Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. has developed a Managed IT and Managed Print Services (MPS) program aimed at helping the company’s dealers and resellers grow their own businesses.

Konica’s IT resellers are spread out across 35 countries, but it looks like this latest move is aimed at the small to medium-sized business (SMB) community and enterprises in the United States. The  Managed IT  and Managed Print Services program allows the company’s IT  resellers and dealers to now offer desktop management, email security and network monitoring, as well as 24×7 help desk support from All Covered, a managed service provider (MSP) focused on delivering IT services to U.S.-based SMBs. Konica acquired All Covered about a year ago.

The MPS side of the new program comes into play for the enterprise, courtesy of a collaboration agreement between Konica and Pharos Systems International, an enterprise print management solution provider. The agreement laid he groundwork for Konica’s Enterprise Optimized Print Services (OPS) program, through which resellers can offer MPS solutions to enterprise customers.

The goal is help Konica IT resellers and dealers offer a more comprehensive IT managed services solution and gain an overall competitive advantage. That’s especially when it comes to managed print and the managed document services (MDS) sector in general, which promises to be as competitive as ever in 2012.

Konica Minolta’s bigger plan is to meet its customers’ MPS needs worldwide. According to the company’s press release, participating dealers will offer Konica’s OPS program through the United States. No word yet on any international plans, but we’ll keep our ears to the ground.