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Leading UK Property Management Firm Reduces Burden on IT Resources by Using One Device for Printing, Copying, Scanning, and Faxing
Paris, October 6, 2005 — Canon UK, the leader in digital imaging technology, and eCopy, Inc., a leading provider of solutions that integrate paper documents into enterprise software applications, today announced that Colliers CRE has implemented Canon Multifunctional Printers (MFPs) with eCopy software to incorporate high quality colour printing and simplify document imaging and distribution.
Colliers CRE is one of the UK's leading real estate advisory organisations. With a recent move to larger corporate headquarters, Colliers CRE felt the time was right to consolidate its office equipment and information technology by combining its single function print, copy, scan, and fax devices into one print management solution. The organization had a large number of individual printers, scanners, and fax machines, resulting in a support headache for the IT department and escalating costs that were hard to monitor and control.
Due to the nature of its business, Colliers CRE has a wide variety of documents that would benefit from high quality A3 format colour printing and scanning, including property details and plans, reports, contracts and, crucially, a large number of property photos. Previously, Colliers CRE scanned documents using various models and brands of individual desktop scanners across the organisation. This meant that scanners were generally attached to the desktop of an administrative assistant and, in order to use them, employees were constantly disrupting administrative workflow. Also, the use of multiple brands and models of scanners increased the complexity of user training and support. Additionally, differing software on each scanner resulted in images being saved in a variety of formats, some demanding excessive storage space.
Glen Mason, Office Marketing Manager, Canon UK commented, "The Canon/eCopy solution at Colliers CRE featured Canon Office Colour MFPs with eCopy ShareScan and eCopy Desktop software. Canon MFPs reduce the burden on IT support by providing a single print management solution to easily manage and control costs. With eCopy ScanStation, Colliers CRE has the ability to easily distribute and integrate documents into their business workflow. eCopy Desktop takes it one step more, giving users the ability to treat scanned images just as paper documents using their PCs, which could include marking up, highlighting, stamping, or signing documents."
Paul Saunders, IT Manager, Colliers CRE says, "When we discovered the scanning capabilities we could deploy using our new Canon iRs in conjunction with eCopy, we saw an opportunity to reduce the burden on scarce IT support by handling all our paper document processes with one device. With eCopy-enabled Canon IRS, we were able to benefit from a common user interface and a consistent work process. Training requirements became almost non-existent and support issues diminished significantly. Having a touch screen next to the MFD meant that people could scan documents quickly and easily without having to disturb others."
Colliers CRE has also used the Canon/eCopy solution to ensure that every member of its 675 staff across 14 offices can consistently scan to the correct electronic format, which enabled the company to better manage its file storage space. And with the use of eCopy Desktop's Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities, users can enhance and manipulate scanned images and convert them into editable text, enabling property photos to be integrated into marketing collateral quickly and easily, further enhancing operational productivity.
Saunders reports that the firm no-longer uses stand-alone scanners due to the ease of use of the eCopy solution. This has, in-turn, freed-up space for more productive uses such as accommodating business expansion. The headquarters installation of Canon/eCopy was so well-received that Colliers CRE is currently in the process of deploying the solution to all of its locations.
Canon is now in talks with Colliers CRE about introducing its new document accounting solution to enable the firm to have even greater control over print quantities and usage. The solution automatically routes print jobs to the most appropriate printer and notifies the user. This will ensure that Colliers CRE is making optimal use of its print fleet and users will have more productive printing and faster turnaround because the device automatically knows when to send large print jobs to higher production machines.
About Colliers CRE
Colliers CRE is one of the UK's top ten real estate advisory organisations. It employs over 700 people in 14 offices throughout the UK. Colliers CRE is an independent member of the worldwide Colliers International organisation, which has over 9,000 staff based in 248 offices in 51 countries.
About Canon
About Canon (UK) Limited. Canon is a world-leading innovator and provider of imaging and information technology solutions for the home and office environments. Canon has a global philosophy of Kyosei - living and working together for the common good, which clearly demonstrates commitment to customers, staff and the environment shared by all. Canon (UK) Ltd is the UK marketing and sales operation for the US$24 billion global company based in Tokyo, Japan. In the UK Canon employs over 2,000 people in various locations including Ireland and has achieved sales of £505m in 2002. Canon (UK) LTD's main activity is in two clearly defined markets: Business Solutions (IT network consultation and peripherals: photocopiers, printers, faxes, document scanners and multimedia LCD projectors) and Consumer Imaging (input solutions: film and digital cameras, camcorders, binoculars and scanners; and output solutions: Bubble Jet printers and desktop multifunctionals). Visit www.canon.co.uk to find out more information
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