How one of the largest independent suppliers of managed print devices in Ireland improved performance through automation

Established in 1949 as the first typewriter seller in Ireland, Bryan S Ryan now serves over 2,000 customers.

Employing a dedicated and knowledgeable team, Bryan S Ryan works with businesses of all sizes, across both the public and private sector.

As well as supporting digital transformation projects and helping to improve workflow management, Bryan S Ryan provides vital security, information and print management solutions.

As the largest and most technically advanced supplier of managed print devices to Ireland’s corporate and SME sectors, Bryan S Ryan prides itself on helping customers better capture, organise and distribute documents and data.

Identifying and offering the best, tailor-made solutions is at the heart of everything Bryan S Ryan does as a business. However, as the number of customers increased, a reliance on multiple, disjointed systems started to hinder overall productivity.

It became apparent that managing service packages and billings separately was draining hours of staff time each month, with the team having to manually review two different systems and input meter reading data.

This was most apparent at month end, when three members of the team had to manually enter over 6,000 meter readings. Gaining an accurate overview of business performance was also becoming challenging.

It was becoming difficult to track machines that were supposed to have been returned and on the sales side was difficult to ensure service contracts were set up and signed ahead of deliveries.  While the team could see sales and return order slips, these weren’t connected to the Service package and this could result in confusion or delays both with contracts and also returns and in turn with correct billing dates.

Preparing for peaks and troughs in demand was virtually impossible and the systems that were previously in place struggled to cope during exceptionally busy periods.

Having implemented e-automate in April 2018 a number of benefits have been realised. The fact we switched from an on-premise solution to the cloud means that we now have access to the latest releases and upgrades. Previously, we were missing out on some enhancements as we lacked the internal resources to keep on top of this.

Moving to the cloud has also given us peace of mind when it comes to cyber security, as we know ECI is constantly investing in ensuring their solutions are secure.

With all information around orders, returns and collection calls linked to each customer’s account, any member of the team - whether that be sales or accounts - can quickly log in to find what they need. A full history of all devices, accounts and contracts is now all in one place.  Should they see that a machine has left the customer’s site, they can check the expected return date to ensure that everything is progressing as it should and contract details are up to date quickly.

Since implementing e-automate, the number of customer queries relating to bills and invoices has significantly decreased. This is not only important from a customer service perspective, but it has also freed-up the team to focus on my value-add activity rather than resolving simple administrative errors or oversights.

Despite Bryan S Ryan’s customer base growing year-on-year, e-automate has enabled the same number of support staff to cope with an increased workload. For example, two people continue to monitor incoming calls and messages, despite these volumes having increased substantially over the past few years.

More recently, Bryan S Ryan wanted to upgrade how it managed its team of busy field engineers and decided to implement the MobileTech software in 2023.

This added functionality means that technicians now arrive on-site fully equipped with all of the information they need.

From a board level, having all key business data in one place has improved reporting and enabled smarter decision making, as well as forward planning.

While I spend most of my time reviewing equipment and contracts, it’s also really easy for me to gather detailed information about other areas of the business - all within just a few clicks.

Those working on the service desk, responsible for tracking over 10,000 machines, can now access a real-time overview of machine status rather than relying on manual record keeping or having to navigate their way through complicated paper-trails.

For our field technicians, the ability to access everything they need via a smartphone or tablet has streamlined how they work day-to-day and removed the need for endless paperwork.