Mail carriers are arguably the most mobile workers in the world. Whether they deliver parcels via foot or four wheels, rarely a minute goes by when they are stagnant. Yet, many are idled in their ability to deliver the high-quality service expected in today’s on-demand, e-commerce-fueled era. This is typically due to one of three reasons:

1. They are using older mobile devices or software that lack the right communications and data capture toolset for today’s real-time routing and reporting requirements.
2. They have the latest and greatest devices in hand, so they assume everything is working well – until it’s not. (There’s nothing worse – and more preventable – than a dead battery halfway through a delivery round.)
3. They are uncomfortable using technology, so they stash their mobile devices away and just rely on manual/visual methods to ensure the letters and parcels make it to the listed addresses. If there are any issues, they report them when they return to the central station at the end of the day.

All of these scenarios are problematic because there is an intrinsic connection between mail deliveries and mobile devices.

Both consumers and shippers have become accustomed to tracking order status in real time. Some postal service providers even offer digital previews of incoming letters and packages to customers each morning. If something goes askew – maybe a package expected that day didn’t arrive – questions are going to arise. But it will be hard to answer them if there’s no record of the package’s movements because the postal worker wasn’t using a mobile device for whatever reason. And the customer service team will be hard pressed to explain to a customer why visibility – and their package – was lost in the last mile. 

There may not be a lot of competition in the postal sector in some countries, but there is still a standard of service that must be met to maintain public funding and support. Customers will be less inclined to pay for tracking services or expedited shipping if packages are consistently lost or late. Or they may choose to use another shipping service provider moving forward, even if it costs more. Speed, visibility, and accountability matter.

That’s precisely why postal service providers need to ensure carriers are fully mobilised with devices that will help them run their routes and report deliveries transparently and efficiently. That means…

1. giving carriers secure, well-connected, enterprise-grade mobile devices with the right mix of ruggedness and consumer styling. They must be lightweight but also robust and accompanied by an extensive accessory ecosystem that allows users to personalise their mobility solution. Postal workers may prefer to use headphones for voice communications and a wristband to carry their mobile devices to keep their hands free to grab packages, scan labels and go to the next stop.
2. integrating the right software on the back end and for those on the front lines who need real-time guidance on delivery changes and the ability to report status in real time.
3. training carriers on how to use the devices and giving them on-demand resources to jog their memories on new or less-frequently used features as needed. It will help tech novices become more comfortable with the devices and drive greater adoption. It also helps to show them the self-diagnostic tools that are available should they suddenly lose a wireless signal or accidentally press the wrong button and change a setting.
4. paying more attention to carriers’ mobile device use (or avoidance) and performance. If you don’t know what your carriers are doing – or not doing – with their mobile devices, how will you know what steps are needed to encourage adoption? (For every postal worker not using a mobile device, there are probably hundreds of people not getting the information they need about their letters and parcels.) And if you aren’t conducting daily wellness checks across your fleet, then you will forever be in reactive mode and your IT ticket queue will grow faster than your ROI. It’s quite likely your customer complaint ticket queue will also multiply and your customer care teams will be fielding an unwieldy number of inquiries about package status and resolution.

In my opinion, this last requirement is the most important, as it ultimately determines the mobility of your workforce and the return on investment (ROI) for your mobile solutions.

If you’re able to see which devices aren’t being used or charged properly, you can take proactive steps to get the situation sorted. Same goes with device performance. If you are alerted to a potential battery, security, or connection issue as soon as it is recognised, then you may be able to troubleshoot and resolve before it becomes truly disruptive. Preventative device maintenance and management is always the best strategy, especially when those mobile devices are the only way you can:

• provide accurate navigation guidance based on real-time traffic, weather and operational factors.
• implement dynamic routing.
• communicate in-flight delivery changes to postal workers.
• provide real-time tracking.
• execute on-the-door-step services and payments.
• facilitate voice communications between carriers, postmasters, and customer service teams.
• drive the efficiencies needed to ensure successful first-time, on-time delivery completion and total consumer satisfaction.
• effectively coordinate an alternative parcel pickup/ collection transaction with the customer if first-time delivery fails.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN ASSESSING YOUR CURRENT MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES

With mobile devices becoming increasingly multi-functional in postal services environment, it has become more critical than ever to ensure they’re operating at their best at all times. But, as our Chief Information Security Officer Mike Zachman might say, you have to play both offense and defense to keep your devices fully up and running and properly locked down at all times.

This is something many postal providers are struggling with right now because they are lacking visibility into their fleet and the ability to understand what little they are seeing. Let’s just put it this way: packages aren’t the only thing going missing and the upfront cost of their mobile hardware and software isn’t their greatest solution expense. Therefore, the focus – and investment – from a mobile device management perspective must shift to tools that make it easy to proactively:

• monitor device health via targeted alerts that help prevent service incidents or support fast ticket closeout when escalated.
• flag and recover lost and stolen devices quickly.
• right size device distribution across the workforce.
• see when a battery is reaching end of life and automatically order a replacement before it dies completely.
• detect when a device has been damaged, especially when it was a malicious act. (Postal customers have told us that mobile device damage can equate to 25% or more of the estate per year. That’s far too high considering much of this is preventable through proactive device monitoring and user accountability.)
• confirm device utilisation levels and address under or improper utilisation patterns.

