(Editor’s note: With the World Series just days away, I thought it would be interesting to publish the following case study from Sharp, illustrating how Sharp scored a big win with the Cincinnati Reds, a team that’s waiting until next year.)

The Cincinnati Reds is a fast-paced organization, especially during baseball season. This Major League team was spending time and resources on unreliable office equipment, when its sheer focus should have been to ensure the franchise wins on and off the field. A vendor change was imminent when service calls and on-site technicians became the norm and downtime was hindering productivity. The Reds met with Sharp Business Systems (SBS) to discuss everything from MFPs and MPS to professional displays and TVs. SBS was invited to perform a behind-the-scenes study of the headquarters, Great American Ball Park and ball park conference center. The three-month study uncovered that the team was using a variety of MFPs and printers from several manufacturers, a few mismanaged devices and almost 117,000 unaccounted monthly print outs. The staff was performing a cumbersome 10-step process posted on the wall above the MFPs and sending mock print jobs in the morning to get copiers warmed up for later use. In addition, the team’s accounts payable department was juggling invoices from different vendors for equipment, service and supplies. And, TVs were being used in place of professional displays in the conference center.

Business Technology Solutions

The Reds accepted SBS’s recommendation for a total technology refresh. The entire print fleet was right-sized, including equipment in the spring training facility in Arizona, by consolidating six printers to one Sharp MFP and replacing all outdated, high-cost copiers with Sharp MFPs. The staff likes the consistent user interface, ease-of-use and fast warm-up times. Additionally, IT can effortlessly clone MFPs and troubleshoot devices remotely by using the Sharp remote front panel. The media relations department is fully operational on game days, so a high-volume production Sharp MFP was installed to produce thousands of media kits and game day materials, and an SBS technician is on-site to ensure smooth operation during the playoffs. Sharp OSA® Technology and Active Directory® integration allows the staff to scan-to-email or scan-to-folder directly from the MFP. With the Sharpdesk® Mobile application, employees can now print to any networked Sharp MFP using smart phones and tablets. The Reds also adopted an MPS program to let SBS manage the service maintenance, parts and toner for its 38 desktop printers.

Today, when baseball fans enter the Great American Ballpark, they are greeted with a high-definition 3X3 video wall made up of (9) Sharp 60” class ultra-slim bezel monitors. Companies that host events at the ball park’s newly named “Sharp Business Systems Conference Center” use a high-speed color Sharp MFP, AQUOS BOARDTM interactive display system and AQUOS® TVs. The AQUOS BOARD is also used for Reds executive meetings and game days; and when it’s not being utilized, it doubles as a professional display to promote conference center services.

The Reds video wall depends on Sharp technology.

The Reds Video Wall, courtesy of Sharp Business Systems.

Proven Results

“Our decision to team with SBS came down to the integrity of the Sharp brand, the breadth of technology available through SBS and the responsiveness of our account representative. SBS is a treat to work with and has bought a lot of value to our organization. We were intrigued that SBS has a variety of technologies we could use across other areas of our business. We didn’t have to seek out another vendor for professional displays, since SBS offers them,” said Brian Keys, vice president of technology for the Cincinnati Reds.

The reliability and user-intuitiveness of the Sharp MFPs eliminated redundancies like the “10-step process” and everyday service issues. The MPS program eliminated the time-consuming act of juggling invoices by merging service, toner and parts to one vendor. SBS was able to reduce the monthly equipment service cost by approximately $260. The AQUOS BOARD interactive display is a hit among Reds executives and conference center clients because it offers an innovative way to present ideas in front of their audience.

“SBS is proud to be the ‘Official Document Provider’ and a sponsor of the Cincinnati Reds,” expressed Steve Orander, branch president of Sharp Business Systems Indiana/Ohio. “Our relationship with the Reds encapsulates the power that only Sharp can bring to our clients. The power of a total solution that is well designed based on analytics and technology.”

Overview

Challenges

Downtime was slowing productivity
Outdated office equipment from several manufacturers
Unaccounted prints
Multiple invoices for equipment, service and supplies
TVs used in place of professional displays

Solutions

Consolidated printers
Replaced outdated MFPs with Sharp devices
High-volume production MFP in the media relations department
Scan-to-email and scan-to-folder functionality
Sharpdesk Mobile printing application
Managed Print Services
Sharp video wall at the ballpark entrance
High-speed color Sharp MFP, AQUOS BOARDTM and AQUOS TVs in the conference center

Results