Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. has announced an expansion of its cloud-enabled MFP portfolio with the introduction of the company's next-generation platform, Dispatcher Paragon Cloud V2.0. Designed to eliminate complexities associated with traditional on-premise print infrastructure and deployment headaches, this software-as-a-service (SaaS) secure pull-print offering helps simplify and modernize print infrastructures through migration to the cloud. Dispatcher Paragon Cloud V2.0 liberates clients' IT teams to focus on more meaningful work and allow businesses to forego print management.

To enhance IT team and user experiences, Dispatcher Paragon Cloud V2.0's single driver is designed to work across all models and brands in today's printer market, unlike universal print drivers. Once users authenticate themselves at a device, Dispatcher Paragon Cloud V2.0 formats the job — including all finishing options — and seamlessly sends it to the selected printer.

Dispatcher Paragon V2.0 includes a simple but game-changing enhancement to direct printing with a new, location-aware platform that automatically discovers and shows users the printers available at their location. Users have access to printers without having to install devices or drivers. Available printers are automatically displayed, and those no longer available are automatically removed — especially helpful for users who travel from office to office during their workdays.

In addition, Dispatcher Paragon 2.0 complements Konica Minolta's Dispatcher ScanTrip Cloud, a Konica Minolta-owned intellectual property launched in July 2023 and built on the success of the company's Dispatcher Phoenix document workflow offering. Sold separately, it gives companies access to zero-footprint scan workflow automation with OCR processing in the cloud to optimize the way users work, saving time and money. An intuitive interface with single sign-on (SSO) allows users to quickly and easily scan, process and route documents to all of today's popular cloud apps, including, but not limited to, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox and SharePoint Online. Dispatcher ScanTrip Cloud can also provide full or zonal optical character recognition (OCR), data extraction, intelligent routing based on metadata, document renaming based on metadata and more.

"Moving printing to the cloud means that customers can eliminate hardware and print-supported headaches," said Chris Bilello, vice president of business solutions development, Konica Minolta. "By using Dispatcher Paragon Cloud, businesses no longer need dedicated print servers costing thousands of dollars per year, which allows them to move from multiple drivers to one single, full-featured driver. This means they can enjoy a hardware-less, cloud-based print solution with zero-trust networking and end-to-end data encryption, thus freeing them up from the historical burden of print management."

Quick to set up, Dispatcher Paragon Cloud V2.0 is a cloud-based multitenancy print solution with all the flexibility and benefits of a SaaS solution. It streamlines organizations' print infrastructures and offers optimal security and flexible printing options while also reducing IT staff workload. The solution also greatly reduces labor time and costs during deployment by eliminating the need to install MFP and printer-based Loadable Device Drivers (LDDs) to enable card readers on every device, making this functionality plug-and-play right out of the box. This new feature is supported by the company's most popular selling IC card readers.

Also for IT teams, a new bizhub MFP Paragon Cloud V2.0 MarketPlace app offers a simple yet powerful solution that delivers secure printing capabilities at the device level to users without the need for any on-premises infrastructure, aside from the printers themselves.

"These innovations are making it easier than ever for health care, financial and other document-intensive businesses to save valuable time, reduce day-to-day printing and scanning expenses and to increase their overall productivity and response to internal and external customers," Bilello said.

In other news, Konica Minolta has announced it has received first place in Brand Loyalty in the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (CLEI) for the seventeenth consecutive year. The win confirms that Konica Minolta best meets, or exceeds, customer expectations among all brands competing in the category.

Brand Keys, a New York–based client loyalty and engagement consultancy, publishes the annual syndicated study, which recognized Konica Minolta for Brand Loyalty in the "MFP Office Copier" (multifunction printer) category. The Brand Keys' data paints a detailed picture of the category drivers that engage customers, engender loyalty and drive real profits.

This year's results validate customer expectations as the most accurate and predictive loyalty indicators, proving conclusively that better addressing consumer expectations turn everyday-brands into "Loyalty Juggernauts." The research also makes it clear that consumers will not simply settle. Their emotional expectations are the hardest to measure, but that is why they are the most valuable. In this year's survey, cross-category expectations increased 34%, but on average, most brands have only kept up by 8%. Loyalty Juggernauts reduce that gap up to 50%, thereby virtually guaranteeing ongoing and consistent customer loyalty.

"Providing exceptional customer support is critical to fostering mutually beneficial relationships that garner positive experiences and ultimately lead to the success of our clients," said Stacey Sujeebun, director of corporate marketing and brand communications, Konica Minolta. "Through mutual trust and transparency, we continue to maintain the loyalty of our customers, and we are committed to upholding the world-class customer service that has allowed us to earn this recognition every year."

Brand Keys' 27th annual CLEI and research consultancy identifies brands that are best able to engage clients by meeting or exceeding their expectations, thereby creating client loyalty. The Index recognizes the brands that receive the highest loyalty and engagement assessments, and surpass competitors for responding to the category values customers desire most.

"Brand loyalty has evolved from a simple choice between two brands to a complex dance where consumer expectations lead and brands must follow," said Robert Passikoff, founder and president, Brand Keys. "As customers continue to demand more from their providers, Konica Minolta answers the call, finding new ways to improve user experience and maintain their customers' loyalty. As a result, they hold on to their number-one ranking year after year. We congratulate them for their ongoing diligence and dedication."

This year's Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index examined customers' relationships with 1,200 brands in 114 categories.