The K-12 learning environment has had a big year of change with regard to the incorporation of emerging technology (think: augmented reality and virtual reality). We also expect to see a fascinating year ahead, with education institutions putting more basic solutions in place as the necessary building blocks for greater technological innovations. I’ve recently reviewed eSchool Media’s Annual Trends Report: 25 Trends for 2018^[1] and am thrilled to see that expert educational opinions about trends across the nation mirror what we, at Konica Minolta see in terms of technology integration taking place in education this year.

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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…)

A recent New York Times article, “As Paperwork Goes Missing, Private Student Loan Debt May be Wiped Away”, reported on National Collegiate, one of the largest owners of private debt, which lost potentially $5 billion in student loans due to missing paperwork. While the students may be relieved, the lenders are certainly distressed because document scanning and indexing could have prevented their losses. The article noted that tens of thousands of people who took out private loans to pay for college — but have overdue payments — may get their debts wiped out. Judges around the country have dismissed dozens of delinquent borrower lawsuits because the loan holders can’t produce the paperwork to prove the person owns the debt. Recent cases in New Hampshire, Ohio and Texas have tossed out lawsuits by National Collegiate, ruling that it could not prove that the person named in the lawsuit owned the debt on which it was trying to collect. (more…)

I love a well-kept yard and work very hard at hiring the right company to get my yard to look great. Admittedly, I don’t have the time or expertise to spend on my yard to keep it well-trimmed with beautiful beds, so I hire a service to do the job – better than I ever could. If I lived in a climate that got snow, I’d probably hire a plowing service to “shovel me out” – not because I can’t shovel or buy my own plow, but because someone else has the machinery to do it faster and better. (more…)

The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) recently conducted a survey to better understand the needs of businesses regarding information management and whether they’ve made enterprise content management part of their digital transformation in 2017. According to the survey, return on investment (ROI), increased productivity, compliance and risk mitigation are key focus areas for businesses that are looking to better manage their information. (more…)

As I sit here to write this post, I’ve pulled up my favorite Jazz station from the Amazon Prime App on my laptop and I hear Frank Sinatra’s, “The Best is Yet to Come” – a favorite.

The best is yet to come, and won’t that be fine
You think you’ve seen the sun, but you ain’t seen it shine

These lyrics resonate with me as I formulate my predictions for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) for 2017. We’ve had a great year in 2016 providing ECM solutions and services to our customers.  But, in 2017, we expect to bring greater growth and expansion for customers, employees and the industry. (more…)

The world is changing and so is the way we all work. Businesses today are challenged to find new ways to streamline processes and enhance experiences for both staff and customers. Competitive pressures mean businesses must become more efficient, agile and responsive and, at the same time, ensure compliance with standards for governance and security.

As Charles Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” This quote can be transferred to companies as well, which means that companies are successful if they adapt to their constantly changing circumstances: New customer requirements (both internal and external), changing market situations or new regulatory standards which might have an impact on the company and its organization.

Gartner defines digital transformation as “the dynamic orchestration of human, machine and information resource interaction to deliver optimal business outcomes in a strategic and prioritized manner.” True transformation is about doing things differently, NOT about doing different things. Organizations that pursue this avenue tend to be organizations that are constantly looking at their business and looking at ways to stay ahead of the competition.  They think outside of the box to disrupt the rules of the game. (more…)

Work is not where you are. Work is what you get done. We firmly believe that at Konica Minolta. And the statistics back us up. By the year 2020:

• There will be 5 billion more people online. That means even more people connected to a device.
• There will be 25 billion more connected devices in the world. Those billions of people will be able to make better decisions because data will be more readily available.
• More than one-third of our global workforce will be freelancers. These workers will not have the same needs for office space but will need enhanced connectivity.

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There’s no doubt about it. Every company, no matter what size or type, has massive amounts of data and sensitive information that must be kept secure and accessible only to those who need it. There are solutions and best practices you can have in place that will ensure all of your information remains safe. Having a lack of technology and protocols to organize and protect your data is a good way to set yourself up for data security issues.

The challenge is huge.  The answer is clear: enterprise content management (ECM).

Data security doesn’t only have to do with information being stolen or hacked; it involves knowing where your data is located and being able to access it when needed. This is especially true when information is stored and filed on paper. The frequency of documents being misfiled and lost are higher than most people want to believe — and very costly. On average, between 2 percent and 5 percent of an organization’s files are lost or misfiled on any given day.

Now add to this compliance regulations and audits. With the increasing levels of compliance regulations and required audits, both internal and external, keeping track of necessary documents is more important than ever. This is difficult with a system heavy on hard-copy data. Paper-heavy businesses run the risk of being compromised or losing data that could result in lawsuits and other negative repercussions.

To combat these concerns, business executives have begun to implement firewalls and disaster recovery plans to ward off outside attacks on their data.

Having a strategy in place is the crucial key to your protection. The bloodline of your organization is your data and that is not something you can risk.

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I can remember the day that I got a house key from my father.  This was so exciting – since I was now responsible enough to come and go without an adult at home. (And I was responsible enough not to lose the key.)

For my parents, giving me that key was not only a responsibility issue, but a security issue.  Security was a hot topic at the AIIM (Association Information and Image Management) 2016 conference that we recently attended.  That’s not a surprise, since one of the business concerns that we always have to overcome when selling enterprise content management to a customer is overcoming risks: security of the data.

At AIIM, speaker Mark Brousseau, president of Brousseau and Associates, tackled the security topic asking the simple question:  Think Your Scanned Images Are Safe? Think Again.

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