Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. (Ramsey, New Jersey) and its IT Services Division, All Covered, are partnering to share global efforts to support local communities and help customers maintain business continuity during the current Coronavirus pandemic. The OEM is re-directing everyday innovations – such as the digital workplace, security solutions, infrared thermography solutions, on-demand teaching material development, remote diagnosis and diagnostic imaging equipment – to create new value to help customers solve issues arising from current worldwide health challenges. Specifically:
- Konica Minolta’s education practice is holding training to “teach” teachers how to use G-Suite and Office 365 to facilitate remote learning.
- The Dremel 3D40 Printer has been programmed to create and print air-filtering masks, enabling All Covered’s MacProfessional team to continue helping essential businesses in need of equipment.
- Konica Minolta is testing its Mobotix Thermal TR cameras at a local hospital in New York to help front-line healthcare workers assess patient symptoms faster.
- Through its robotics business, Konica Minolta is using its Double 2 Telepresence Robots to enable remote telehealth sessions between doctors and patients – an important initiative as U.S. doctors over the age of 65 have been ordered to stay at home.
- In its production print and packaging segment, Konica Minolta is facilitating a new Service Sharing offering through its ProKom User Community. Businesses needing support to complete a print job can now partner with other Konica Minolta customers to finish projects.
- For customers transitioning to remote work, All Covered is providing access to the tools needed to facilitate connectivity.
“We are proactively reaching out to our dealer partners and clients to find out their immediate needs, and deploying resources and technicians quickly to serve them,” said Rick Taylor, President and CEO of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. “Our services are now mission-critical; work is where you are.” Taylor also announced that hourly service employees will be considered “on-call” during their normal hours to avoid a disruption in pay. This was particularly important for Konica Minolta’s large service group in the San Francisco area, where all but the most critical operations were shut down. “Our employees are our greatest assets, and our goal is to keep them healthy, maintain our supply chain, and continue assisting our partners,” Taylor added.
As a global company, innovation is not limited to the OEM’s business in Canada or the United States. For example:
- In Italy, Konica Minolta is collaborating with the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, a research facility in Genoa, and the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, to develop robots to assist patients and support nurses and doctors by conducting basic monitoring activities.
- Konica Minolta’s R&D Rome Lab has become an influential source of information for many national media outlets by publishing a weekly COVID-19 report and providing daily video analysis.
- Konica Minolta, Inc. donated $1.2 million in supplies (MFPs and medical equipment) to local medical efforts in China, aimed to support communities affected by the virus.
- In Great Britain, Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Limited joined the C19 Business pledge to help mobilize the business response to COVID-19.
Konica Minolta further emphasized that it’s dedicated to keeping its employees safe and healthy “while helping customers and the community navigate these unprecedented circumstances.”