There are at least 250 different device data points you should be digging into each day. But I appreciate this is an overwhelming amount of information for any one person or team to aggregate, much less mine and analyse. That’s why most postal providers we have spoken to will admit to only reviewing these metrics monthly or quarterly – or when a help ticket is submitted to IT.

This is also why postal providers (and any organisation dependent on mobile devices to conduct business) should really employ a managed services solution that can dig into the data, detect issues, predict potential impacts and then provide a simplified view of the situation and next steps to every stakeholder. Mobile device management should not require a data scientist or IT specialist. Nor should it overload service managers. Anyone in your organisation should be able to login to an internet-connected device and retrieve an easy-to-read dashboard that provides the full picture of what’s happening in the fleet and specific device-related issues that require action. It should also be customisable to that person’s role and responsibilities, specific sites, or even certain sets of device users.

“Isn’t a mobile device management (MDM) or enterprise mobility management (EMM) platform enough?” I’m often asked.

The short answer is no. Those types of solutions can pull device data into back-end systems and push certain software and security updates back out to the devices. But they can’t dissect and discern the updates being received from the field about a device health, performance or utilisation at a cumulative or granular level. Plus, they’re not typically integrated with other systems and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes that can automatically facilitate diagnostic, maintenance or repair actions without delay or much manual intervention. Managed services solutions, however, are usually designed to trigger action when battery health drops below an agreed percentage value, for example. (At least Zebra’s are.)

A FINAL THOUGHT

Postal service providers are being pressured to innovate, and many are introducing new field services that require mobile devices, such as postage sales or on-the-spot printing of return labels. Yet, if a handheld mobile computer or printer stops working in the middle of a route or transaction, money will be lost along with customer satisfaction.

In today’s times, complacency costs more than modernisation – and far more than any amount of money spent on a proactive managed services program.

So, while I appreciate those who are moving fast to meet expectations may prefer to polish existing device management processes rather than completely transform them, the fastest way to fall short is by assuming things work “well enough” today. Even postal providers who have previously survived without visibility into their mobile device fleets will see just how easy it can be to increase device utilisation, performance and ROI once these metrics are aggregated and properly presented in a single pane of glass – and viewable in real time 24/7.

Though everyone was forced to “react” to the unpredictable impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and postal service providers had no way of predicting or preparing for the ensuing e-commerce explosion, we now know the only way to minimise further disruption and maximise the growth opportunity is to acknowledge the need for full-time mobility and adapt operational strategies accordingly. This includes strategies used for mobile solution and application design, validation/testing and management.

Postal services can’t afford to be caught off guard anymore. They need to see when their mobile devices – and postal workers – are at risk of going offline. And they need to know exactly what to do when that risk emerges. That means they need to be able to pick up the phone and call a managed service provider or manufacturer any hour of the day for assistance when required.

Here at Zebra, we pride ourselves on being available 24/7 to answer questions, help troubleshoot issues and, when needed, engineer fixes. We don’t want our customers to be in a position where they have to wait for a device to disappear or incur damage to react because they lack the resources or know-how to be proactive. Replacements cost money and time, even if you have a full-coverage warranty plan, because someone will still have to configure and administer the devices once received. And I’ve already discussed the implications of letting a postal worker go even a day without a mobile device in hand. If you have to ship a device to a service center, that’s a few days without, at a minimum.

So, I encourage you to explore the benefits that can be gained from a proactive managed services solution (that can integrate with your EMM/MDM, if desired). Then weigh them against the benefits and risks of sticking with a more reactive device management approach. Talk to other companies about their experience with different types of device management solutions, particularly end-to-end managed service models. Ask for their honest feedback. Did they get the ROI they expected? Were they able to reduce device losses and failures? Do they report greater cost containment post-deployment? Did workers see any improvement in the user experience once devices were proactively managed? Did they have access to end-to-end services and support, including application testing and validation, OS and security management, intelligent/proactive analysis and reporting, and training? Could they – and their end users – call into a helpdesk any time of day? Did the managed services provider also offer the mobile management platform and fully integrated back-end repair infrastructure?

I’d be happy to connect you with some of Zebra’s customers if you’d like to learn about their experiences with all the integrated services and tools available in our Managed Services portfolio, including OneCare™, VisibilityIQ™ and Learning Services. Reach out anytime.

