Press Release
ORLANDO, Fla. - (Business Wire) Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta), a leading provider of advanced imaging and networking technologies for the desktop to the print shop, today announced its Optimized Print Services (OPS) program, an innovative new managed print services offering that saves customers time and money by revolutionizing how they manage their printers assets.
The fully customized one-stop print services solution – part of the Konica Minolta Business Intelligence Services initiative – is an effective strategy designed to help customers better monitor, measure and manage printers and Multifunctional Products (MFPs). The OPS program enables organizations to be far more efficient by:
* Fully controlling their entire printing environment
* Conserving resources and ongoing maintenance costs
* Streamlining unknown costs associated with all MFPs, All-in-Ones (AIOs), and printers throughout an organization
Historically printers have been viewed as an IT-sourced product while MFPs have been sourced through procurement or administrative functions within the company. This often results in higher costs and unnecessary strain on IT helpdesk.
Konica Minolta uses a range of assessment tools to fully understand volume, typical and peak usage patterns and sources of print within an organization, then develops a strategy to maximize the efficiency of print devices being used.
“At a time when organizations around the globe are tightening their belts and are faced with deep economic challenges, Konica Minolta’s Optimized Print Services program not only reduces total cost of ownership, but allows customers to get the most mileage out of each of their printing assets,” said Rick Taylor, Senior Executive Vice President and COO, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. “With the introduction of OPS, we are making printing as seamless as possible so that our customers can focus on their core business goals.”
The OPS program, driven largely by customer demand, leverages the opt-WORKFLOW model to provide all necessary services required to control output costs based on business needs. The four modules that comprise opt-WORKFLOW are as follows:
* opt-MONITOR assesses your current printing environment, provides timely proactive maintenance and ongoing assessment and optimization.
* opt-ANALYZE creates a cost-per-print plan covering consumables and service;
* opt-VISUALIZE develops a road map to replace outdated or inefficient hardware;
* opt-MANAGE gives better control of print routing.
The OPS offering is geared toward organizations that use several printers and MFPs on their network. Managed completely by Konica Minolta, customers can choose to leverage part or all of the new program modules as Konica Minolta will service and manage printers both from Konica Minolta and other vendors. Konica Minolta’s OPS program leverages web-based management tools, automated supply replacement, customer support and service in one unified program. Proactive maintenance is delivered and supported by Konica Minolta’s team of certified technicians.
The OPS offering, a key initiative under Konica Minolta Business Intelligence Services (BIS) provides customers with a predictable cost structure for printing that assists organizations in making better business decisions. The BIS initiative, which consists of a broad range of professional services, hardware and software solutions, identifies and creates cost-effective solutions using both Konica Minolta’s own products and products from a range of solutions partners. Konica Minolta has a dedicated BIS team in place that offers innovative thinking to transform advanced technology into a simple plan of action.
Additionally, OPS makes conservation a top priority as it enables companies to use entire toner cartridges until empty, thus reducing the amount of waste. As part of its commitment to the environment, Konica Minolta’s recycling program prevents cartridge materials from ending up in landfills, recycling all of the returned cartridge.
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Welcome to the party.
What a wonderful world we live in where anyone can participate in the great journey into commoditization. Do you think by entering into managed print services that will make KM unique? I guess Xerox, Ricoh, Oce, IKON now Ricoh and everyone else are going to make room for Konica Minolta. I wish them luck, when I worked at Minolta they would give us a machine and say, “don’t come back till it’s sold.” Then when Konica bought them out we became “Konica Minolta” and we graduated to a “solutions sale” as long as the sales cycle didn’t last longer than 30 days.
ReplyDeleteI still can remember meeting JUN HARAGUCHI for the first time. He was dressed very casual we were on a bus heading to a luau at the President’s Club Trip in Hawaii. He was playing Stairway to Heaven on what looked like a Ukulele and singing.
I miss those days of innocence. After being a part of the great expansion, it is even more interesting to see the great collapse. Soon there will be only 4… I will let you guess with ones will survive…
Pirate Mike
Yes, all this if somewhat confusing - REAL Managed Print Services engagements can typically take 120 days to close and stall or ELIMINATE the need for immediate(30 day cycle)equipment placement.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, a really good assessment may show how badly the "copier" guy "maximized his position within the rules..." - through overselling or putting the client into a bad lease, etc.
Ahem...not that I would know anything about such things...
The KM cartridge return program does not prevent old cartridges ending up in landfill it encourages it instead. KM demand your name, address and email before they will give you a return label. Not long ago a return label came with every new cartridge. New policy is just a cynical sales ploy to gain customer personal information. Sceptial Alex
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