Lexmark Australia has signed a contract with Optus to provide the telco's 'yes' shops with printers.

The Optus 'yes' shops showcase the company's wide range of products and services, including 2G and 3G mobile phones and plans, landline telephone deals, Internet and broadband services, Optus TV packages, and wireless products and accessories.

Lexmark will provide C534dn colour laser printers and X646e multifunction printers (MFPs) which provide scanning, printing and storage capabilities. Optus sales director, Mark Brunton, said the MFPs will greatly improve the storage and archiving of sensitive customer documentation via an embedded scanner.

Brunton said franchisees will now be able to scan a customer contract, store it electronically and then retrieve it immediately when required.

He said this will reduce costs of housing such documentation as well as drastically improve the turnaround time to store and retrieve customer information. Additionally, the colour printers will enable Optus franchisees to print brochures, point of sale materials, customer application forms, and other business critical documentation, in-house and on-demand. This will provide cost savings related to outsourced printing, reduced sales space used to stockpile printing and, most importantly, give employees immediate access to any materials required whenever they need them. The new technology will also reduce paper usage per shop. Optus has also committed to the Lexmark-sponsored 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' program, ensuring their used toner cartridges are recycled and not sent to landfill. Lexmark managing director, Dietrich Buechner, said the printers will streamline key workflow processes at each store.

Buechner did not disclose the value of the contract.

Lexmark operates in more than 150 countries and in 2006 reported $5.1 billion in revenue.

- with Sandra Rossi