The IT Nerd

Konica Minolta Business Solutions today announced the expansion of its longstanding relationship with Square 9 Softworks into an exclusive partnership. This announcement comes on the heels of launching BlueIrisIQ, a newly created business unit designed to spearhead market growth in the content and information management segment. Square 9 is a leading provider of AI-powered information management and workflow automation solutions. This enhanced agreement marks a major milestone, positioning Konica Minolta as the sole North American distributor of Square 9’s award-winning offerings, a strategic move designed to deliver end-to-end service and support across both direct and dealer channels.

The expanded partnership reinforces Konica Minolta’s leadership in intelligent automation and scales the capabilities of BlueIrisIQ through a unified, enterprise-ready model. Together, the two organizations have created a streamlined structure that centralizes service delivery, accelerates implementation and strengthens post-sales support, all while fueling national market power and momentum.

As part of the enhanced partnership, Konica Minolta has introduced a dedicated team of Square 9-certified engineers to support sales, deployment and ongoing service. Customers also gain access to an exclusive support hotline offering direct communication with solution experts for faster resolutions and technical guidance.

By combining Square 9’s advanced automation tools with Konica Minolta’s dedicated delivery engine, the companies will lead the charge in AI-driven automation, revolutionizing the accessibility and affordability of intelligent information. By significantly reducing the cost of data extraction and removing barriers to entry, this partnership opens the door to markets that were once out of reach due to complexity or budget constraints.

Square 9’s reputation as an industry leader is rooted in its rapid deployment, user-friendly design and award-winning customer support, all of which are now embedded into Konica Minolta’s BlueIrisIQ service model. The result is a turnkey solution for customers looking to outsource operational pain points and drive digital transformation.

Learn more about BlueIrisIQ and its service offerings here.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions today announced the official launch of BlueIrisIQ™, a dynamic new division leveraging the foundation of the company’s existing Intelligent Information Management (IIM) services. With a logic-driven, customer-centric approach, BlueIrisIQ delivers tailored solutions designed to streamline data complexity and provide an automated approach to business operations. Its AI-powered offerings have the strength and ability to uncover deeper insights and predictive value from enterprise content, while its scalable solutions are designed to grow alongside any organization’s digital transformation journey.

Created to meet the evolving needs of modern organizations, BlueIrisIQ strengthens Konica Minolta’s ability to support both direct and dealer channels. It’s built on the belief that meaningful transformation starts with three core pillars of focus: Intelligent Content Solutions, Intelligent Automation, and Outsourced Scanning Services. Through these offerings, BlueIrisIQ provides both direct and dealer channels with greater access to innovative tools and resources that drive and deliver meaningful business outcomes for their customers.

The newly named business unit marks Konica Minolta’s continued investment in building a smarter, more connected digital future – where customers are not just managing their data, they’re mastering it.

Learn more about BlueIrisIQ and its service offerings here.

 Konica Minolta Business Solutions (Canada) Ltd. today announced its recommended layered security approach for customers who operate the company’s bizhub MFPs (multifunction printers) and other print devices to help protect organizations of all sizes from today’s increasing cybercrime threats that can halt operations, incur millions of dollars in expenses and ruin business reputations.

Recent studies show the global average data breach cost in 2023 has risen to $4.45M – a 15 percent increase over the last three years. Additionally, the increase in hybrid workforces over the last few years and the associated types of office, laptop, mobile and remote devices connected to business networks and the internet has made it more important than ever to protect users and a company’s customers from malware and other threats at every endpoint.

Because new threats appear constantly, and smaller businesses don’t often have expert IT help on staff, Konica Minolta is strongly advising customers who operate the company’s MFPs and other print devices to protect help protect themselves with additional layers of security solutions, all based on each customer’s and their industry’s needs.

IT departments at many organizations may not have the ability to ensure machine security across all devices, so automated security capabilities can significantly reduce risk – including potential security breaches that can happen inside an organization with unauthorized users at an MFP. Konica Minolta addresses these risks with tools such as hard drive lock passwords, hard drive encryption, automatic deletion of temporary image data, and data overwrite of electronic documents on a timed basis. Konica Minolta’s layered security solutions include:

bizhub SECURE family of entry-level services – Includes enhanced password and data security protection as well as advanced encryption for data in transit and at rest in the MFP. Users are only able to access the MFP with a password that is locked and stored to protect access to documents.

bizhub SECURE Notifier – Allows an organization to receive alerts in real time to protect their bizhub SECURE settings and offers a multitude of password safeguards. Embedded antivirus and malware protection checks for incoming, outgoing and data at rest and sends alerts for security issues.

Antivirus and malware protection powered by BitDefender^TM – Enables the MFP to scan for viruses as data is received and before outbound transmission. Checks for incoming, outgoing and data at rest in the MFP that could contain malware, which can include viruses, Trojan horses, ransomware and spyware. BitDefender is a worldwide leader in cybersecurity, offering real-time device protection, 24/7.

Shield Guard – Takes protection to another level by providing anywhere, anytime access to make monitoring and managing the security of an entire print fleet faster and easier. A single dashboard delivers instant notifications and alerts to enable immediate action if security vulnerabilities are detected, ensuring industry compliance.

Dispatcher Paragon+ – Delivers enhanced security measures plus a consolidated view of an organization’s entire print, copy, fax and scan operations to help boost productivity. This advanced document workflow solution provides secure pull print across an entire fleet of devices and single sign-on (SSO) multifactor authentication.

Dispatcher Phoenix – Securely captures, processes and distributes documents to help increase business productivity and efficiency, drive collaboration and reduce costs. This advanced, intelligent document workflow supports digital workflows with email or fax capture, streamlines print and scan activities and its centralized management interface requires little to no technical expertise.

Learn more about Konica Minolta’s data and device security solutions for every industry here.