So September has come around again and the kids have all gone back to school; and whether you’re a frazzled parent who is thanking God that this day has finally come or a harassed commuter who is rueing the return of the morning traffic jams, the academic calendar rolls on regardless. And of course, for teachers and other school employees, it means the end of that lovely long summer break and a return to the school routine and all that entails.
But it doesn’t have to be completely hopeless; the start of a new academic year is actually the perfect opportunity for new beginnings, a chance to clear out the old and ring in the changes along with that school bell. So why not take this chance to have a look at your office management systems to see what’s out of date, what you could easily improve and where you could save that already stretched school budget a small fortune?!
The Paper Curse of Schools
If there’s one thing we at North West Digital remember from our kids being at school, it’s that there is a lot of paper involved. A lot. And that’s just the small rainforest they used to bring home crushed in their school bags every day. Between the classroom, the school office and all those missives home, the burden of paper for your average school is enormous and, if not handled efficiently, could swallow a significant portion of your school budget.
In the past, people have floated various ideas to help schools reduce their paper burden, but they’re not always practical or even realistic. For example, the prediction that schools will soon be completely paperless thanks to the advances in modern technology has long been bandied about but the theory and reality are actually two very different things. For one thing, the cost of implementing such changes – such as providing every student with their own personal computer tablet – is prohibitively expensive for most ordinary schools, so the paperless ideal is either a non-starter or a long way off in the future.
Practical Solutions From NWD
Instead, schools need practical solutions that can help them to reduce the paper burden and make what remains much more cost effective, rather than lofty ideals that will never get off the ground.
That’s where NWD comes in. We’ve got many years’ experience of working with schools in and around the Manchester area, whether they be primary, secondary or even further and higher educational establishments, so we’ve got one or two tricks up our sleeves that can help make that paper burden a little lighter.
Super-Efficient Devices
In terms of the hardware, our state-of-the-art machines are super-efficient, so could make all those printing, copying, scanning and faxing jobs that much easier. Whether you need to print out multi-paged worksheets for an entire class or photocopy hundreds of mock exam papers for the whole year, our machines have the functions you need to do it quickly and cheaply, thereby making the task that much more efficient and your time that much more productive.
Plus, there are a myriad of other ways that our devices could save you a fortune, whether that be through a reduction in energy use thanks to their energy efficiency ratings or a reduction in the use of consumables thanks to their ink and paper saving features. This means that not only do your costs decrease but your carbon footprint does too, a fact that could earn your school extra brownie points with today’s environmentally savvy students.
Software That Saves The Day
In addition to our great money-saving devices, NWD are also able to provide your school with some revolutionary pieces of software that could further assist in reducing costs and making the lives of your staff that bit easier.
With Filestar, you could finally make a move to throwing away all those cumbersome filing cabinets by storing your documents electronically in the cloud. Schools in particular have a vast quantity of records to keep, not just in terms of student demographics but also in terms of exam records, health and safety reports, and academic files, not to mention all the administrative work that must be kept on file, so it makes sense to create one central, organised system of record keeping that can be easily accessed by all. Filestar is just that system and it could not only save you a fortune, but could save your staff a lot of time too.
Similarly, Papercut is a nifty bit of software that instantly makes all your printing, copying and scanning accountable and could help you save hundreds of pounds each year on the overall costs. Papercut is particularly useful in a school setting, where staff are often printing documents across several locations and from several devices, not to mention students too, as it helps you to instantly keep track of who’s printing what and where. Moreover, Papercut allows you to set limits of what can be printed by whom, so you can instantly take back control of runaway print costs and ensure only the necessary documents are being printed or copied.
Let NWD Assess Your School Today
All in all, when these several elements of innovative hardware and software are combined, you would literally be amazed by the overnight difference it could make to your school’s spending.
If you’d like to find out more, then why not get in touch with one of our friendly team today for a free no obligation chat? We’ll come to your school and carry out a full assessment of your current usage, to see what systems would be best implemented where to make sure you get the maximum amount of savings for the minimum outlay. And we won’t sell you things just for the sake of it either, our qualified and experienced staff will draw up a tailored solution for you that fits your needs, not ours.
Get In Touch
So to find out just how much money NWD could save your school this academic year, and to put you in the good books with the rest of the teachers and school governors, then give us a ring today and arrange your free, no obligation consultation.
You can contact us in any of the following ways; by email at info@, by phone on 0161 477 8950 or simply by completing the contact form on the website for one of our friendly team to get back to you.