The Sydney Diocese could save at least $1 million a year thanks to Angliconnect, a new website offering parishes, schools and organisations discounts of up to 30 per cent on appliances and other needs.

Angliconnect’s General Manager, Justin Carey says the website gives Diocesan organisations and parishes discounts on tens of thousands of items including photocopiers, printers, computers, whitegoods, audiovisual appliances, software, sound equipment, sheet music.

The Sydney Diocesan Secretariat's Technology Manager, George Lymbers, says the Sydney Diocese spends hundreds of millions of dollars on these products every year, which means overall savings will be substantial as the scheme grows in popularity.

Already. he says Angliconnect - which was launched at the SDS Church Administration Conference on June 16 - has been well received.

"The positive spirit so far has been spectacular," he says.

Future discounts could possibly extend to travel, electricity, printing contracts, office and kitchen products, and music licensing.

Talking to small, medium and large parishes was key to developing Angliconnect, says Mr Lymbers.

“We’ve communicated with small, medium and large parishes to work out what they need,” he says.

“Parishes will spend less time and money looking for the appropriate solution at the best price, which means they can focus more on mission rather than administration.’

The average Sydney Anglican can also benefit from up to 90 per cent of these savings by registering as a parishioner at [url=http://www.angliconnect.com.au]http://www.angliconnect.com.au[/url]

By lodging an order for a particular product, any member of a Sydney parish can receive an online quote, or browse the tens of thousands of products from suppliers such as Apple, Dell and Océ.

Carbon emission offsets are also optional on some devices available through Angliconnect.

From the parish’s mouth

Establishing Angliconnect has been a significant project at least 18 months in the making, but Mr Lymbers says the response from parishes has shown this to be time well spent.

“Since July, all we’ve seen is growth and the parishes have supported us because they want this,” he says.

St Paul's, Carlingford has bought anti-virus software through Angliconnect and is planning to purchase laptops.

"Angliconnect has been really great to deal with," says administrator Emma Little.

She adds that receiving an online quote for the software saved her parish time as well as money.

"They were definitely a lot cheaper and saved us the legwork and time involved in shopping around."