Konica Minolta’s Workplace Hub Aims to Be the Workplace of the Future

The Workplace Hub MFP

Five years in the making, Konica Minolta’s new Workplace Hub is intended to dominate the SMB environment.  Unveiled in dramatic fashion in Berlin on March 23rd, 2017, the Workplace Hub represents a paradigm shift for Konica Minolta.

When word of Konica Minolta’s new Workplace Hub platform first surfaced, the most common question we heard was, “What is it?” That’s understandable, since it’s not like any other product that Konica Minolta, or any other printer/copier manufacturer for that matter, sells.

In a nutshell, Workplace Hub is a multi-vendor device that serves as a platform to integrate hardware, software and services across an organization’s entire IT ecosystem. That includes what companies are likely to have in place today and in the near future. Konica Minolta, in fact, calls Workplace Hub “the most connected intelligent edge platform for the workplace of the future. (The definition of the term “intelligent edge” varies, but in general it refers to devices that sit on the edge of a network to provide analytical, management, or security capabilities.)

Konica Minolta’s product roadmap for Workplace Hub includes integration of internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and decision support capabilities. All of this is planned with the expectation of greater demand for collaboration and data-driven decision making, all being done in a mobile-friendly, secure environment.

Shoei Yamada, President & CEO of Konica Minolta, Unveiling Workplace Hub in Berlin, Germany, March 2017

Dennis Curry, a Vice President and Director of Business Innovation and R&D at Konica Minolta, said “Workplace Hub will evolve to become the most comprehensive platform for the services and capabilities demanded by the workplace of the future. It means businesses can grow and manage their IT in tandem with changing business needs. It simplifies IT operations today and paves the way for exciting new integrations, such as AI and intelligent edge computing, to become a central part of the digital organization of the future.”

Version 1.0 of Workplace Hub will be available in October, and it will provide a single view of the IT landscape. With it, administrators will have a complete view of usage patterns that will give them insight into how they might optimize processes. Workplace Hub also allows for greater automation of IT processes.

The Workplace Hub Ecosystem

What you get with Workplace Hub is an infrastructure that includes a “smart” Konica Minolta MFP, a server based on Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) technology, local and cloud storage, and secure WiFi access points. The company also provides software to securely manage data stored locally and in the cloud.

A web-accessible Workplace Admin Dashboard gives a comprehensive view of the IT infrastructure. This includes stored data and its location, system security status, security settings, and user status. Through the dashboard, administrators can purchase additional storage, manage users, adjust security levels, and set WiFi access rights. Storage purchases are done through Konica Minolta Marketplace, where administrators can also buy business applications and IT services.

Konica Minolta has partnered with a number of companies including HPE, Sophos, and Microsoft for best in class hardware, security and IT services. Canonical and BrainTribe provide data management capabilities to help companies’ meet digital transformation objectives.

“Workplace Hub not only allows businesses of all sizes to achieve effective transformation, but future-proof themselves against the next wave of technology innovations already infiltrating the business environment,” said Shoei Yamana, CEO and President of Konica Minolta Inc.

Conceptually, Workplace Hub should appeal most to small- to medium-sized businesses, not to mention the Konica Minolta channel partners who serve that market. Who doesn’t like the idea of a single platform to evaluate and purchase IT resources, manage the entire multi-vendor IT landscape, manage users, and analyze usage and performance with an eye toward optimization? Konica Minolta now has the big task of educating the market and its channel about the value of Workplace Hub.