Macquarie Telecom has announced it has signed a deal with Konica Minolta Australia to prevent communication issues as hybrid working becomes commonplace.

Macquarie Telecom will be providing SD-WAN, nbn, cloud and data centre services to help Konica Minolta support its future workplace.

In addition, the partnership will facilitate stronger virtual sales.

Headquartered in Japan, Konica Minolta specialises in business and industrial imaging products and services.

The company has almost 500 staff and works with more than 6,000 customers across Australia.

Furthermore, Konica Minolta has been working with Macquarie Telecom for over two decades and selected it for this new, expanded agreement to assist in streamlining its telecoms and data networks.

As a result, the organisation is in a solid position to advance its digital strategy, including a significant SAP S/4HANA overhaul currently underway.

“The future we're aiming to deliver for Australian businesses is all about responsibility, connectivity and security, easily the most important qualities we need in light of COVID-19,” Konica Minolta CIO Nick Jones says.

“Macquarie shares that vision, and has worked with us to develop a new, much higher-value agreement that leverages its new technologies, helping us to deliver our digital strategy.

Macquarie Telecom has worked with Konica Minolta to migrate all of its sites to the nbn and SD-WAN technology, creating a system that means staff only need an internet connection to work from home.

Moreover, establishing this technology has improved speed and efficiency by 30% and reduced costs by 15%.

The company is also using Macquarie Cloud Services and Macquarie Data Centres for data hosting and colocation services, with this environment expanded as Macquarie builds out its broader data centre campus across Sydney and Canberra, including its largest facility being constructed, IC3 Super West.

“The groundwork we laid with Macquarie for these upgraded services set us up to be fully remotely connected when the pandemic and work-from-home restrictions set in,” Jones says.

“500 people very suddenly had to go home, and productivity remained and even improved in a number of areas.

Konica Minolta notes its continued success during the pandemic, saying that it has embraced hybrid work and has built its technology services around it.

The company is also looking to expand its Microsoft Teams footprint to support increased sales activity and internal communication.

“We're seeing major sales happening via Teams, and we want to embrace that rather than seeing it as temporary,” said Jones.

“We also want to encourage more video communication between staff. It's easy to lose context over email, and we've seen that cause avoidable issues between staff.

“We want to encourage more video communication over Teams, and potentially even video communications sent over email, to change this.

“Macquarie's partnership with Microsoft, particularly its Azure Expert MSP status, is a huge asset to us to drive and make these changes stick.

Konica Minolta also emphasised security and sovereignty in its decision due to its offerings being used by Australian companies in their collection and utilisation of confidential data and personally identifiable information such as photos and scans. Macquarie Telecom's data sovereignty and all-local staff reduce risk and help to protect this data.

“It's not luck that Konica Minolta has stood the test of time in one of the most heavily disrupted industries,” Macquarie Telecom group executive Luke Clifton says.

“This company has an unwavering ability and commitment to adapting and providing the services its customers need now and for the future.

“Fortunately, we too have adapted over the years, allowing us to support Konica with new technologies to support its growth and its important role in campaigning for supply chain responsibility.