Konica Minolta launches Workplace One – a compact, digital workplace package in the cloud

Given the pace of technological innovation, organisations quickly lack an overview of the required applications or tight budgets do not allow for costly IT investments. This was also found in the Konica Minolta study, in which 25% of SMBs said it was a challenge to keep up with new technologies. Despite limited IT resources, it is essential to maintain an infrastructure that is modern, secure and allows employees to securely access all the company data that is important to them on the move and to exchange information with their colleagues at any time.
 
With Workplace One, Konica Minolta therefore provides its customers with a digital workplace for communication and collaboration, whose IT architecture it sets up and which it manages and administers in the cloud, thus significantly relieving IT departments. Workplace One is already being sold successfully in Sweden and is therefore now to be launched across Europe.
 
Konica Minolta will first launch the “Workplace One Collaboration & Communication” package which is based on Microsoft's 365 Business Basic licence and includes a managed Microsoft 365 environment, managed backup services, proactive monitoring, and implementation of Microsoft’s Online Services (such as Exchange, Teams, OneDrive etc.).
 
Managed Microsoft 365 environment
Microsoft 365 is one of the most successful cloud business applications in the world. With Workplace One, organisations receive a Microsoft 365 environment managed by Konica Minolta, Microsoft's Global Managed Partner, including management of licences, of SharePoint, of Exchange and of Azure AD. "Today we see a lot of customers using Microsoft 365 unmanaged or at least only with break-fix style support. Support or guidance, on the other hand, is missing. This also leads to many organisations paying for services in Microsoft 365 without knowing how to implement them into the organisation. That is why, for example, you hear statements like 'I store the document in Dropbox to share it', even though the organisation is paying for OneDrive for Business," John Palmqvist, Business Owner Workplace One at Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe noted. "Konica Minolta therefore offers a best practice implementation of Microsoft 365 and, depending on the needs of our customers, provides the licence that best fits them to ensure that the solution effectively supports the business and helps increase efficiency."
 
Managed backup services
The cyber risk from ransomware attacks is growing daily. With its managed backup services, Konica Minolta therefore offers its customers an automated, fully managed backup and recovery service to avoid data loss and expensive and lengthy business interruptions. With its management services and daily backups, Konica Minolta ensures that all its customers' email and files – including OneDrive, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams – are always protected. Multifactor authentication further prevents unauthorised access to sensitive information. The data is hosted at Konica Minolta Data Centres in Germany and Sweden.
 
Proactive monitoring
Konica Minolta remotely monitors the availability and performance of online services and usage to detect any interface issues or possible improvements in usage of the services. This to ensure rapid and reliable remediation, wherever possible, fix errors remotely before system downtime occurs, thus ensuring the smooth running of IT processes.
 
Best practice Cloud environment
Especially in small and medium-sized enterprises, there is often a lack of a company portal where employees can easily and quickly find all the information about their company or even contact persons. Therefore, Workplace One also includes activation of applicable Online Services such as Exchange, Teams, OneDrive etc. in Microsoft 365 to ensure that your employees have access and remote work capabilities. Employees can also access Microsoft 365 applications as well as cloud storage assigned to them via Microsoft 365 portals and applications. This way they have a uniform, user-friendly interface and do not have to tediously search for information and applications. They can access the portal from any device, at any time, as it can be accessed via Microsoft Teams, mobile apps or a web browser.
 
Simplified IT operations and transparent costs
With Workplace One, organisations save internal IT resources by implementing a cloud solution quickly and easily through Konica Minolta – instead of laboriously building and maintaining their own infrastructure. Konica Minolta takes care of operations, maintenance, user management, licences, updates and security. This allows organisations to save IT resources, reduce capital expenditure and lower ongoing operating costs. Thanks to a fixed monthly fee, they also have better predictability and cost planning.
 
Individuality and flexibility
The platform is configured to the exact requirements of each organisation and can be scaled as needed. The number of users and capacity requirements are variable, allowing applications and users to be added or removed.
 
Konica Minolta's Workplace One addresses organisations with up to 300 employees that either already use Microsoft 365 but still manage it themselves, or those that do not yet use it.