After 135 years in business, fourth-generation owner John Hummel had seen numerous advances in technology benefit his family’s company, Hummel Integrated Marketing Solutions. But he never could have predicted how revolutionary the Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1 UV inkjet press would be. “I had been operating my digital shop with toner-based digital presses from another vendor,” Hummel told us, “but became increasingly dissatisfied with both performance and pricing model. I’ve had my eye on the AccurioJet KM-1 since it first came to market and felt that the time was now right to make the switch to UV-curable inkjet.”
For the last 2 years, it’s been all over the news. There has been a lot of activity within our current White House administration that impacts our national – and global – economy. While much of this activity may be a source for more news articles and debates at the dinner table, it is important to understand how these changes have a direct impact on your own businesses and your income. For any business in the United States, there are two major changes that are happening now that business decision makers should understand:
- Tariffs against Chinese imports
- Upcoming changes to corporate income tax
By understanding the implications of these two government policy changes, businesses can take advantage to minimize costs and maximize their bottom line. (more…)
Do you remember your very first mentor? The first person you looked up to, the first person you idolized. My first mentor was my fifth-grade teacher, Ms. Netervala. She played basketball with us at recess. (more…)
When Hiring a vISO, It All Starts with a Relationship
When I was consulting I knew the best relationships I had because they would call me at any hour with random questions where they needed an immediate response. They valued the opinion and the intellectual capital supporting it. They were not embarrassed to ask and were always curious to learn. With this type of working relationship the client contact was comfortable putting me in front of the board of directors, because they were confident that I would interact with the board in the same capacity that they would.
In 2010, Konica Minolta implemented a vertical marketing strategy and hired individuals like myself who were not from the office technology arena but whose expertise was in fields such as legal, healthcare, government, education, among others. Since that time, we have seen many of our dealers follow suit with vertical markets for their business. (more…)
Konica Minolta has been expanding and transforming its business by building off our strong imaging legacy. This transformation includes everything from offering IT services to helping reshape workspaces and most recently with our Workplace of the Future™ solutions. It’s a mighty undertaking, so it’s very satisfying when a third-party comes along and acknowledges just how successful our transformation has been. I’m very pleased to say that this occurred last week when we won multiple awards in the government security sector from American Security Today (AST). (more…)
Content Management, From the Experts, Security, Solutions, Technology
I’m excited to be joined by Peter Wallqvist, Vice President of Strategy at iManage, for the second of a two-part blog series on legal document management solutions. Konica Minolta and All Covered — the IT Services Division of Konica Minolta — have a strategic partnership with iManage, which provides cutting-edge legal document management solutions. iManage recently acquired RAVN Systems, a UK-based company that developed an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that can organize, discover and summarize relevant information from large volumes of documents and unstructured data. (more…)
Content Management, From Our Experts, From the Experts, Security, Solutions, Technology
The world is changing. It’s a fact. Think about it, in your lifetime, you may have seen computers shrink smaller yet more powerful, phones move from rotary dial and party lines to devices that comfortably fit in your hand and hold more computing power than the computers that sent men to the moon.
What if you and your law firm haven’t kept up with the times and haven’t yet embraced the right legal technology to improve your firm’s productivity? You can bet your client has and they expect you to be not only savvy with today’s technology, but to be innovative. (more…)
Content Management, From the Experts, Security, Solutions, Technology
Last year, Konica Minolta launched a new portfolio called “Workplace of the Future,™” which integrates existing solutions with new technologies from Konica Minolta’s Business Innovation Center in Silicon Valley. As a founding member of this practice, I have had the opportunity to become fully immersed in the trends and opportunities in the connected office sector through conversations with 75+ startup leaders, extensive industry research, and an active presence at industry conferences. (more…)
Cloud, Content Management, From the Experts, Solutions, Strategy, Technology
Your company has undoubtedly invested significant time, energy and money to develop intellectual property (IP) – unique ideas, methodologies and trade secrets – as well as other intangible assets – customer lists, plans for future products, non-public financial information, contracts with suppliers, software source code, and so on.
These information assets are extremely valuable, and often what differentiate you from the competition. In the wrong hands – the hands of a competitor, for example – the damage could be catastrophic.
IT professionals lie awake at night making sure their networks are protected from outside threats. And yet you don’t have to look too far to find high-profile examples of security breaches. The 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures and the release of thousands of private emails and documents was both costly and embarrassing for the company.
Perhaps, it’s another headline-grabbing event that offers an indication of what may be a more common and pervasive threat to your information assets: the release of classified National Security Agency (NSA) documents by Edward Snowden. Snowden, you may recall, was a contractor working for the NSA when he copied and released classified information without authorization. This wasn’t a hack from the outside; it was the job of an “insider.” (more…)