Case Study: Florida International University

FIU masters campus printing and mail services with Ricoh's help

About Florida International University

Located in sunny South Florida, Florida International University is one of the largest universities in the nation with a student body of nearly 54,000. FIU is classified as a high-ranking doctoral/research university, and its athletics program is part of the NCAA Division I conference.

"We wanted a more professional environment with stocked merchandise, more services, quick turnaround and an overall positive experience. That’s what we got. I have nothing but praise for Ricoh."
Jeff Krablin
Former Associate Vice President of Business Services
Florida International University

Challenge

Ricoh mail and printing store at Florida International University

Florida International University (FIU) was falling short on providing printing and mailing services that adequately reflected its status as a high-ranking doctoral / research university. The current campus featured two document centers with limited offerings, no outbound mailing / shipping services, and dated, uninviting locations that ran counter to FIU's distinctive identity. Even worse, jobs were often delivered late and / or incorrect — leading students, faculty and staff to go off campus for the professional results they needed.

The university turned to Ricoh to overhaul and manage its underperforming and uninviting retail printing and mailing centers, and replace its underwhelming student and guest MFP fleet with an exemplary, campus-wide mobile printing solution.

Solution

While our competitors did a high-level overview of FIU's print fleet operations, we went a step further.

We observed daytime operations to identify key flaws in their operations, and we also talked with faculty, staff and students to learn more about their specific concerns.

In just two weeks before the start of the spring semester, our team gutted the document centers and turned them into eye-catching, retail-quality copy, print, pack and ship centers.

Knowing faculty, staff and students are often on the go and need to be able to print on the fly, we integrated the PrintMe app, which allows individuals to send their print jobs to the print centers — anywhere, anytime, from any device. When they get to the center, they simply enter a code at the MFP and retrieve their printed job.

Other services were incorporated into the centers’ offerings, including poster printing, banner printing and a variety of binding options. We also fully stocked the centers with shipping supplies so students could mail packages right on campus.

Results

With the print and mail centers and self-serve printers in place, FIU now has a copy, print, pack and ship center that reflects its innovative brand.

Use of the centers and the self-serve printers has climbed since we took control, serving nearly 60,000 visitors in 2014. Overall, revenue has also increased 36%, and FIU’s share of that revenue has increased 176%. FIU and Ricoh are about to roll out new online submission technology to make print jobs even easier to send to the centers or the remote student and guest self-serve printers.

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