Konica Minolta Research Tackles IT Pain Points

Konica Minolta Research Tackles IT Pain Points

As the impact brought on by COVID-19 still goes on, relevant researches continue to be conducted in the industry. Following IDC and Quocirca’s steps, Konica Minolta shared findings in the new research by Keypoint Intelligence.

According to the research, 48 percent described security and data protection as being their number one IT challenge. 37 percent of businesses said that their employees had experienced virus, malware or security threats due to conditions imposed during the pandemic. As a result of those security issues, 47 percent of companies have acquired or upgraded IT security software or services.

The research also reveals that:

• SMBs encountered significant challenges in their efforts to enable remote work in the wake of the pandemic. 38 percent of IT decision-makers viewed managing remote work as being difficult or very difficult. For nearly half of SMBs (49 percent), the lack of necessary employee hardware or software was a difficulty associated with home-based working. Similarly, 44 percent of IT decision-makers identified servicing/supporting home workers’ IT hardware or software as a challenge. As a likely consequence of this, 33 percent invested in managed IT services as a result of COVID-19.

• In terms of day-to-day operations, remote work also presented particular challenges relating to team communication and in accessing and collaborating on files. 51 percent of respondents identified communication with managers or other employees as a business operation challenge resulting from work-from-home arrangements. Meanwhile, 37 percent indicated that locating files was an IT challenge associated with working from home. An additional 30 percent cited digital document collaboration as another business operations challenge resulting from employees working remotely. From these findings, it is clear why 35 percent of SMBs have invested in document sharing and collaboration applications as a result of the pandemic.

“Throughout the pandemic, we saw the challenges being faced by our SMB clients and our dealer partners, many of whom are SMBs themselves. The study revealed accelerated digital transformation across all industries, the desire of many organizations to adopt new technologies around security and data protection, and the need to ensure employees are properly equipped to do their jobs,” said Kay Fernandez, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Konica Minolta. “This insight confirmed our strategies and refined our response to support clients. Our customized technology solutions and services, such as All Covered Assurance, were specifically designed to manage the IT landscape and address these pain points for the SMB customer segment.” Fernandez added.

Some other findings include:

• 45 percent acquired or upgraded cloud data storage as a result of COVID-19.
• 65 percent of organizations decision-makers said that the pressures of the pandemic had accelerated their journey toward greater digitalization.
• 56 percent of organizations cited scanning initiatives prompted by COVID-19 as drivers for increased digitalization. Against this background, it is nevertheless remarkable that many SMBs (42 percent) are still heavily reliant on paper-based processes.
• 49 percent of organizations cited privacy and safety concerns as the main reason for still using paper.

Entrusted by Konica Minolta, Keypoint Intelligence surveyed 550 SMB (small and medium-sized businesses) IT decision-makers in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic to identify their main challenges and pain points relating to technology.

According to Konica Minolta, the “Top SMB IT Pain Points & Solutions” study was conducted from February to March 2021. Respondents were in the professional services, healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality and leisure and real estate industries. Each of the organizations has 50-250 employees. Respondents included those holding IT and non-IT roles within their organizations.

The whitepaper, complete with in-depth results and further findings, is available online from Konica Minolta and Keypoint Intelligence.

Related:

• IDC: Spend on Cloud Service Will Continue to Grow Due to Covid-19
• Quocirca: Print Industry Sees Innovation Opportunity
• Quocirca Reveals Move to Cloud Printing Strengthening
• Quocirca Snapshot Survey Reveals Office Print Changes

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