Konica Minolta launches DX Support Platform for local governments

| 9 July 2021

Supporting digital transformation and enhancing public services

Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) has launched the DX Support Platform for Local Governments (DX Support Platform), a new service to help local governments throughout Japan with digital transformation (DX).


Japanese local governments have experienced unprecedented manpower shortages in recent years, partly because of the ever-increasing workload per employee caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and natural disasters, and partly because of the rapid aging of employees. Under the circumstances, local governments have high hopes for digital transformation (DX). By streamlining and standardising work processes, it is expected to solve these problems and dramatically enhance productivity.
 
With the DX Support Platform service jobs that can only be done by government employees and those that can be done by non-government employees can be classified. For this purpose, work volume and procedures are comprehensively visualised. Using robotic process automation (RPA[1]) and AI-OCR technologies, the service aims to reallocate tasks that were conventionally done by government employees to non-government employees. In this way, the service allows government employees to concentrate on the jobs that only they can do and reduces their excessive workload, thus helping to improve public services. Furthermore, it can assist the business continuity planning (BCP) of local government employees when mobilised to respond to an emergency.
 
Konica Minolta has worked with more than 50 local governments to develop its new service. The company was able to draw on its many years of experience in the manufacturing industry and has developed a method for applying its BPR[2] approach.
 
Konica Minolta aims to extend the DX Support Platform to 100 local governments during FY2021 and 1,000 local governments by FY2023 in cooperation with all its business partners (34 companies as of June 2021).
 

Values Offered by DX Support Platform
 

1. Facilitate data-driven problem-solving by leveraging the know-how that Konica Minolta has developed in the manufacturing industry

 
Throughout its long history as a manufacturer, Konica Minolta has continuously improved its business processes through a data-driven approach, by intensively collecting data and visualising problems to be solved, in line with its Quality Policy, “Management based on facts.” The DX Support Platform was developed leveraging the know-how the company has gained through such experience. The company classified as many as 800,000 data items collected in on-site surveys into some 4,800 patterns according to job and work categories, analysed them by AI, and succeeded in developing a template for a support menu that encompasses visualisation, problem identification, optimisation, standardisation and sharing.


 

2. Help local government employees promote BPR at their own initiative by comparing their workflows with those of other local governments 

The DX Support Platform offers visualisation, work analysis, optimisation, and standardisation services. These services are provided through the DX Cockpit, which stores workflow data of local governments. Local government employees can access the DX Cockpit via the Local Government Wide Area Network (LGWAN) as well as the Internet to refer to the workflows of other local governments in their respective job categories and set any workflow model that they find is more efficient than their own as a benchmark. All the services offered on the DX Support Platform are based on the data obtained by visualising the work processes of the 50 local governments associated with Konica Minolta. Government employees can select any of the services according to their individual needs.

3. Accelerate the shift to remote work for local government employees  
The DX Cockpit also provides local government employees with access to the standard work procedures, legal information, registers[3], and manuals of other local governments as well as their own, allowing them to access necessary information safely from anywhere when outside of the government office, if they are connected to the LGWAN. In this way, the DX Support Platform helps them work remotely while improving public services, even if they have to work in shifts or staggered hours due to emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The DX Support Platform also serves as key infrastructure for promoting workstyle diversity.
 

4. Enable joint use among smaller local governments  

The DX Support Platform is not intended for large local governments only. Konica Minolta is actively promoting the shared use of digital systems for smaller local governments that cannot introduce the DX Support Platform alone due to low cost-effectiveness. For example, Konica Minolta conducted a pilot demonstration with the Nagano prefectural government for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in FY2020, and proved that “local governments can share the RPA system at low cost by standardising workflows and administrative documents, even if they use different mission-critical systems.” Based on this finding, Konica Minolta will extend services to smaller local governments through its DX Support Platform.
 
 
Local Government DX Support Platform website (Japanese):
https://www.konicaminolta.com/jp-ja/govchois
 

[1] Software robot developed for work automation
[2] Business Process Reengineering.
[3] Books and registers of local governments




About Konica Minolta Inc.
Konica Minolta, Inc. is a global technology company that provides innovative solutions to businesses and society. With its strengths in the combination of its core technologies in advanced imaging, optics, sensing, materials and nano-processing, Konica Minolta is committed to creating new values supporting customers to address challenges in their operations and work processes. Advancing its expertise in digital technologies, the company has been going through business transformation into a digital company, with insights into implicit challenges across the board as ‘One Konica Minolta’ in the era of Internet of the Things (IoT). Konica Minolta is also active in open innovation through various collaborations and alliances with academic, industrial and entrepreneurial partners. Headquartered in Tokyo, Konica Minolta has its Group companies in 50 countries with over 40,000 employees and offers products and services in 150 countries around the world.

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About Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe


Konica Minolta’s journey started 150 years ago, with a vision to see and do things differently. We innovate for the good of society and the world. The same purpose that kept us moving then, keeps us moving now.


Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, based in Langenhagen, Germany, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Inc., Tokyo, Japan. With its unique expertise in imaging, data processing and data-based decision making, Konica Minolta creates relevant solutions for its customers - small and medium-sized businesses, large enterprises and public sector - and solves issues faced by society.


As a digital workplace solution provider, Konica Minolta helps its clients to identify and unlock the potential digitalisation holds and reach the next level in the digital maturity of their organisation by rethinking the workplace. In support of an ‘Intelligent connected workplace’, Konica Minolta offers cloud, IT, managed print and video solution services for remote working, collaboration, workflow management and automation and security. The company’s success in driving transformation is also confirmed by IDC, since the ‘IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Print Transformation 2023 Vendor Assessment’ has named Konica Minolta a “Leader” in print transformation. Konica Minolta has been a Microsoft Global Managed Partner since 2021.


Konica Minolta's Igniting Print Possibilities offering helps printers, converters and brand owners maximise workflow automation to increase efficiency. The company delivers consultancy in all communication matters as well as top-of-the-line production, packaging as well as label printers. Its finishing devices create print products that stand out and create added value. Konica Minolta has established itself as the production printing market leader for more than a decade in Europe (InfoSource).


For an increasing number of organisations, success today is more than the narrow definition of financial prosperity – it also includes protecting the environment and having a positive impact on their workforce as well as the societies they are embedded in. With its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Konica Minolta has pledged to consistently pursue its sustainability and social responsibility goals.


The company has been repeatedly recognised for its rich history of social contribution as well as for working towards achieving the SDGs throughout its business and supply chain. Konica Minolta received a GOLD Level Recognition Medal in the EcoVadis sustainability ratings for 2023.


For its remote services, Konica Minolta was awarded the prestigious ‘Buyers Lab (BLI) 2023-2024 Pacesetter Award in Remote Service for the Western European market’ from Keypoint Intelligence.


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 more than 8,700 employees (as of April 2023), Konica Minolta Europe earned net sales of over EUR 2.26 billion in financial year 2022/2023.


Worldwide, the company has over 39,000 employees and is operating in over 150 countries.


For more information, please visit https://www.konicaminolta.eu/eu-en/news and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.


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Contact

Contact

Melanie Olbrich

Expert Corporate Communications

Melanie.Olbrich@konicaminolta.eu

+49 (0)511 7404-5337