It's not easy to manage all the many technology systems needed to keep a school running, and it's even harder to handle this in an efficient and cost-effective manner. This is where Brother can help teachers and administrators get the most out of their printers and multi-function devices..
Staying within strictly controlled school budgets requires the efficient use of technology and consumables. This applies to a surprisingly wide range of processes at schools as modern printing solutions aren't just about printing documents. From enhancing secure visitor management to improving document capture and management workflows, schools will discover many ways to improve their efficiency, security and sustainability.
Schools can see benefits including:
- Less downtime, which in turn boosts productivity
- Greater security for pupil and staff information
- Reduced expenditures on consumables such as paper and toner
- Increased sustainability through efficiency and recycling
- Greater visibility into device usage and costs
- Secure management of external visitors to the school
The following are a few of the specific ways schools can achieve these advantages:
Smart Deployment
Every room in a school needs different devices - from affordable, high-volume printers in dedicated printing rooms to networked scanners in school libraries and small-footprint printers and multi-function devices for classrooms - and there are distinct advantages to matching an appropriate device to every room:
- Security for print jobs such as report cards or test answers with pull printing: Faculty use a PIN number or ID card to access their secure documents
- Cost savings from matching the right device to each room, with monochrome printers in classrooms, a mix of monochrome and colour printers in computer labs and full-colour multi-function devices in libraries
- Connectivity to ensure all print jobs are visible and controllable via customised rules governing configurations and settings
Managed Print Services
With a Managed Print Services solution, school administrators gain greater control over their printing and general document workflows. The visibility afforded by Managed Print Services allows staff members to carefully shape all aspects of printing, from giving students a limited number of printing credits, to additional benefits such as:
- Greater visibility into security around and control over print usage, allowing administrators to set per-student printing limits and preventing mistakenly large print jobs and cost recovery
- Reduced downtime due to effective service and management for every device in the fleet, from large printers and copiers to individual classrooms' desktop devices, as well as reliable consumable delivery
- Customised solution that fits schools' requirements regarding hardware, support, visibility and device management
Student Scanning Solutions
Today's students don't just work with physical documents or digital files; they have to be able to seamlessly move information between these two formats. Scanners and multi-function devices are necessary pieces of educational information technology, especially in school libraries where pupils need a way to quickly store information they've found in books and other reference materials. The possibilities with these systems include:
- A seamless document management solution combining scanners with student information management systems
- The use of advanced scanners and multi-function devices enabling students to send scanned documents to themselves without using a PC
- Reduced administration time and greater security throughout the school with effective digitisation of documents
Visitor Management
Keeping schools secure means controlling the guests who visit the premises. A modern digitally enabled visitor management system is more efficient and effective than a pen-and-paper guestbook system, delivering an improved workflow and tighter security. Combining networked software with a reliable label printer for instant badge creation, these systems have several benefits including:
- Reduced administrative work and risk of human error, as visitor details are immediately logged and stored in a digital database that can be shared with authorities for compliance purposes
- The ability to check visitor information against criminal databases to make sure guests are permitted to be on school premises
- Immediate badge creation, with features such as barcodes or visitor photos to ensure visitors are properly accounted for during their time in the school
Label Printing
Label printers are versatile and useful additions to the school technology landscape. In addition to potential use at the front desk as part of a visitor management system - creating badges that can immediately stick onto guests' clothes - there are other valuable use cases for labels in your school:
- A way for the IT staff to quickly and easily tag school devices, such as computers or cables, to ensure they're returned to their proper locations after use
- An easy barcoding method for books in the school library, even allowing librarians to use colour-coded labels
- A quick, portable tool administrators or teachers can use to print address labels, student IT wristbands for trips or documents in their files
Focus on Budgeting, Security and Sustainability
Your customised experience with print solutions for education should advance your institution's specific goals. This can involve some of the most urgent priorities for schools today, including cost control, security and environmental sustainability.
Cost control advantages include:
- Harnessing efficient features of printers and maximising toner usage to cut consumable expenses
- Improving visibility into potential sources of expense while lowering costly downtime
Security upgrades may come from the following:
- Encryption in document management and network transfers to ensure files are safe in transmission
- Authentication features and password protection both at the point of printing and scanning and when documents are in storage
Sustainability benefits of modern printing approaches consist of:
- Smarter paper, toner and power usage through the printer's eco-friendly features
- Recycling for toner cartridges through programs such as Cartridges 4 Planet Ark
Visit our Resource Library for more details on how schools can benefit from improved printing services, as well as examples from organisations that have already seen the advantages.