SMBs are settling for technology that underdelivers new survey reveals – Countering this, Konica Minolta’s Workplace Hub is set to simplify IT for customers

As part of this endeavour, Konica Minolta has been aggressively investing in R&D, opening its labs to support co-innovation with customers. With a strong footprint of over 2 million customers, the team have actively placed customer research at the heart of all they do to ensure the most relevant solutions are developed.

The multinational survey, conducted in August 2018, exclusively revealed that SMBs are currently settling for IT that under delivers. At least a third of respondents reported that technical issues can lead to increased costs, lower productivity and diminished quality of work. Despite this, 95% say they are satisfied with their current IT solutions. Konica Minolta, who have a clear Workplace of the Future® vision, disagree that problem-filled IT should be the norm in a business setting. To help SMBs overcome these challenges, Konica Minolta created Workplace Hub, a category-defining range of connected office products and services built around how people work.

With the research finding that 91% of SMBs say an all-in-one IT system that seamlessly integrates hardware, software and services into a multi-vendor, one-stop solution would be relevant to their organisations, Konica Minolta’s Workplace Hub platform delivers what the customers need. Working with a stellar line-up of partners (Acronis, Canonical, Elastic, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Microsoft, Oracle Dyn, ScienceLogic, ServiceNow and Sophos), Konica Minolta have released Hub and Edge as the first two products to support SMBs in this category.

The first product from this portfolio, known as the Hub, optimises office space for those who need it, building an IoT infrastructure with servers and software in a 1 metre squared space. Edge, a solution for those looking to boost performance from their server room, is a managed IT service that can complement existing systems to manage specific operational tasks or replace and manage all IT. For Konica Minolta, these solutions are the natural continuation in its long line of innovation and world-firsts, and fully supports the transformative journey the company is taking.

Key result from the survey

The SMB IT pain-point survey for Konica Minolta was conducted in partnership with Opinium, and targeted 200 SMB senior decision makers per country, across the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany. Global highlights include the following:

1. IT challenges

Although 95 percent of organisations across all markets say they are satisfied with their current IT solutions, they also report, in significant numbers, a variety of critical challenges. This includes:

• Hardware not working (27%)

• Admin IT problems (24%)

• Outdated software (24%)

• Poor internet connectivity (20%)

• Security risks (23%)

• Servers crashing (20%)

2. Impact on the business

Nearly one in five SMBs (18%) say that problems with IT infrastructure are one of the three most significant challenges facing their business. The impact of these IT challenges on their businesses is also significant, including:

• Time required to fix the problems (41%)

• Lower employee productivity (37%)

• Cost to fix the problems (35%)

• Diminished quality of work (35%)

3. Limiting innovation

While 84% of SMBs across the U.S., the UK, France and Germany feel positively about the impact of future technology on their business’s productivity, many are struggling to implement new IT solutions. For example, over half of SMBs (56%) say they welcome the integration and adoption of AI and machine learning and believe a future that includes these technologies is exciting. An additional 37% say they are cautiously optimistic about the technology.

However, many of the AI and machine learning solutions coming on the market today require the adoption of cloud technologies, and yet according to the survey, only 21% say they plan to adopt cloud infrastructure in the next year and only 19% say they plan to adopt cloud applications. Of those not planning to adopt cloud infrastructure, the reasons include:

• Technology is too expensive or the budget isn’t available (30%)

• Organisation doesn’t have a use for the technology (29%)

• Organisation doesn’t have the expertise to use it (21%)

4. Simplifying IT

Despite the claim of satisfaction with current IT infrastructure, 91% of SMBs say an all-in-one IT system that seamlessly integrates hardware, software and services into a multi-vendor, one-stop solution would be relevant to their organisations.

For more information about Workplace Hub, visit http://workplacehub.com.