ACG New Zealand, as part of the global education organisation Inspired Education Group, is an education organisation with a growing presence across Asia Pacific. Their network of schools spans Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Indonesia, serving hundreds of thousands of students and staff members. 

With different operating brands, the organisation required a solution that could scale with their expanding operations while maintaining consistency across diverse locations.

The opportunity

ACG New Zealand was undertaking an extensive IT modernisation project across all their regions, including implementing a cloud-first strategy. As part of this, they identified that their existing print infrastructure needed updating.

"We were operating with an aging fleet of devices across multiple locations, which was becoming increasingly difficult to manage,” explained Simon Sutcliffe, Group IT Manager, at ACG Schools.

“As part of our cloud-first strategy, we needed a modern solution that could scale with our growth while remaining cost-effective. The challenge was finding a cloud solution that offered the same competitive educational pricing we were accustomed to with on-premise infrastructure.”

ACG New Zealand's existing print infrastructure relied on multiple servers across different locations, creating unnecessary complexity and increasing operational costs. Additionally, managing on-premise infrastructure across multiple time zones and countries presented unique IT administration and support challenges.

The solution

After evaluating multiple vendors, ACG New Zealand decided to implement Kyocera Cloud Print and Scan (KCPS) due to several key features that aligned perfectly with their requirements.

"What really set KCPS apart was its native cloud architecture. Unlike other solutions, KCPS offered true cloud functionality without relying heavily on third-party components.”

“The three-tier pricing structure also made absolute sense for our educational environment, so we only pay for what we use,” said Simon.

“The roadmap for multi-vendor support capabilities was also appealing, especially for our Indonesian operations where we needed to manage a mixed fleet of devices," he added. The Kyocera team worked closely with Inspired to develop custom features and implement the solution with minimal disruption to school operations.

"What impressed us most was Kyocera's commitment to evolution and improvement. When we needed specific functionality for student tracking, they built it into the design and delivered it within our timeframe,” said Simon.

The results

Implementing Kyocera Cloud Print & Scan has delivered significant benefits for ACG New Zealand. KCPS now successfully services thousands of staff members and students monthly, demonstrating its robust scalability and reliability.

"The transformation has been great. We've eliminated five print servers, reducing our infrastructure costs and complexity.

The user interface is straightforward, making it simple for staff and students to use, even with BYO devices. And the system's reliability has been outstanding—we're seeing our Kyocera technicians far less frequently than we did with our previous provider," Simon notes.

The successful implementation has also provided a strong base for ACG New Zealand's future growth and continued digital transformation. The cloud solution provides the flexibility and scalability needed to support their expanding operations while maintaining consistent performance across all locations.

“The capacity to handle high print volumes while maintaining performance has exceeded our expectations. Our principals' report increased reliability and user satisfaction across all our locations,” said Simon.