MAZUMA CHOOSES WorkForce Pro WP-4595 DNF

Founded in 2006, Mazuma provides a low-cost, hassle-free accountancy service for small businesses. The brainchild of founders Lucy Cohen and Sophie Hughes, the subscription-based offering allows customers to send their paperwork to their dedicated accounting team at Mazuma, who will then send over their accounts within a matter of days. With an innovative barcoding tracking system, the customer can monitor the status of their paperwork at all times online.

Cohen and Hughes, who are childhood friends, founded Mazuma six years ago when both were in their early twenties and began the business from their bedrooms. Mazuma now employs 20 staff and has an office in Bridgend, South Wales, where they service thousands of customers across the UK. The company has also expanded into America, with a satellite office in Salt Lake City and is on target to become the largest ever provider of accountancy compliance work to small businesses in the UK.

Commenting on the business’s origins, Lucy Cohen, co-founder and commercial director for Mazuma, explains, “We started our own business to avoid the red tape and structural and management constraints that often come from working in accountancy. After seeing the agony my father went through for his annual trip to the  accountant, we saw an opportunity to do things differently and were convinced we could make it work.”
 

While the business model of providing all materials to clients via post and online could lend itself well to a remote workforce, removing the need for expensive office rent, Mazuma chose not to go down this route. Cohen and Hughes saw an office presence as essential to building a strong team within the business. This face-to-face interaction means that the service does not become fragmented and processes run smoothly. It is also important from a regulation perspective as in the accounting industry data protection is paramount. Client work never leaves the premises and, when sent back to customers, is sealed in trademark purple envelopes, which are barcoded and tracked on Mazuma’s system.

With office premises come the usual overheads and expenses. As an accountant herself, Cohen takes a practical approach to running this aspect of her business.

“Choosing the right office technology that is costeffective, robust, energy efficient and good quality is essential and means you don’t find yourself endlessly replacing and repairing broken equipment”

Printing documents for proofing and annotation is absolutely essential in an industry where attention to detail and meticulous financial analysis are key. In fact, Mazuma gets through 25,000 sheets of paper per year – that’s 68 sheets per day (including weekends). In the last year, the company spent approximately £1,600 on paper and toner combined. For this reason, Mazuma’s printing costs are an essential part of its office expenditure and the business needs to control these costs as much as possible. Cohen explains:

“For the accountancy industry, and the UK in general, going paperless just isn’t an option. We accept this but are keen to ensure we print in the most time, cost and environmentally efficient way possible. From account reports to ledgers, to marketing material, physical documents are the backbone of Mazuma’s business.”

To meet these needs, Cohen had previously invested in a variety of laser printers but had not found a model which could meet the need for the quality and quantity of printed materials which Mazuma relied on. Finally, she turned to an inkjet model, installing two of Epson's Workforce Pro WP-4595 DTWF business inkjets, that are used by all 20 staff for its thousands of print-outs. The WorkForce Pro is a high-performance, compact printer, that comes with built-in scanner, fax and double-sided printing capabilities. The high-speed inkjet all-in-one offers a 50% lower cost per page , faster printing and an 80% reduction in energy consumption, when compared to competitive lasers. It is estimated that, compared to the laser printers which Mazuma had in place previously, the WorkForce Pro will save the company 25% on its printing costs over the next three years.

Commenting on the printer, Cohen explains, "Running a small business, we’re very keen to keep our overheads low, however we can’t afford to compromise on quality and efficiency. I’d previously associated inkjet printers with home printing. These assumptions were blown away with the Epson Workforce Pro. The savings we’ve seen in cost per page and energy consumption have converted me. It might sound trivial, but things like increasing the volume of sheets you can produce per ink cartridge has made a significant financial difference to the business.”

 

As well as printing paperwork for its own internal use, Mazuma relies heavily on quality printed material for all marketing and client communications. The WorkForce Pro’s print resolution of 4800x1200 dpi has meant that it meets the need for quality customer-facing printouts.

Cohen explains, “One of the key challenges we face as a business is explaining how our business works. People simply don’t believe that we offer what we do for prices starting from just £20. To deal with this, branded communication materials for customers and prospects play a crucial role. The WorkForce Pro has been perfect for this, producing high quality, brightly coloured marketing collateral so we don’t need to pay a premium for outsourcing this to a third party.”

Cohen also sees colour printing as important for helping her and Hughes decide on new website design templates. The business is currently redesigning its website and having colour printouts of the new site design helps them to see the options clearly.

She adds, “Approximately 80% of Mazuma’s business currently comes from people finding us online so it is vital that we get our website right. It really helps me to see physical printouts to shape the look and feel of the new company website and discuss these with Sophie. The colour accuracy of the WorkForce Pro is essential in this process.”

 

In everything from their business model to their branded, purple stationery, Cohen and Hughes are pioneers in the accountancy industry, a role they are more than happy to embrace. This extends into their choice of technology within the business, which they believe is helping them to forge a competitive advantage. They see their choice of printer as symbolic of this.

“When many others in the industry are still using laser printers, we turned to inkjet and have seen better quality, more cost effective results. This just goes to show that there’s always room to drive change, even in a heavily regulated, traditional industry such as accountancy,” concludes Cohen.