Konica Minolta’s bizhub MarketPlace honoured with award from Buyers Laboratory

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. has announced that the company’s bizhub MarketPlace has been honoured with a prestigious Pick Award for “Outstanding MFP App Ecosystem” from the analysts at Buyers Laboratory (BLI), the world’s leading independent evaluator of document imaging software. Konica Minolta developed the bizhub MarketPlace to serve as an online store for licensing and deploying time-saving apps designed for use on its MFPs. The bizhub MarketPlace apps help streamline workflows and improve efficiencies and also host a user interface (UI) customization studio where customers can create and deploy control-panel UIs personalized to the needs of their users. BLI recognized the platform for its many strengths, including:

• Tools that allow administrators and other users to easily create customized control-panel UIs and remotely deploy them via the bizhub MarketPlace portal.
• A wide library of productivity-enhancing apps for scanning, printing, cloud access, communication, security and more, that extend MFP functionality and the user experience.
• Easy customization capabilities to best suit a company or specific department’s workflow.
• Cost-saving print management features that can be deployed via the custom UIs.
• Enterprise management features, including simplified app and MFP UI licensing across a fleet of MFPs from the bizhub MarketPlace administration portal.

“This award is the recognition of Konica Minolta’s commitment to providing the industry with innovative solutions for ready-to-use business applications,” said Dino Pagliarello, Vice President of Product Planning and Konica Minolta. “With the bizhub MarketPlace, we’ve delivered the most modern platform available to our users.”
IT personnel (and others with a bizhub Marketplace login) can browse and deploy any of the listed applications to extend the features and functionality of their compatible bizhub MFPs. Administrators can utilize a web-based, intuitive drag-and-drop tool to create and deploy customized user interfaces. MFP UIs can be populated with specific features needed by the customer to tackle desired workflow processes – thus simplifying use, reducing errors and making it easier for staff to work more efficiently while using the MFP. In addition to the DIY capabilities of the UI Builder tool, Konica Minolta also offers professional design services through its Solutions Engineering Center to create custom UIs for customers. A key feature of the bizhub MarketPlace Chameleon is that users have the ability to customize the UI to conform with company branding.
“Konica Minolta’s bizhub Marketplace is at the forefront in the growing trend of MFP ‘app’ stores, and its added Chameleon features are particularly impressive,” said Jamie Bsales, Director of Office Workflow Solutions Analysis at BLI. “You can build custom UIs that will turn multi-step processes into one-touch processes, which will save time and reduce mistakes for users of the MFP.”