Case Study: Konica Minolta uses M2M technology to track corporate printer usage: As well as diagnose and respond to faults remotely and increase user efficiency

The Challenge
Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd markets business machines manufactured by Konica Minolta Business Technologies Inc, in the United Kingdom, through a direct sales force and a network of independent dealerships. The company maintains over 56,000 multi-functional printing devices, in situ at customer sites, and handles over 20,000 telephone requests for on-site service and consumable orders per month. Konica Minolta employs 291 field service engineers and schedules around 645 onsite visits per day.
For the millions of businesses all over the world that use printers every day, depleting toner and technical faults are a regular occurrence. Revenue generation on consumables, and expenditure on engineer call-outs, are critical streams for printer manufacturers. Having supplied print solutions to a wide variety of industries for many years, Konica Minolta realised that huge efficiencies could be made, and a lot of stress on the part of its customers could be removed, by making it possible to monitor the usage of each device, re-order supplies and remotely diagnose and deal with issues as they happen.
Konica Minolta wanted a way to be able to connect with each device, remotely monitor usage, diagnose and deal with any faults quickly and effectively and, crucially, automatically. It was hoped that this would remove the need for Konica Minolta’s customers to deal with irritating faults; reducing downtime and ensuring productivity isn’t compromised.
To help achieve this, Konica Minolta consulted with Wireless Logic, the UK’s specialist M2M SIM aggregator, to look at integrating managed connectivity into its devices.
The solution
Konica Minolta developed ‘CS Remote Care’, designed to reduce customers’ workloads and increase the productivity of their devices, giving greater return on investment, increased peace of mind and better streamlined workflow and administration.
Each device is fitted with a GSM module, embedded with a Wireless Logic SIM card that is remotely activated when the device is dispatched and set up. Each SIM card is given a fixed IP address, with a choice of operator, allowing two way communication between the printer and Konica Minolta. This is then managed and monitored via Wireless Logic’s ‘ManageNet’ secure private network management platform.
Once a SIM is installed and activated, Konica Minolta can monitor each of its devices; its location, usage, toner availability and performance. It automatically re-orders printer toner or toner once the supply is running low which means that companies should never run out – something that will be welcomed by businesses everywhere. The service can also diagnose any faults or issues immediately; sending an email to the customer organisation and mobilising Konica Minolta to call out an engineer.
By communicating over the GSM mobile network, reliability and service of connectivity were key. The Konica Minolta team worked closely with Wireless Logic to investigate the best way to connect, monitor and manage its customers’ printing devices; Wireless Logic’s ManageNet was the solution. This is a fully managed connectivity service which addresses connectivity, security, managed firewall and M-VPN’s.
ManageNet delivers a host of features to Konica Minolta. As a fully managed service, tailored to Konica Minolta’s needs, ManageNet avoids the need for them to invest in expensive set-up costs to develop their own private network. The ManageNet platform enables Konica Minolta to provide a scalable connectivity infrastructure which is simple to integrate into existing back-end systems, across a multitude of devices. ManageNet also provides Konica Minolta with transparent and granular billing.
The result
Creating a connected network of devices has realised a number of benefits for Konica Minolta and its customers.
The self-ordering feature of the service has been of real benefit, not just to its customers but to Konica Minolta itself. The company is now able to advise customers about the usage of their devices by being able to monitor consumption and performance. As the company has vast experience in the copier and printer industry it can give valuable advice to customers as to how best to use their devices, in the most efficient and economical way.
Brent Mayo, Customer Support Manager, Konica Minolta says: “This technology has brought many benefits to our customers, such as automatic ordering of consumables and automatic logging of faults, which are directly logged into Konica Minolta’s ERP system. This saves time and means we know of faults before our customers do; allowing us to be more proactive in effecting a repair.”
Konica Minolta’s Customer Support Remote Care service provides proactive and highly flexible service support helping keep devices running smoothly, minimising interruptions and maximising system availability. All relevant system data that is transmitted directly to the Konica Minolta service happens automatically and never needs user intervention.
Konica Minolta’s monitoring systems are providing companies with important device usage information that can then be used in reports. The technology is able to produce statistics on each individual device’s daily usage such as: copies/prints per hour, busiest usage times, from which department, colour or black and white printing. These statistics can then be analysed and addressed by businesses to help them become more efficient.
Working with Wireless Logic, Konica Minolta experiences a ‘one stop connectivity solution’ with one point of contact across all of the UK’s cellular networks. Tailored tariffs from each of the networks have been developed to meet the data needs of the device portfolio. Invoicing is itemised and consolidated, easing the monthly burden of multiple network billing. Dramatic cost savings have been made by utilising the infrastructure of ManageNet, avoiding expenditure of setting up their own mobile private network.
Resilience is also important; ManageNet has ‘failover’ back-up systems that give 99.99% service. Wireless Logic provides a comprehensive account management support facility with regular reviews based upon performance, tariff expenditure, and service updates. Finally, being able to automate device communication has significantly reduced the administrative burden for Konica Minolta.