Case Study: Philadelphia Eagles
Ricoh teams with the Philadelphia Eagles to turn information into advantage — from the front office to the gridiron
About the customer
The Philadelphia Eagles made their NFL debut in 1933 when the country was edging out of the Great Depression. The Eagle — the symbol of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program — seemed like the perfect fit for a new, hopeful professional football team. During its nearly 100-year history, the Philadelphia Eagles have won three NFL Championships, played in two Super Bowls and emerged the victor in Super Bowl LII in 2018. While the Eagles’ brand is a powerhouse, the organization operates with just 200 team members behind the scenes.
“Over the years, the Eagles have evolved from a football team to an entertainment company. Ricoh has evolved from a printer and copier company to a digital services company. While constantly evolving is necessary, both companies’ values have remained strong. There's a reason why we've been partners for 13 years … it speaks volumes.”
Brian Napoli
Senior VP of Corporate Partnerships
Philadelphia Eagles
Challenge
Predominantly manual and paper-based workflows for invoice processing
Need for reliable, uncomplicated, secured printing and tracking
High cost of in-house production color printing
Mission to improve environmental sustainability
Need for dependable partner for service, support and solutions
Desire to optimize workflows, improve processes and leverage new technology
Operating a successful NFL franchise is a running game. During football season, hundreds of people from the corporate office to the field are in perpetual motion to make sure everything plays out just the way it should on game day.
The Eagles were looking to turn information into advantage — on the field and in the office. The manual AP workflows for processing 6-7K quarterly invoices were slow and labour intensive. Approximately 85% of all invoices came in via email, which initiated a slew of inefficient steps to process and gain approvals. The accounting team would print invoices, then upload information into the invoice processing platform, and scan pertinent documents to store on a shared drive.
Coaches and staff needed reliable and fast printing and tracking on game days and beyond. The cost of outsourced production colour printing was growing to meet fan, ticket holder and corporate sponsor expectations for high-end promotional and informational materials. The press needed information like stat sheets in hand within minutes of a quarter's end for accurate, timely coverage.
Sustainability was also front and centre for the Eagles and any new initiatives needed to align with their decades- long Eagles Go Green Program. When it came to printing, the Eagles were seeking controls to reduce paper output on MFPs. Service issues with their mixed output printing fleet lacked dependable troubleshooting and readily available parts. Staff routinely had to wait two to three days for a part, rendering the device inoperable.
Overall, the Eagles organization wanted to optimize its workflows, improve processes and leverage new technology to make better use of information. Ricoh had already been providing MFPs to the organization for years when the opportunity arose to take over the fleet and provide Managed Print Services. Our systems outperformed other vendors' devices installed in the stadium and corporate office, and we stepped up to devise a winning strategy to take the Eagles information management practices from good to great.
Solution
“We’ve been able to shift a lot of the time spent on tedious tasks to higher value work, saving us time and money. Our employees see the value of DocuWare every single day and having Ricoh as our digital services partner all these years has been truly priceless.”
Kathleen Rosi
Finance Operations
Philadelphia Eagles
Implemented DocuWare for invoice processing
Analyzed and right-sized with Ricoh Managed Print Services, installed reliable Ricoh MFPs and production printer
Assigned a dedicated Ricoh service technician
Installed Ricoh @Remote for remote management of printers and other digital devices
Implemented interactive whiteboards and other workspace enabling technology
Recommended innovative waterproof paper solution to produce sideline play cards
Our team analyzed, right-sized and installed a fleet of new Ricoh MFPs and a colour production printer. A dedicated Ricoh technician was assigned to oversee the fleet. We also installed Ricoh @Remote for remote print management and device monitoring to keep the fleet up and running.
With this innovative support service, devices can be serviced rapidly and shorten downtime in the event of a breakdown. To align with the Eagles organization's green initiatives, we enforced print behaviors like black-and- white and duplex printing.
We implemented interactive whiteboards and other workstyle innovation tools for team meetings between players and coaches and training. We also devised a way to make the team's sideline play cards without the extra step of lamination. To do this, we used thick waterproof paper stock for colour production printing that can withstand the seasonal elements of rain, sleet and snow. The production printer is also used to create high-end marketing materials and other core print pieces in-house.
Most recently, Ricoh and the Eagles organization teamed up for a widespread "co-innovation" partnership. Since the organization's invoice processing workflow was almost entirely manual, we gathered stakeholder input and conducted a successful pilot program with DocuWare for invoice processing. The solution involved automating steps in the AP process and integrating DocuWare with the organization's existing AP system.
“Most of our invoices came in the mail or through email and had to be manually uploaded to our invoice processing platform which made document storage and retrieval tough. DocuWare has made my job much easier and freed up time so I can focus on more important things other than tedious tasks like filing paperwork and data entry,” said Kathleen Rosi, Finance Operations Manager.
With DocuWare, invoices are now sent to the AP Manager’s email address and automatically uploaded to the system. Documents are safely stored and routed to team members to quickly obtain approvals.
Results
Saving nearly 55,000 sheets of paper per month, the equivalent of 19.2 trees annually
More reliable devices with plans to grow with Ricoh technology
Solutions to further reduce costs and environmental impact
Enhanced fan engagement
Enhanced operational efficiency and workflow automation by integrating DocuWare with existing AP software
Overall, the Eagles organization has a much more reliable fleet of print devices, and they plan to expand on these capabilities with additional Ricoh technology. DocuWare and Ricoh’s printing solutions have reduced costs for the organization as well as enabled tracking for environmental sustainability progress such as duplex printing and energy savings. In fact, in just one month, the Eagles organization saves nearly 55,000 sheets of paper. Over a year's time, this adds up to 19.2 trees saved! Ricoh is proud to be a strategic partner in sustainability through their Go Green initiative which aims to reduce the organization’s environmental footprint.
Fan and stakeholder engagement has also improved with high-quality production printing onsite. This capability has enabled the Eagles organization to reduce costs since it no longer relies on outsourced printing.
Ricoh's seamless integration of the DocuWare workflow solution with the Eagles' AP system enables the organization to process its invoices with greater speed and accuracy. Invoices are easily converted from emails into DocuWare and approved faster than ever before. During regular audits, it is now much simpler and quicker to find and pull invoices from DocuWare instead of sifting through masses of paper. The accounting team’s time is no longer wasted on printing, scanning and storing information via manual processes.
Ricoh’s award-winning DocuWare is recognized as one of the best cloud and on-premises document management solutions on the market. It has helped over 15,000 customers, 650,000 users across 100 countries go paperless, and simplify work by digitizing, automating and transforming key processes. Learn more about DocuWare and how it can help your business keep information flowing.