Quocirca names Konica Minolta ‘leader’ in print security

Latest report defines leading vendors and highlights the importance of print security for organisations of all sizes

In its latest report ‘The Print Security Landscape, 2022’ industry analyst Quocirca has classified Konica Minolta as a ‘leader’ in the field of print security, due to its comprehensive product portfolio and expertise: “Quocirca believes that beyond its traditional print security offerings, Konica Minolta’s deep expertise across IT services strongly sets it apart from some of its key competitors, particularly in the SME market.”

At the same time, the report underlines the importance of print security for most organisations, noting that two-thirds of the organisations surveyed for the report are set to increase their budgets in this area.

Phillip John, category manager at Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd stated, “Being named a ‘leader’ in the field of print security reflects our preeminent position in the market. Thanks to our strategic focus, we have the breadth of expertise and solutions to deliver secure and future-proof printing for our customers.”

Consequently, Quocirca considers Konica Minolta a leader in print security, among a select group of vendors “with strong strategic vision and a comprehensive print security product and service offering”. 

A standardised fleet by an MPS provider increases print security

According to the report, 68% of organisations have experienced data losses due to unsecure printing practices in the last 12 months. These data losses cost organisations an estimated average of more than £632,000 per breach.

It is striking that 73% of companies operating a mixed printer fleet reported data breaches, compared to only 58% of companies with a standardised printer fleet. Thus, according to Quocirca, a move to a managed, single vendor fleet to better control data security can be useful. This relevance is further enhanced by Quocirca’s study which shows 84% of companies using a managed print service are most confident in their print security, compared to only 49% for non-MPS users.

According to Quocirca, this “demonstrates how MPS can help organisations mitigate risk and instill confidence in their security posture.” Konica Minolta provides a “one stop shop” of solutions for secure printing. The digital workplace provider offers extensive managed print services from consulting, implementation, and maintenance of Konica Minolta MFPs to software solutions, which add security and efficiency to printing.

For example, Konica Minolta’s bizhub i-Series MFPs come with the optional BitDefender antivirus system. Security tests performed by NTT DATA have not discovered any vulnerability and proven the high security of Konica Minolta devices. Konica Minolta is continuing to innovate in this area and are looking to introduce a new solution later this year which will further enhance their security offering.

The new cloud-based solution, Shield Guard, offers remote MFP security monitoring and management, provides automatic notifications and remediation, and allows organisations to control the security status of multiple MFPs from anywhere. Shield Guard will work with Konica Minolta’s bizhub SECURE portfolio, which offers three different levels of service for each individual business’ needs.

Print security: A key topic for IT decision makers in 2022

All in all, the latest Quocirca report underlines the high importance of print security for organisations. As many as 70% of surveyed IT decision makers expect to increase their print security spend in 2022. “Konica Minolta will remain the partner of choice for organisations and the implementation and management of their secure printing environment,” concludes John. “And, with our Optimized Print Services, Konica Minolta unburdens organisations from managing their print environment and lets them focus on their core business.”