As of January 1, ITS is no longer in the printing business.
ITS transferred its legacy printing service, which ITS or its predecessor entities had provided for more than half a century, over to UNC Print Stop. The campus’ leading print operator, the Print Stop provides printing and copying services for students, faculty, staff and departments. It is a unit within Finance and Operations’ Campus Enterprises group.
“The end of an era has occurred,” said John Mack, Assistant Vice Chancellor, ITS Infrastructure & Operations.
Printing is no longer a core function for ITS as it sets its strategic sights on operational expertise in delivering cloud services.
Customers in good hands
Through a partnership with the Print Stop, ITS knew it could trust that its customers would receive the same high-quality service, flexibility and fast turnaround they had enjoyed as well as better options for their printing needs.
In 2019, ITS and the Print Stop agreed to start down the path toward the Print Stop taking over ITS’ print operations. In April 2019, the Print Stop assumed management oversight of the ITS printing operation, including check printing, 1099s, W-2s and basic printing services. The plan was for the Print Stop to take full ownership of ITS’ print operations a year later, in April 2020.
By fall 2019, ITS and the Print Stop decided they would move up that permanent transfer of operations — the Print Stop would assume ownership of ITS’ print operations and officially launch Print Stop Franklin on West Franklin Street on January 1, 2020.
In preparation, the Print Stop rolled new equipment into the print room in the basement of ITS Franklin and IP addresses for the infrastructure were changed. The Print Stop continued to reimagine the print operations.
Smooth changeover
“Partnership was the key word in this opportunity,” said Chuck Sockell, Associate Director, Auxiliary Services. His responsibilities include overseeing the Print Stop. “Over the past few months working with the ITS staff and meeting together with the campus community about this transition made it virtually seamless.”
Two ITS staff positions — one of which was vacant — transferred to the Print Stop. ITS’ Debbie Page, who has worked with the printing operation for 21 years, remains with ITS and now serves as a consultant to the Print Stop.
Over a day and a half in mid-January, the Print Stop’s Stan Carter and Page were busy in the Franklin print room, collaborating on a big project — printing and preparing to mail 21,762 W-2s for the University.
“Having the legacy ITS print employees being integrated into our operation is a huge bonus,” Sockell said. “This additional Print Stop Franklin location will enable us to grow our in-house capabilities and offer more options and value to the campus overall.”