Russell Fisher

To determine the A3 Line of the Year Award recipient, Keypoint Intelligence considers current MFPs in the OEM’s portfolio that have been submitted for lab testing. To judge the overall quality of the line, analysts look at the overall rating a device received after testing as well as the ratings in key categories such as Reliability, Value, Image Quality, Usability, and Speed.

“Konica Minolta has skillfully crafted an A3 portfolio that is extremely reliable and easy to use across workgroup categories,” said George Mikolay Keypoint Intelligence’s Associate Director of A3 Hardware/Production. “Moreover, Konica Minolta has done a masterful job of incorporating the software solutions, along with the apps and onboard tools, necessary in this day and age to bring a level of personalization to their line for every user, wherever they are. The outstanding reliability, as well as the consistency in both performance and usability throughout the line, ensures users can seamlessly jump from one speed band to the next based on workload and availability, with little if any drop-off in efficiency and effectiveness.”

“Thank you to Keypoint Intelligence for this honor, we are tremendously proud to be recognized for the best A3 product line in the market,” said Dino Pagliarello, Senior Vice President, Product Management and Planning, Konica Minolta. “As an organization that has expanded into many different areas, we have remained true to this industry and driving our core business by continuing to incorporate advanced technology and functionality to improve customer experience. Winning the BLI 2021 A3 Line of the Year Award is a testament to our unwavering dedication.”

About Keypoint Intelligence

For 60 years, clients in the digital imaging industry have relied on Keypoint Intelligence for independent hands-on testing, lab data, and extensive market research to drive their product and sales success. Keypoint Intelligence has been recognized as the industry’s most trusted resource for unbiased information, analysis, and awards due to decades of analyst experience. Customers have harnessed this mission-critical knowledge for strategic decision-making, daily sales enablement, and operational excellence to improve business goals and increase bottom lines. With a central focus on clients, Keypoint Intelligence continues to evolve as the industry changes by expanding offerings and updating methods, while intimately understanding and serving manufacturers’, channels’, and their customers’ transformation in the digital printing and imaging sector.

About BLI Line of the Year Awards

Line of the Year Awards salute the companies that provide a broad range of hardware or software and whose products consistently performed above average throughout testing. Much consideration is also made by Keypoint Intelligence analysts and technicians in areas such as ease of use, features, and value, across an entire portfolio for that product area, with the end result being the most prestigious Buyers Lab Awards offered.

Are you considering permanent remote work for your company?  Here a few reasons this might be worth pursuing.

Because of  the Covid-19 pandemic many companies have been more or less forced to set up a remote workforce.  We believe that while some companies will go back to their model of working in the office 8-5, there are a good majority that will keep their employees at home after the pandemic is over.  A national U.S. survey found that 73 percent of remote workforce workers report higher satisfaction with their jobs.  With the number of technology solutions that exist (many of which we offer) this is something for business owners to seriously take a look at.  Here are 3 reasons why you may want to consider this for your company.

#1: Increased Employee Productivity

There has been a ton of research that indicates a major increase in staff production by using a remote workforce.  Some companies have technology in place to manage task based production targets.  Simply meaning, once employees complete their tasks they are more or less done for the day.  As long as they continue to hit these goals, and you have an effective system in place to track their statistics and productivity, then worrying about how many hours they work may not be as much of a concern.  Staff generally spend time “in the office” not doing work but just chatting about the latest scandals, news, etc.

• 45% of home workers report they are able to work smarter (get more done in less time)
• 44% say they are less distracted and accomplish more than in the office
• 90% of managers report employees are more productive when given the flexibility to choose when and how they work

#2: Greater Employee Retention

Today many employers are using the remote workforce model as a key benefit to being employed with their company. When given the opportunity to chose between a company that doesn’t offer remote work and one that does, 82% of employees say they would be more loyal to employers that offer this perk than those that do not.  In addition, studies also show that, depending on your type of business, you open up a much larger geographic zone to hire from as drive time and distance do not limit your potential talent pool.

#3: Increase yours and your employees bottom line

Allowing your employees to engage in remote work can save you and them a great deal of money.  Global Workplace Analytics reports that if 50 percent of the U.S. workforce worked from home half of the time, the savings would be over $700 billion a year.  Not to mention the environmental impact of removing a large majority of cars off the roads.  In addition, there are many companies offering inventory fulfillment services so that companies can lower overhead on warehousing costs, etc.  Fulfillment companies can ship order for you by directly interfacing with your company software.   With an ever evolving digital landscape around Unified Communications As a Services (UCAAS) and Contact Center As a Service (CCAAS), companies can massively cut overhead for in house technology and push it to the cloud, further enabling the work from home business model.

And most of all, let’s not forget real estate costs.  The savings here is immense.

How can we help?

BOSS over the last 2 years has fully evolved its offerings to not only include the latest in copier and printing technology, but in becoming an office technology provider in the truest sense.  We have decided to make a strong stand in pushing customers who work with us to the cloud.  There are very few reasons why small businesses of 100 employees or less still need to manage on-site technology such as servers, phone systems, etc.

We have created turn-key packages of solutions which focus on a few key areas:

1. Connectivity:

   The common attitude is, “we just buy our internet and find the fastest and cheapest solution out there.”  This is a bad approach, especially when more and more of business applications are accessed via the cloud.  The correct approach is not a “one size fits all” approach.  BOSS has access to nearly every one of the largest internet service providers (ISPs) in the industry and can broker these solutions, or combination of solutions, to get you the exact service and redundancy that your company needs.  In addition, we can offer up some of the industries best in internet connectivity optimization.  (aka SD-WAN)

2. Communication:

   The quality of your business communications is of utmost importance to our cloud consultants.  With the office world quickly evolving to mobile based communications and not being tied to the desk, this brings both opportunity and complexity to deciding on which solutions are best for you. Our cloud-trained consultants come to the table with a suitcase of solutions that they will tailor-pick to best match your company’s needs.  How can people reach you anywhere?  Get rid of the cost of in-house premise based phones systems?  Add integrated chat, conference and file sharing for internal communications and get away from high risk email?  All of these are possible with our solutions and more.

3. Security:

   Once your business has moved all or most of its applications and company functionality to the cloud it is critical that it is properly secured.  Our experts can consult your business about the exact solutions you need to secure your organization.  Between BOSS staff and our partner relationships we can help any company with security as well as policy and compliance services.  In addition, we offer a Security Operations Center  (SOC) solution to deal with issues that come up on your network.  It’s one thing to have the hardware in place to detect security threats, but who handles detected issues?  The SOC takes care of this aspect.

Interested in hearing more?  Set up a free remote meeting consultation today!