Recognition of the company’s DX-based solutions to ensure a safe work environment during the pandemic
Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) was selected as an excellent company in the “Customer care” category in the “Covid-19 response” section in the Digital Transformation Survey (DX Survey) 2021. The DX survey is conducted annually by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan to recognise domestic companies that excel in the strategic use of IT. METI introduced the "Covid-19 response" section in the 2021 DX survey and selected companies that have effectively used digital technologies to prevent Covid-19.
The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way people work and live, and factors such as non-contact, decentralisation and individualisation have emerged as essential values for society. Konica Minolta boasts cutting-edge imaging and sensing technologies that can be effectively used to cater to these newly arising needs. With its remote, real-time and on-demand services as well as new technologies, the company has been delivering safety and security to customers’ workplaces and helping them address emerging social challenges. These efforts have now been recognised.
Why Konica Minolta was selected
Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, Konica Minolta had built an environment conducive to remote work, which enabled it to quickly shift to working from home when the pandemic struck. A survey shows that 80% of the company’s employees have maintained or even increased productivity, while its employees’ office attendance rate has remained around 20–30% on average in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Leveraging the know-how of this internal practice, Konica Minolta developed a service to analyse customers’ workflows and visualise issues that must be overcome for customers to introduce digital transformation into their business activities and shift to remote work. With this, Konica Minolta aims to support its customers in their fundamental work style reforms. This includes diverse work style options free from paperwork, working without time and space restrictions, and allowing customers to focus on more creative activities.
For workplaces that require physical attendance, Konica Minolta offers a thermal camera incorporating imaging IoT technology. In collaboration with partner companies, Konica Minolta has developed solutions for noncontact, real-time measurement of body surface temperature to detect people with elevated temperatures and for detecting whether people are wearing face masks. With these innovations, Konica Minolta is helping to ensure safe and secure access to and from offices and various other facilities and reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19, thus contributing to the prevention of infection.
For the healthcare market, Konica Minolta expanded the supply of ultra-portable digital X-ray imaging systems and diagnostic ultrasound systems, as well as pulse oximeters. To reduce the burden of nurses caring for Covid-19 patients, the company also launched the VS1 patient monitoring system after receiving prompt approval under the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Act. The VS1 allows patients’ arterial oxygen saturation values, which indicate the severity of Covid-19, to be transmitted via a sub-GHz wireless network to the nurses’ station, located outside the isolated zone. The network has a lower risk of interfering with other systems. This enables centralised data management at the station and reduces the risk of contact with infection sources.
