In an era where digital transformation is accelerating, Konica Minolta and Preservica have joined forces to address one of the most pressing challenges for enterprises: long-term digital preservation within Microsoft 365. This strategic partnership aims to provide organizations with a seamless, compliant, and future-proof solution for safeguarding critical business data.

The Growing Need for Digital Preservation

As businesses increasingly migrate to cloud-based platforms like Microsoft 365, the volume of digital content requiring long-term preservation has skyrocketed. From legal documents and financial records to intellectual property and regulatory filings, organizations must ensure these assets remain accessible, authentic, and unaltered for decades.

  • Regulatory Compliance: Industries like healthcare, finance, and government face strict data retention requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, FOIA).
  • Legal Discovery: Courts increasingly demand electronic records as evidence in litigation.
  • Business Continuity: Critical knowledge must survive employee turnover and technology changes.

The Konica Minolta-Preservica Solution

This partnership integrates Preservica's award-winning digital preservation platform with Konica Minolta's expertise in enterprise content management and Microsoft 365 deployments. Key features include:

1. Automated Preservation Workflows

  • Seamless capture of Microsoft 365 content (SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, Exchange)
  • Policy-based retention schedules aligned with organizational governance
  • Blockchain-verified audit trails for legal defensibility

2. Future-Proof File Format Preservation

  • Automatic conversion of obsolete formats to sustainable standards
  • Metadata preservation ensuring context isn't lost over time
  • Checksum validation detecting bit rot or corruption

3. Enhanced Search and Discovery

  • AI-powered classification of preserved content
  • Cross-platform search across decades of records
  • Visual timeline of document versions and changes

Why This Matters for Microsoft 365 Users

Microsoft 365 wasn't originally designed for long-term digital preservation. While it offers basic retention policies, critical gaps remain:

  • Versioning Limitations: Native M365 only keeps limited document histories
  • Format Obsolescence: No built-in solution for migrating files to new formats
  • Compliance Risks: Meeting 30+ year retention requirements is challenging

This partnership directly addresses these shortcomings by adding enterprise-grade preservation capabilities to existing Microsoft 365 investments.

Real-World Applications

Healthcare Organizations

  • Preserve patient records beyond standard EHR retention periods
  • Maintain chain of custody for clinical trial documentation

Financial Institutions

  • Archive transaction records for regulatory compliance
  • Protect against litigation with immutable audit trails

Government Agencies

  • Ensure permanent public records remain accessible
  • Meet FOIA and open data initiatives with searchable archives

Technical Implementation

The solution deploys as a cloud-based or hybrid system:

  1. Content Identification: Rules identify which M365 documents require preservation
  2. Secure Transfer: Encrypted transfer to Preservica's preservation environment
  3. Normalization: Files converted to sustainable formats (PDF/A, TIFF, etc.)
  4. Storage: Multiple copies stored across geographically dispersed locations
  5. Access: Web portal provides secure retrieval with permission controls

Competitive Advantages

Compared to basic backup solutions or native Microsoft retention features, this offering provides:

  • Authenticity Guarantees: Cryptographic proof documents haven't been altered
  • Format Migration: Automatic updates as technology evolves
  • Comprehensive Metadata: Preserves who created content, when, and why
  • Scalability: Handles petabytes of data across global organizations

Looking Ahead

As digital transformation accelerates, the Konica Minolta-Preservica partnership positions itself as a critical enabler for organizations that need to:

  • Future-proof their Microsoft 365 investments
  • Meet evolving compliance requirements
  • Protect institutional knowledge assets
  • Prepare for AI and analytics applications requiring historical data

With digital preservation becoming a board-level concern, this solution bridges the gap between modern collaboration tools and long-term information governance requirements.