Switching to iPads saves Vancouver City Council 50K pages a year
The city of Vancouver, Wash., has seen substantial savings since switching to Apple's iPad for City Council meetings and expects to save as many as 50,000 pages of printing per year.
Vancouver began its paperless City Council test . After two months, the transition to iPads has brought about a 40 percent reduction in the amount of pages printed for meetings.
The city has tested Apple's touchscreen tablet as a replacement for meeting packets at council meetings, orientation sessions, a retreat and the applicant review process for advisory board/commission vacancies. The City Council will complete its transition to paperless later this spring, though it will continue to offer printouts to citizens attending its meetings.
The switch to iPad was championed by City Council member Jack Burkman, a former high tech executive. He worked with the city's management team to try out several methods for loading pertinent documents onto his iPad ahead of meetings. The city ultimately decided to use an internal FTP website to store PDF files for council members to download.
The iPad has also helped Vancouver's leadership team increase their productivity at meetings. "Many leaders had blackberry smart phones for email access, but with small video screens, they were difficult to reply in email. The iPads allowed staff to review internet sites as part of the meeting or share multi-page documents paperlessly for their discussion," the city's statement read.
Switching from Research in Motion's BlackBerry to the iPad results in a costs savings for the city as well. The city estimates it pays $71 per month for BlackBerry access and just $43 per month for unlimited iPad data. As such, Vancouver estimates savings of up to $336 per year for each iPad that replaces a BlackBerry.
Cost savings from printing will quickly add up for the city. It estimates that printing out packets for just one agenda item can cost as much as $21.10. With between eight to ten agenda items on the typical meeting, Vancouver could see printing savings of as much as $200 per meeting.
City departments have spent roughly $17,000 on iPads, with an average cost of $601.50 each. 25 additional iPads were purchased for the Vancouver Police Dept. Command staff using a grant. The city has "no definite plans" to expand its program yet, though it says it may continue to strategically replace BlackBerry devices.
A growing trend among government agencies in the U.S. has seen departments moving away from RIM and toward Apple's iOS. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will soon abandon support for the BlackBerry and will instead supply workers with new iPhones and iPads. The U.S. General Services Administration has added iOS to its approved purchasing list.
RIM said last month that it "continues to work closely" with government clients, touting its PlayBook tablet as the "only tablet certified for use by U.S. government agencies."
A recent survey by Morgan Stanley projected an accelerated transition away from printing within the enterprise. Analyst Katy Huberty picked up on a worse-than-expected 16 percent decline in printing, due, in part, to the rise of the iPad among corporate customers. 46 percent of tablet users said they printed less, with some survey respondents indicating that they printed as much as 16 percent less now that they own a tablet.
Apple could see increased adoption of its touchscreen tablet as a printing replacement with the release of its next-generation iPad later this month. The third-generation iPad is expected to have an double-resolution display that will make reading on the device easier. The new iPad could see rapid adoption among industries such as aviation and medicine where the increased resolution would drastically improve utility.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
Where else but government can we hear how they save $1 by spending $100?
50k pages is about 100 reams of paper at $2.50 per ream... or about $250 per year. Printing costs about double that, so congratulations Vancouver! You've saved $500 per year by spending many thousands of dollars on Apple products!
Where else but government can we hear how they save $1 by spending $100?
Amen. As much as I love the iPad, it's just pure idiotic ideology driving ridiculous spending like this. This also doesn't account for the inevitability of tech support and failure and IT costs...
50k pages is about 100 reams of paper at $2.50 per ream... or about $250 per year. Printing costs about double that, so congratulations Vancouver! You've saved $500 per year by spending many thousands of dollars on Apple products!
Where else but government can we hear how they save $1 by spending $100?
You didn't read the article did you? I thought not.
The City of Vancouver saves more then just the cost of paper. You don't suppose all that text gets on the paper for free, do you? Counting the saving of switching from RIM BlackBerries iPads, at $336 per year per device.
Plus the costs of operating copy machines, leasing them, and buying toner, et cetera, the average city pays around 5 cents a copy. Take THAT times 50K copies and you get an additional $2,500 per year.
Reading the rest of the story, you learn that this savings was made by only using the iPads for City Council meetings. It can be expanded beyond this to further uses and savings.
Reading comprehension... it's a good skill to use.
