SOS Employment Group, Inc

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Case study

SOS Employment Group, Inc. HP MPS with MICR printing technology and supplies, simplifies payroll

Industry Business services Objective Streamline the cost and process of producing MICR character recognition technology for checks and other corporate documents Approach Manage print environment through HP Managed Print Services and deploy reliable HP LaserJet printers IT matters • Streamline process for producing MICR checks • Standardize on reliable management vendor Business matters • Saved $195,000+ annually in mailing costs • Realized ROI in less than two years with digital sending capabilities • Redirected staff time to value-added work • Ensured printer uptime • Eased supplies management

“With 136 sites nationwide—many in small, remote markets—we couldn’t imagine going back to a printservices vendor lacking the national reach of HP Managed Print Services.” – Kent Lewin, CIO, SOS Employment Group, Salt Lake City, Utah

SOS Employment Group is a leading provider of staffing, professional placement, engineering and technology, and re-employment services for thousands of clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies. With offices throughout the United States and Canada, SOS provides employment for temporary, full-time, contract and direct hire job seekers. To streamline its process for producing payroll checks and other corporate documents, SOS deployed an infrastructure of HP LaserJet printers. To manage this print infrastructure across its network of 136 branch offices—many of them in remote sites—SOS relies on HP Managed Print Services (MPS).

Case study | SOS Employment Group, Inc.

HP LaserJet MFPs cut mailing costs, increase efficiency, simplify payroll

As one of the top staffing firms in the U.S., SOS Employment Group prints 15,000 paychecks a week for its temporary associates, as well as another 600 paychecks bi-weekly for its own staff. The company was challenged to reduce the costs and time it took to produce those checks, and to streamline management of the infrastructure. In the old system, SOS would mail paper timecards from 125 branch offices to the invoicing department at the company’s Salt Lake City headquarters. At $15 a package, twice a week, 52 weeks a year, payroll costs were approaching $195,000 a year. In addition, the company would photocopy each timecard in case it got lost in the mail—a laborious and time-consuming process. Worse was the threat that if timecards were lost, associate checks might be delayed—something unacceptable to SOS and employees alike.

HP LaserJet MFPs streamline payroll process SOS solved the manual process problem by deploying HP LaserJet multifunction printers (MFPs) at each of its branch offices, which currently number 136 in 40 different states and Canada. Approximately half of SOS associates use paper timecards, which are now scanned at a local office and sent digitally to the invoicing department at corporate headquarters using HP Digital Sending Software (DSS). The digital process eliminates the time and cost of physical delivery, as well as the indirect cost of staff time spent photocopying timecards.

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“By eliminating the cost of mailing paper timecards, the MFPs paid for themselves in less than two years,” says Kent Lewin, CIO, SOS Employment Group. “We simply scan the timecards and send them to headquarters electronically.”

“The quarterly meeting with HP is one of the few vendor meetings I look forward to because we are able to find ways to improve and save the company money.” – Kent Lewin, CIO, SOS Employment Group

SOS prints approximately five million pages a year, roughly half at corporate headquarters; a majority of those by the accounting department. For its high-volume printing needs, the printer portfolio includes a standard set of high-volume LaserJet MFPs optimized to meet print capacity, and both color and monochrome-only printing. The primary print requirement for SOS is production of payroll checks using MICRenabled HP LaserJet MFPs. The MICR character-recognition technology is standard in the banking industry for financial transaction documents. MICR fonts—those block-shaped numbers and symbols that make up the account numbers on checks—are printed with a magnetic ink that must be accurately read during high-speed, automated document processing. The HP MICR solution produces

Case study | SOS Employment Group, Inc.

Customer at a glance Application General office and MICR check printing Hardware • HP LaserJet M4345 Multifunction Printer • HP LaserJet multifunction printer • HP LaserJet Enterprise printer • HP MICR Printing Solution Software • HP Digital Sending Software HP services • HP Managed Print Services HP supplies • Original HP Supplies

output that meets industry standards developed by the American National Standard Institute (ANSI), including requirements for MICR fonts and signal strength.

“HP printers are highly reliable,” Lewin says. “But, if HP service is called, the issue is typically resolved on the first visit—there’s no coming back another day with a necessary part”. Supplies levels are monitored remotely, alerting HP of replenishment needs often HP MPS reaches before employees are aware of the need. “We remote offices no longer think about toner,” Lewin says. “The branches typically receive it ahead of time and With an HP printer deployment in place to meet we at corporate headquarters don’t even have multiple corporate needs, SOS considered to get involved.” how to manage its print infrastructure. For a few years, SOS worked with a variety of local HP MPS provides SOS detailed quarterly and national vendors, but unequal levels of reports on device usage, and meets with the service led to device downtime and problems company quarterly to review the data in search with supplies management. A service of ongoing optimization opportunities. “The technician might arrive on time, but without quarterly meeting with HP is one of the few a necessary part, delaying repairs. A vendor vendor meetings I look forward to because might be good in one town but inadequate in we are able to find ways to improve and save another. SOS chose instead to select a single, the company money,” Lewin says. “We review highly expert print management vendor with if particular printers are over-utilized or national reach encompassing branches off the under-utilized, whether it might be more costbeaten path: HP MPS. “It was important to us efficient to replace them or move them.” SOS to have one phone number to call and not try saves money by equipping only the marketing to maintain different relationships all around department with color printers. “Our print the country,” Lewin says. “We wanted a single policy is simple: color is for customer-facing vendor to solve all of our problems, including documents only,” Lewin says. those in more remote areas like an oil field in Horseheads, New York.” “I can’t imagine going back to the old way of managing our print infrastructure with “Digitizing the payroll process multiple vendors,” Lewin says. “HP MPS has been consistently responsive, bringing us using HP LaserJet MFPs was reliable uptime, actionable data, easy supplies a very easy business decision. management and peace of mind that we’ve got every single one of our branch We could stop the madness offices covered under the umbrella of a single, outstanding provider.” of mailing paper timecards.” – Kent Lewin, CIO, SOS Employment Group

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© Copyright 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. 4AA4-6325ENW, April 2013