Allens Arthur Robinson extends managed print contract

Law firm Allens Arthur Robinson has extended a long-standing managed print services contract with HP, and plans to replace its current printer installation over the next three years after using the technology to drive staff to shift towards online documents.

Gwenyth Taylor, technology services projects manager for Allens Arthur Robinson, said that moving to a managed print platform and increasing access to scanners had helped shift the paper-heavy legal profession towards making more use of electronic documents.

"This has given us a tremendous boost in terms of e-filing. More than half of our matters we now consider the online file to be the default file," Taylor said during the HP Innovation Summit event in Singapore.

Allens will replace its existing printing devices across its 15 regional offices over the next three years, with about 30 percent of devices switched over each year, Taylor said.

"We're now going through a complete refresh."

Allens first signed up for the managed print service in 2005, and has replaced 408 individual printers in its regional offices with 206 multi-function devices.

It has reduced its volume of printing per year from 61 million pages to 24 million over that time, a shift which has saved it $3 million purely in basic printing costs, Taylor said.

Printer-related issues now account for 3 percent of help desk calls, compared to an industry average of 30 percent.

The trickiest part of the transition was convincing partners that they didn't need their own personal printer, Taylor said.

"Important people often feel they need a small printer next to them, but we got engagement from the top, which is always the best way to do it." 

Disclosure: Angus Kidman travelled to Singapore as a guest of HP.