Amen. As much as I love the iPad, it's just pure idiotic ideology driving ridiculous spending like this. This also doesn't account for the inevitability of tech support and failure and IT costs...
To some extent this report does take that into account. They compared the saving of switching from RIM BlackBerries iPads, at $336 per year per device.
Read the story before commenting and you'll avoid making yourself out to be a fool.
This is just a poor excuse for city council members to get a shiny new iPad for free at the expense of tax payers. I'm sure they could have opted for a $99 HP Touchpad and it would do the same job.
These sort of articles always make me laugh. As if doing this 10 years ago wasn't possible and now with the help of this "revolutionary product" we can go paperless! I mean they could have done this 10 years ago by providing them with laptops, or even desktops since all they do in city council is sit on a desk and shout at each other.
This is just a poor excuse for city council members to get a shiny new iPad for free at the expense of tax payers. I'm sure they could have opted for a $99 HP Touchpad and it would do the same job.
hmmm - yeah 10 years ago and $2000 per laptop back then.
or $99 per HP Touchpad plus $30,000 a year in additional IT cost to maintain and administer the HP solution - plug how much to rip and replace all that in two years?
what is revolutionary about the iPad is not that it solves any problem that was technically impossible to do otherwise - but it does so in a cost effective and streamlined fashion that does not require a massive increase in support cost or bring exposure and risk that other platforms carry.
These sort of articles always make me laugh. As if doing this 10 years ago wasn't possible and now with the help of this "revolutionary product" we can go paperless! I mean they could have done this 10 years ago by providing them with laptops, or even desktops since all they do in city council is sit on a desk and shout at each other.
This is just a poor excuse for city council members to get a shiny new iPad for free at the expense of tax payers. I'm sure they could have opted for a $99 HP Touchpad and it would do the same job.
Sure, you can "read stuff" on PCs but that doesn't make it a good substitution for all printed material.
Take eBooks, for example. These could have existed — and technically did — decades ago but it was only with the advent of a tablet-style reader it became a feasible replacement for books.
As for HP Touchpads where can they buy them for $99? Is there enough support and a large enough ecosystem to make the investment over other tablets more economical the TCoW?
PS: Off Topic: Get ready to buy some free apps as the counter is only 45 million from 25 billion.
You didn't read the article did you? I thought not.
The City of Vancouver saves more then just the cost of paper. You don't suppose all that text gets on the paper for free, do you? Counting the saving of switching from RIM BlackBerries iPads, at $336 per year per device.
Plus the costs of operating copy machines, leasing them, and buying toner, et cetera, the average city pays around 5 cents a copy. Take THAT times 50K copies and you get an additional $2,500 per year.
Reading the rest of the story, you learn that this savings was made by only using the iPads for City Council meetings. It can be expanded beyond this to further uses and savings.
Reading comprehension... it's a good skill to use.
Well said.
50k pages is about 100 reams of paper at $2.50 per ream... or about $250 per year. Printing costs about double that, so congratulations Vancouver! You've saved $500 per year by spending many thousands of dollars on Apple products!
Where else but government can we hear how they save $1 by spending $100?
Amen. As much as I love the iPad, it's just pure idiotic ideology driving ridiculous spending like this. This also doesn't account for the inevitability of tech support and failure and IT costs...
These sort of articles always make me laugh. As if doing this 10 years ago wasn't possible and now with the help of this "revolutionary product" we can go paperless! I mean they could have done this 10 years ago by providing them with laptops, or even desktops since all they do in city council is sit on a desk and shout at each other.
This is just a poor excuse for city council members to get a shiny new iPad for free at the expense of tax payers. I'm sure they could have opted for a $99 HP Touchpad and it would do the same job.
These three registered to spew rubbish. Please, I hope this isn't a new trend!
These three registered to spew rubbish. Please, I hope this isn't a new trend!
About 15 minutes apart. I wonder if the IP addresses are the same.
About 15 minutes apart. I wonder if the IP addresses are the same.
Thought crossed my mind!
Scribes and papyrus are a quaint notion today. Printing on the product of wasted forests will be as quaint a notion to our not-so-distant descendants.
I'm looking forward to an iPad with twice the area of the current one but lighter and longer lived on a charge lol! Apple has demonstrated that this is perhaps, not-such-wishful thinking.
