependable when it comes to performing whatever maintenance is needed. Clearly, the move from analog to digital, from black-and-white to colour and from monofunctional to multifunctional has changed nothing in this respect.

 

‘If I list the reasons why we are satisfied with this Océ solution, it sounds like fairly general statements’, both Brosius and Rijnberg say. ‘The costs are lower and more manageable. Quality and service provision have improved. The rapidity and the service level have got better. It all sounds so general. But it means that we are genuinely satisfied.’

Future outlook
A project for further digitalisation of the document flow and its management is started. This involves document processing and archiving. Océ proved to have a solid and professional office programme to deliver all these values including significant cost reductions.