Blog Posts for Strategy

As an educator, my summers should be typically lighter with school sessions out. But since I represent Konica Minolta at the popular International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference each June, I get to teach administrators and educators about the latest technologies for educators we offer and hear from them about the hot issues on their minds. I recently attended ISTE 2017 in San Antonio, TX – along with about 20,000 other attendees – and learned a great deal from them myself. (more…)

Konica Minolta has more than two decades of combined experience in delivering technology-driven products. But in order for our business to remain market-relevant, we’ve embraced a major shift in our core work priorities to ensure we keep up with customer expectations. Key to this growth has been the acquisition of business that have expanded our portfolio of products and services.

As noted by Keypoint Intelligence-Buyers Lab Analysts, Konica Minolta has been recognized for its drive to anticipate and meet the needs of the future workplace. “The company has a clear vision of what the Smart Workplace of the Future should include, and through a combination of in-house product development, acquisitions, and partnerships, it has been actively pursuing this vision,” said Jamie Bsales, Director of Solutions Analysis at Keypoint Intelligence. (more…)

The evolution of document management is astounding.  When I was growing up, I handwrote my homework until I had access to a typewriter at my mother’s real estate office. What a treat to type  my reports for school!  They looked so professional. What could beat that?! Enter home computers. My father’s and grandparents’ computers were the holy grail of my homework experience. I no longer had to use white-out to correct my mistakes or start over entirely. Plus, I could save  my work inside  of a computer?! Amazing! (more…)

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…)

Let’s be real, change can be difficult.  Some people seem to be wired to like variety, novelty or change from the routine.  Others seem to prefer the status quo, the predictable and the familiar.  Some of the top obstacles given as challenges to overcome when implementing technological change have to do with people: Lack of user acceptance, resistance to change and generational learning concerns. (more…)

I remember a TV commercial from the 1990s for a still camera that featured the great tennis player, Andre Agassi, had the accompanying tagline: “Image is Everything.” That tagline is still very applicable and valid today in the production print world with the emergence of digital finishing. This encompasses such “touch-and-feel” finishing applications as Spot UV, 3D embossing and foil stamping, which provide sensory dimensional textures to printed output. These and other services bring to life brochures, labels, posters and packaging with eye-catching images. And it’s finally catching the eye of print shops everywhere. (more…)

Large format printing is everywhere. Go to a shopping mall and nearly every store has some large or wide format printing project displayed. Go to New York City, walk a few blocks and you’ll be inundated by banners, flags, posters and billboards. Drive any U.S. highway, draw near a city and you’ll see billboard after billboard with each message printed on large or grand format printers. (more…)

If you’ve ever watched golf on CBS Sports and seen broadcasters analyze a player’s swing with the Konica Minolta bizhub SwingVision camera, or seen a Mets outfielder make a leaping save over our Konica Minolta logo on the right field fence, then you probably know that we have a pretty significant presence in sports. As cool as it is to see our company’s name share the stage with superstar athletes in some of the biggest sports leagues in the world, this is only a tiny glimpse into how far Konica Minolta’s sports marketing initiatives reach. (more…)

We all look for quality in what we buy for our family and homes. We want a consistent level of quality in the goods purchased, quality service for the life of the product, and always at the right price. As a new homeowner, the selection, design and build of our home occupied months of research and what seemed like every day in-depth conversation about the process.  After an exciting year, the results turned out great. But recently, a number of friends and family have asked us to recommend someone to install their new curtains, provide landscape services or even to install overhead garage storage racks.  They ask if we’re happy and if we feel we “got a good deal” on each of our transactions.  Realize, every time we recommend a product or vendor, we’re also staking our own reputation that our preferred provider will do a consistent, quality, cost effective job every time.  (more…)

Earlier this year I attended a program at the Connecticut Forum entitled “Disruption! Innovators in business, media and culture,” and was reminded that disruption is happening in all industries in diverse ways. The Forum’s preface suggested that the disruption that we have heard about is connected to “disruptive innovation,” a term coined by Clayton M. Christensen to mean “when a small company with fewer resources can successfully challenge incumbent businesses.” Facebook, Netflix and Amazon were cited as examples. Basically, it’s a new idea that prompts a shift in an industry, giving us a new way to operate. (more…)