Scribes and papyrus are a quaint notion today. Printing on the product of wasted forests will be as quaint a notion to our not-so-distant descendants.
There will still be a use for paper at least until I die at while point someone will chisel my name in stone just as they did long before we had paper. (see what I did there?
I'm looking forward to an iPad with twice the area of the current one but lighter and longer lived on a charge lol! Apple has demonstrated that this is perhaps, not-such-wishful thinking.
Twice the area or twice the resolution? Twice the areas is a 13.7" tablet. At some point this might be feasible but I think it's years away from any practical sense.
50k pages is about 100 reams of paper at $2.50 per ream... or about $250 per year. Printing costs about double that, so congratulations Vancouver! You've saved $500 per year by spending many thousands of dollars on Apple products!
Where else but government can we hear how they save $1 by spending $100?
A bit picky with your facts, stmfreak?
You conveniently omitted the fact that they also save $336 pa per iPad of carrier charges
"The city estimates it pays $71 per month for BlackBerry access and just $43 per month for unlimited iPad data. As such, Vancouver estimates savings of up to $336 per year for each iPad that replaces a BlackBerry."
Switching from Research in Motion's BlackBerry to the iPad results in a costs savings for the city as well. The city estimates it pays $71 per month for BlackBerry access and just $43 per month for unlimited iPad data. As such, Vancouver estimates savings of up to $336 per year for each iPad that replaces a BlackBerry.
I did not know you could also make phonecalls using an ipad as with the blackberry....
or is this comparison not telling the whole story...
These three registered to spew rubbish. Please, I hope this isn't a new trend!
Well spotted IQatEdo,
Its probably Slappy !
There will still be a use for paper at least until I die at while point someone will chisel my name in stone just as they did long before we had paper. (see what I did there?
If you're of such stature that someone considers chiseling your name in stone, then I will be very pleased to have shared even this moment in space/time!
I do see what you did there, by the way!
Twice the area or twice the resolution? Twice the areas is a 13.7" tablet. At some point this might be feasible but I think it's years away from any practical sense.
Twice the area, which for a retina display I guess, is 8 times the resolution of my current (and beloved) iPad.
Well spotted IQatEdo,
Its probably Slappy !
Slappy is probably still trying to figure out why he can't post anymore. I doubt he would think to create 3 IDs at once to post on this topic. Plus, his style is more about how Apple is failing not how governments are wasteful.
If you're of such stature that someone considers chiseling your name in stone, then I will be very pleased to have shared even this moment in space/time!
I do see what you did there, by the way!
Actually I've left specific instructions to donate my body to science and have no grave or marker though I also stated that since I'll be dead I obviously won't care and that the living should do what they need to in order that suits them the best. I think I'm pragmatic... but perhaps I'm just an ass.
Twice the area, which for a retina display I guess, is 8 times the resolution of my current (and beloved) iPad.
Oddly the number don't scale that way. To get essentially the same 265 PPI a 13.7" 4:3 would be about 2900x2180.
There will still be a use for paper at least until I die at while point someone will chisel my name in stone just as they did long before we had paper. (see what I did there?
Actually, you haven't read any published work of mine by any chance?
Actually I've left specific instructions to donate my body to science and have no grave or marker though I also stated that since I'll be dead I obviously won't care and that the living should do what they need to in order that suits them the best. I think I'm pragmatic... but perhaps I'm just an ass.
Good move.
Oddly the number don't scale that way. To get essentially the same 265 PPI a 13.7" 4:3 would be about 2900x2180.
Okay!
if one council member for example raises an unexpected question like "I thought in the 2010 referendum on the parks issue we decided... " etc etc, everyone can actually refer back to the document.
Otherwise you'll be sending assistants to search through paper files , make copies etc.
The cost savings (on time, labour etc) on that is HUGE.
(reading case studies on groups using iPads is that now a lot of b.s is removed quickly as everyone can check the details for themselves from the actual files)
This is a big bonus which naysayers don't understand. Try shoving thousands of your office files (previous minutes, data, histories etc) if they were paper into your brief case.
that's why so many corporations is using iPads now. Think about it , for example engineers in a meeting can immediately refer to thousands of diagrams, drawings, spec sheets etc immediately.
and the advantage of iPads over even laptops is that they are more portable, you you walk around with them (again the engineer example as he/she goes around the site) etc.
iPad rules.