Konica Minolta showed the workplace of the future

The Intelligent Video Surveillance with AI and the Innovative Workplace Hub are Part of the Digital Workplace

Konica Minolta presented its vision for the workplace of the future in front of аround 160 clients, partners and journalists. During the conference Digital Workplace of the Future the company demonstrated innovative technologies and platforms which help companies rаise efficiency in their business processes and provide all-to-one solutions for documents management and printing. Both small and medium enterprises (SME’s), as well as big companies from different industries can benefit from the opportunities. On a global scale Konica Minolta holds 21 283 patents, most of which for technology improvements.

During the conference a special demo zone was set up. There visitors saw demos of Workplace Hub – the solution that creates protected and secure infrastructure, contributing to a more effective work through a combination of a multi functional printer, state-of-the-art HPE server for data storage, wireless access point, proven cyber security functions and GDPR compatibility. Among the other technologies, presented with practical examples in the demo zone, were intelligent information management, optimization of the printing process and video surveillance with Artificial Intelligence.

For the first time in Bulgaria the Mobotix video surveillance systems with incorporated AI were demonstrated to the conference attendees. The systems can work together with other electronic devices in order to manage them, interact with them and make decisions based on neural networks. They don’t need a network recording device and have face recognition technology. They can distinguish animals, automobiles, abandoned luggage, untypical gatherings and even a person in distress. Among the companies that already use the innovative technology are big manufacturing, transport, logistics and retail organizations.

According to a report published in the International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems one employee can lose an average of 2,5 hours a day while working on the same tasks his colleague has already completed. The digital workplace is a necessity of paramount importance if companies want to be client orientated, fast in their delivery and more productive. According to data from Gartner 2/3 of employees expect flexible working time while 1/4 from Europeans already have taken advantage of this working 1 day of the week from home. This mobility requires that the access to company information  is fast and easy and there’s teamwork and bigger opportunity for cooperation between colleagues. Konica Minolta’s solutions are contributing to this, and at  the same time they also supplement the existing IT infrastructure, replace the old technologies and take a leading role in all IT activities.

“30% of our net sales are coming from our document management portfolio, IT infrastructure and intelligent video surveillance – opportunities with which we have expanded our services in just4 years. Konica Minolta has been in Bulgaria for 15 years and we have always tried to offer innovative technology solutions that give value to our partners”, explained Elena Drecheva – CEO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions Bulgaria Ltd., during the presentation.

A joint research between Konica Minolta and the consultancy Opinium, covering four countries on two continents, shows that 33% of small and medium enterprises consider cybersecurity to be challenge for their business. At the same time around 1/5 have difficulties with their IT infrastructure. This leads to a loss of time and resources, worsened employee productivity and quality of the work. Konica Minolta’s solutions complement the existing IT infrastructure and have a leading part in all IT activities. Digitization of the workplace is a key process for entrepreneurs on a global scale, as by 2025 75% of the workforce will be composed of people who have grown up with technologies, taking them for granted. This information was presented by Kimmo Järvensivu, Manager Strategic Partnerships, M-Flies.

As of2016 the number of Konica Minolta partners in Bulgaria has risen with 21% and its team – by 46%. The company has offices in 9 Bulgarian cities – Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Varna, Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Shumen, Pleven, Blagoevgrad.

Konica Minolta has invested in a Competence center for intelligent video surveillance in Europe. Here in Bulgaria there are R&D activities, while knowledge and skills are being accumulated and shared with employees of the company everywhere in the world.

Partners of the conference Digital Workplace of the Future were M-Flies, Mobotix, Microsoft, Y Soft and ABBYY.