At a Glance:

• Implementation Time: 2023
• Locations: 1 public printer
• Key Features: Self-service printing and cashless payment options
• Integration: Existing hardware on the local network
• Local Support: Total Printing Solutions Spain (TPS)

Overview: Medialab Tabakalera 

Tabakalera is an international centre for contemporary culture in San Sebastián, Spain. At its heart, Medialab is a citizen laboratory and library offering essential services to creators, researchers, and the general public who engage with art and digital culture.

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At Tabakalera, we explored how this cultural hub successfully reintroduced public printing services. Through insights from Iñigo Medina, a Medialab technician, and Argi Gastaka Gamboa, the Head of technological systems, infrastructure, and digital transformation, who oversaw KUARIO's implementation, we discovered how the right technology bridges service gaps and enhances accessibility for the communities.

The Challenge: A Missing Essential Service

Medialab Tabakalera explored the possibility of offering a self-service public printing service for several years. Initially, they didn’t perceive a significant demand for photocopying, so the idea wasn’t prioritised. However, as demand increased, they began managing the service manually. Eventually, they tried to implement a more structured system, but it proved impractical and difficult to sustain.

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As Iñigo Medina explained, "We didn't have this service; it was stopped for some years because we didn't find any kind of solution that could give our users the possibility... to have a public printer in our space."

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Previous attempts relied on cumbersome payment systems involving tickets, coins, change, and pay boxes, creating an administrative burden for staff. This led to a difficult decision not to develop it into a proper service and discontinue it, as they could not take on another responsibility at that time.

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Discontinuing the printing service entirely wasn’t seen as a sustainable long-term approach. It felt like a missed opportunity not to implement it, especially as their user need for it became more apparent. With growing demand for accessible, self-service options, Tabakalera reached a turning point and needed a solution that met three critical criteria: an effortless self-service experience from printing to payment, simple and risk-free fund management, and full public accessibility.

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KUARIO: The Ideal Solution for Public Printing

In 2023, after a referral from local distributor TPS, Tabakalera discovered KUARIO—a complete public printing and payment solution that precisely addressed their unique challenges.

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"It was an innovative solution for us because for some years, we have not had a satisfactory solution," shares Mr.Medina, highlighting how KUARIO filled a long-standing gap in its library offerings.

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The implementation connected their existing printer to the local network and integrated it with KUARIO's payment system, effectively establishing a functional and accessible public printing service.

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Key Solutions Implemented:

• User-Friendly Interface: KUARIO MFP Kiosks feature large touchscreens with simple controls, allowing customers to easily print, copy, or scan in color and various sizes (A3/A4).
• Wifi Printing: Customers can seamlessly upload documents from their smartphones or cloud services like Office 365, Google Drive, and Dropbox and securely print using their print job code or KUARIO account.
• Omnichannel Payment Options: The payment terminal offers multiple payment methods, ranging from contactless cards to coins, thereby eliminating the previous "messy" payment collection system.
• Cloud management dashboard: Employees now have real-time insights into transactions and device usage, which significantly streamlines operations.

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This comprehensive system enabled printing directly from personal devices, dramatically improving staff-dependent processes. With KUARIO's solution, the service became both accessible to the public and manageable for staff, fulfilling Tabakalera's criteria for a sustainable service.

Creating Value: Three Ways KUARIO Changed the Game

The implementation at Tabakalera demonstrated the effectiveness of choosing the right technological solution for a specific challenge. Since its implementation, KUARIO's solution has brought measurable improvements across three key areas at Tabakalera:

Seamless User Experience: Visitors now enjoy intuitive public printing services using their own devices, eliminating queues and staff dependencies that characterised the previous ticket-based approach.

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Behind-the-scenes Efficiency: The burden of managing micro-transactions has been avoided altogether by implementing a flexible, self-service payment system that ensures financial compliance with bi-weekly payouts. This means staff can continue focusing on Medialab’s core activities without taking on additional administrative responsibilities.

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Revenue Generation: What was once discontinued due to management complications has been transformed into a valuable service offering, with clear monitoring capabilities managed through an integrated cloud dashboard.

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“Mr. Medina specifically appreciates the management dashboard's intuitive design: "The whole platform and the app seem intuitive, and it also allows us to retrieve that information and share it with the entire team. We can evaluate the pay box every month. That's kind of cool. Since the service was implemented, we’ve seen a 100% growth”

Looking Ahead: Building on Success 

With KUARIO's solution in place, Medialab Tabakalera has successfully introduced a valuable service that meets its users' needs, expanding its offerings and enhancing accessibility for the public.

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The partnership demonstrates a key insight for public cultural spaces: modernisation doesn't require complex solutions. Sometimes, the right technology removes barriers, transforming "unfeasible" services into accessible experiences for the public.

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Ready to Transform Your Public Printing Services? See how KUARIO can help:

1. Download our solution brochure
2. Schedule a free consultation with our team at info@kuario.com
3. Join organisations like Tabakalera in modernising their services with KUARIO

For more information, https://www.xpp.nl/kuario

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