Every year, 300,000 guests from the Netherlands and abroad visit the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen. About 250 employees and 250 volunteers help visitors experience what life was like around the Zuider Zee bay from 1900 to 1930, before the bay became the inland Ijsselmeer lake. As a major employer in the region and conservator of cultural heritage, the Zuiderzee-museum is well aware of its important role in society. It also takes its responsibility towards sustainability seriously. This is one of the reasons the museum decided to join forces with Konica Minolta to create a sustainable document management system by using the Enabling Carbon Neutrality service.
The Zuiderzeemuseum explicitly asks all its suppliers, from food service to maintenance companies, to comply with its sustainability policy.“ When we recently contracted out our document infrastructure, carbon offsetting was one of the requirements. In addition, we were also looking for manageability, ease of use, integration with our AFAS software and – last but not least – system stability. Our museum covers a large surface area, with document systems at a number of different locations. As the IT department, you don’t want to have to go to those locations every time you need to get a computer to work.”
A follow-me solution was also high on the wish list: “Sometimes employees work at a different office. In the past, if you didn’t adjust the printer settings, your document would have been printed at your primary location. That was a hassle, especially if you’re working with confidential documents like our HR department does. That’s why we wanted ‘follow-me’ as a security solution. Hard copies are only printed at that the document system, where you enter your personal PIN code into. Thanks to this solution, there’s also less waste as documents can no longer be printed accidentally. That’s good for the environment.”
Konica Minolta had the best marks of the six vendors. Nine machines from the previous supplier were replaced with eight of Konica Minolta’s document systems: “At first I was planning on having fewer systems, but it turned out that many of my colleagues were keen to have a document solution in their own environment.“ That meant that systems had to be installed throughout the entire museum. “That was a real challenge at some hard-to-access locations. I’m glad Konica Minolta took care of the entire organisational aspect – that was no mean feat. They even helped me with correspondence to the previous supplier. After all, terminating a contract does require careful formulation. They really took everything off our hands.”
The transition from the old systems to the new ones was seamless for the staff: “Initially the staff had to get used to the follow-me system, but once they had a clear explanation, they all had no problem working with it. Printing, copying and scanning is easy for the staff. Thanks to the AFAS integration, our HR department can add documents straight to personnel files.”
As the IT manager, Reus has great things to say about the manageability of the solution provided: “The display is much more user-friendly because we can configure it to suit our needs. And if we need help, we have remote access to the document system’s screen. That saves us a lot of walking around the museum.”
As a socially committed supplier, Konica Minolta offers attractive prices to cultural institutions. Reus is responsible for the budget, so that makes him happy: “Even with carbon offsetting by means of certificates, our TCO [total cost of ownership - ed.] has decreased. We were able to take advantage of the framework agreement of the OAM, an association for Amsterdam museums. Before deciding on Konica Minolta, we consulted extensively with two members of the OAM: the National Maritime Museum and the NEMO Science Museum. This was extra confirmation that we had made the right choice.”
The Zuiderzeemuseum has worked with the Konica Minolta systems for almost a year now. Reus says: “The stability is as excellent as promised. At first, it was not possible to print a specific type of document, but they fixed that quickly and perfectly. Otherwise, ‘no news is good news’. Everything works, so we haven’t heard a single complaint.”
XL-BYG Elling has used video surveillance for many years and the number of cameras in use has steadily risen. Over the years, the centre’s analogue cameras were supplemented with five digital cameras to give an installation of a total of 22 cameras. The installation was no longer up to date, however, and the image quality was below par. For Kristian Nielsen, Konica Minolta was the obvious company to ask: “We’ve been a Konica Minolta copy and print customer for as long as I can remember.
In heat mapping, for instance, I see great potential. It gives us a reliable picture of the actual customer flow in the store. We can see how our in-store displays work, which areas generate the most traffic, and how we can arrange the store optimally with regard to promotional items and profitable product lines
Kristian Nielsen
Managing Director, XL-BYG Elling Tømmerhandel A/S
Intelligent Video Solutions for Retail
Theft, fraud and manipulation by customers, employees and suppliers, can cost revenue, this is why the use of an intelligent video solutions within the retail sector is becoming more important. Not only to prevent theft or provide evidence but to provide you with information on your customers.