Quocirca report sees Konica Minolta as A-C-T Leader

A new report from global market research and insight firm, Quocirca, focuses on Automation and AI, Cloud and Technology Ecosystems (A-C-T) and recognises Konica Minolta’s evolution ‘from hardware-centric offerings to cloud-first, analytics-driven, and AI-enabled solutions for the digital workplace’. In the ACT Print Industry Ecosystem Report 2026, Quocirca ranks Konica Minolta as a global leader in these areas.

The report states that ‘print is no longer viewed as a standalone discipline, but rather as an integral part of a comprehensive digital workplace ecosystem and its customers increasingly expect print infrastructure to align with cloud platforms, identity systems, security architectures and workflow automation tools’. Noting this, the report essentially assesses how well vendors can support these expectations today and evolve alongside them in the future i.e. which vendors can credibly support their broader objectives around cloud adoption, AI enablement, security, compliance, and workplace transformation.

The report affirms: ‘Across its portfolio, Konica Minolta demonstrates a clear cloud‑first and analytics‑driven strategy, with the company positioning itself as a credible long-term partner for organisations pursuing digital workplace transformation’.

Accompanying the Quocirca report is research revealing what organisations in France, Germany, UK and US consider to be the most important ways AI can be applied to print technology: 32% of companies stated that AI should primarily help reduce environmental impact of print infrastructures. Other key areas of application include automating printing workflows (31%), optimising toner and ink usage (28%), using copilots or assistants for recommending document layouts or summarising documents (27%), improving print quality (26%), and predicting and preventing maintenance issues (25%).

According to the report, ‘advanced AI is embedded within Konica Minolta’s multifunction devices, delivering greater efficiency, optimised performance, improved quality and greater reliability, through real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance’. In addition, Konica Minolta supports AI-based workflow automation and intelligent document processing for document capture and processing and AI technology also enhances device and document security, with proactive prevention, detection and response to anomalies and potential threats.

The second ACT module addresses the transition to cloud-based operating models, allowing employees to print, scan and access documents from any location. Quocirca notes that companies are increasingly opting for hybrid cloud approaches: while 35% of organisations (Konica Minolta amongst them) already having a fully cloud-based print management infrastructure and 43% using hybrid models, primarily for data sovereignty and compliance reasons.

The third pillar of the A-C-T Framework evaluates providers’ ability to build and leverage a stable ecosystem of technology partners. Quocirca emphasises that it is no longer just about hardware, but about how a print service provider’s solution can be integrated into the customer’s broader IT environment. This is particularly significant given that companies cite IT service providers as their first choice (28%) for the delivery of print services, with traditional print providers coming in second (22%).

In this context, Konica Minolta is described as a provider that has ‘a broad network of strategic technology partnerships that collectively drive its innovation agenda by expanding AI capabilities, strengthening cloud ecosystems, and enabling secure, scalable digital workplace solutions’.

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