A catalyst in the workplace: how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking human productivity to the next level

| 1 March 2019

Digitalisation is profoundly reshaping the workplace. With IT systems gradually being transformed into connected environments, personalisation and collaboration are becoming more intuitive while data sharing and information management are becoming automated. Konica Minolta is tailoring solutions at the forefront of these customer needs. Empowering and unburdening workers will be the key to future business success where AI will play a major part. Olaf Lorenz, General Manager International Marketing Division at Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe, and contributor to Katie King’s new book “Using Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: How to Harness AI and Maintain the Competitive Edge” provides a deeper insight.


Konica Minolta is therefore developing solutions for evidence-based business services that address workplace efficiency, security and effectiveness to make the office environment adaptive and thus meet the specific needs of the workforce. Konica Minolta’s Workplace Hub, for example, is an innovative and intelligent, scalable IT solution – specifically developed for the needs of small and medium-sized businesses - that unifies IT infrastructure via a single centralised platform. And as the world of work evolves, so does Workplace Hub. Smart features being developed for future release include a cognitive layer of the IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Edge and decision support capabilities, ultimately leading to the next-generation solution, Cognitive Hub. Cognitive Hub aims to augment intelligence beyond where AI is today, helping transform the flood of unstructured information into meaningful data to empower decision-making at an intellectually enabled pace. In order to build truly AI-based augmented intelligence, Konica Minolta recognises it is fundamental to take a broad perspective that builds on the fringes of a digital environment alongside human intuitiveness.

AI will establish a new level of user experience in the near future. In marketing, AI can help reinvent existing products and services to create new user experiences and enhance personalised marketing techniques. Olaf Lorenz, representing Konica Minolta, recently contributed to Katie King’s latest book “Using Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: How to Harness AI and Maintain the Competitive Edge”, to give an outlook on where the working life of marketing experts is heading.

About the book

“Using Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: How to Harness AI and Maintain the Competitive Edge” by Katie King, was published by Kogan Page on 3 February 2019. The book delivers a real-world framework for the confident application and integration of AI for marketing strategies and campaigns. It outlines time-saving marketing efficiencies such as chatbot customer service, market research samples, big data insights and brand-safe content creation. It clarifies how to manage both the advantages and ethical questions that arise in computer-based decision-making in line with individual business objectives.



About Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, based in Langenhagen, Germany, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Inc., Tokyo, Japan. Konica Minolta enables its clients to champion the digital era: with its unique imaging expertise and data processing capabilities, Konica Minolta creates relevant solutions for its customers and solves issues faced by society. As a provider of comprehensive IT services, Konica Minolta delivers consultancy and services to optimise business processes with workflow automation and implements solutions in the field of IT infrastructure and IT security as well as cloud environments. Konica Minolta was awarded the prestigious “Buyers Lab PaceSetter award for Smart Workplace Vision” from Keypoint Intelligence” as the only vendor in its industry thanks to its forward-looking vision of the future of work and investment in innovative technology. Being a strong partner for the production and industrial printing market, Konica Minolta offers business consulting, state-of-the-art technology and software and, in 2017, was the production printing market leader for the tenth consecutive year in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa (InfoSource). The hardware portfolio covers light and mid production as well as industrial printing machines. Konica Minolta Marketing Services provides value added services that intelligently link print and digital marketing in an effective and efficient way. In the healthcare sector, Konica Minolta drives digitalisation of clinical workflows and offers a broad range of next-level diagnostic solutions. Through its Business Innovation Centre in London and four R&D laboratories in Europe, Konica Minolta brings innovation forward by collaborating with its customers as well as academic, industrial and entrepreneurial partners. Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe is represented by subsidiaries and distributors in more than 80 countries in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. With almost 9,900 employees (as of April 2018), Konica Minolta Europe earned net sales of over EUR 2.37 billion in financial year 2017/18. 

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