CIRFOOD: a responsive and tailored service dedicated to the world of HP printers

CIRFOOD manages more than 1,000 production premises every day for a total of about 800 printers located throughout the country; machines that are partly purchased, partly rented on a cost-per-copy basis with multiple resellers and different deadlines. This inhomogeneity was creating inefficiencies and cost dispersion and gave rise to the need to bring together the management of the entire HP fleet of machines related to printing under a single supplier capable of guaranteeing all the necessary support, from installation to technical consulting to collateral services. For catering services (school canteens, company canteens, and sociomedical services) CIRFOOD needed to activate, deactivate, or dislocate the establishments and their printers as needed; therefore, the company needed to use a flexible contract that would follow the progress of the contracts over a 5-year period, a period in which the use of about 1,000 printer machines was estimated.

CIRFOOD has found in Var Group and its internal division that deals with the management of printing services and document software, a technological partner that integrates skills and solutions, ensuring flexible and responsive printer management, but also other types of needs such as help desk service, cash registers or POS. By providing total coverage of the company's IT needs and guaranteeing additional services such as help desk usually not provided by competitors, Var Group has enabled CIRFOOD to relieve three resources from the IT department by reallocating them to more strategic activities and to have a single qualified contact person with whom to deal with all critical IT issues.

For dynamic management of all the hardware, Var Group has proposed a roll out plan, namely the replacement of printers in use, and for the related service the opening of an OpenBox every six months: having to install or replace printers unpredictably from the north to the south of Italy, this solution provides a ceiling that covers all possible requests without having to open a single file each time, saving time and simplifying procedures. At the end of six months, all installed printers are counted on which to start the lease. This is an articulated and comprehensive service that also includes the storage of the printers in a special warehouse reserved only for CIRFOOD; the dedicated warehouse makes it possible to have the machines immediately available (configured according to requirements and repacked thanks to the additional staging service taken care of by Var Group technicians) and a shipping service through a specialized courier so that an installation can be carried out in just three days. The company has chosen to lighten the internal management of technical support to users and employees by also purchasing the help desk service: a key point of reference for the thousands of employees who work in the canteens and who every day report problems of various kinds, from the malfunction of badges or prepaid cards, to failures of tablets or cash registers, or problems related to software.

With Var Group's advice and support, CIRFOOD can now invest more time and resources in innovation-oriented research and development projects, elevating its business to a more global vision.