Until then, you might be interested in these other insights and perspectives from my colleagues around the world, all of whom are incredibly respected and trusted experts in the enterprise mobility space across multiple industries:

• Three Ways That Technology Can Help Your Delivery Drivers Cover More Ground and Cater to More Customers Each Day
• How Healthy are Your Workers Mobile Devices? (Do You Really Even Know?)
• Your Device Analytics Solution Should Be Able to Ingest and Analyze These 250 Different Types of Data (at a Minimum)
• Do Not Get Caught Off-Guard, or Offline: Have a (Battery) Back-Up Plan
• Three Tips and One Tool to Keep Your Company’s Mobile Devices from Disappearing
• Did You Know? There Is a Direct Correlation Between Your Training Investment and Your Return on Technology Investments
• These are Today’s Top Enterprise Security Challenges, According to One CSO

Chicago, IL – Steadfast, a leader for over 20 years in complex cloud consulting, engineering, and managed hosting, has partnered with Wasabi® Hot Cloud Storage, to deliver disruptively low cost, fast and reliable cloud storage with no fees for egress or API requests.

Strengthening Storage Backups Options, Affordably  

Wasabi provides simple, predictable, and affordable hot cloud storage for businesses all over the world. It enables organizations to store and instantly access an infinite amount of data at 1/5th the price of the competition with no complex tiers or unpredictable egress fees.

This new partnership allows Steadfast customers to transform their data from a commodity into a strategic competitive weapon by enabling them to keep all of their data affordably and giving them immediate access to the data that will allow them to innovate their business for future success.

The addition of Wasabi not only adds a new hot cloud storage option to the Steadfast portfolio, it strengthens existing Steadfast Backup and Replication solutions built on Veeam, including Microsoft Office 365 email backup services.  

Interested in Learning More?

If you would like to learn how Steadfast can help your organization better back up and store your business data with Veeam and Wasabi, request a consultation with us or reach out to us via the contact information below.  

About Steadfast

We make IT work, so you can take care of business. Specialists in Cloud Consulting, Engineering and Hosting for over 20 years, Steadfast offers customized services at all stages of design and deployment to maintenance and expansion planning. As an extension of your team, Steadfast will ease technology constraints, making your life easier so you can Strengthen Your Focus on your core business. www.steadfast.net 

Contact Steadfast

Tim Monner
VP, Marketing and Business Development
888.281.9449 ext. 240
tim.monner@steadfast.com 

Originally published here!

Small, versatile cordless barcode scanners such as the Zebra CS60 companion scanners are now indispensable in retail and healthcare given the mobility of staff and need to automate data capture, retrieval and verification across multiple mission-critical workflows. For example, they are used at the patient’s bedside for positive identification (PPID) and to report administered medications. Pocket-sized cordless scanners also enable retail associates to quickly price check items and help checkout shoppers in the middle of the store to minimize long queues.

However, the cordless CS60 form factor – like any mobile device – is at risk of going “missing in action.” If a user puts it down to attend to a patient or search for an item in a stockroom and forgets to pick it back up, an extensive, time-consuming search could ensue. (This is especially true if the scanner is left on a patient’s bed and ends up in the laundry.) Healthcare practitioners and retail store associates are moving at lightning-fast speeds all day long, and they’re often distracted by a slew of requests from colleagues and patients/customers. No one would blame them for accidentally misplacing a device as tiny as the CS60. Yet, the patient and customer experience could be severely hindered if workflows are disrupted while the device is missing.

Plus, if a device moves out of range of the base station for any reason, the Bluetooth® connection may be lost, leading to a frustrating user experience and additional IT intervention. Given how central these scanners are to productivity, it’s imperative to ensure the devices stay within range of the base station – and within reach – at all times.

It’s also critical to keep tabs on the traditional form factor scanners such as those in the Zebra DS8100 Series, which are often used for self-checkout at grocery, retail, and convenience stores, or by quick service restaurant (QSR) staff who might be moving from one place to the next to take orders or payments. Rushed or distracted shoppers might forget to put the scanner back in the station after scanning and paying for items. At times they can be found in a cart in a parking lot, and they can easily fall into a customer’s shopping bag in the flurry of checkout. So, we’ve enhanced both the CS60 and CS60-HC companion scanners, as well as the DS8100 and DS8100-HC Series imagers, with additional Virtual Tether functionality that makes it easier to keep devices within your defined perimeter.

THEY MAY BE OUT OF SIGHT, BUT YOUR SCANNERS WON’T BE OUT OF RANGE (AT LEAST NOT FOR LONG)

No organization should have to accept lost or stolen devices as “standard,” and users shouldn’t have to worry about whether they’ve roamed too far from the workstation on wheels or base station hosting the cradles. That’s why we designed the Virtual Tether feature to detect when a scanner has reached the edge of the pre-defined perimeter and send a series of visual and audible alerts to both the device and the cradle. The goal is to keep it from making it out the front door, or, worse, all the way home in someone’s pocket.

If workers forget to return the companion scanners to their cradles at the end of a shift and try to leave the building with them around their necks or in a pocket, or self-checkout customers leave handheld scanners in their carts, an alarm on both the devices and associated cradles/host station can sound to let everyone know they’re moving out of range. If the users don’t hear the beeping alarm for some reason (perhaps they’re on the phone), they should feel the vibration of the haptic feedback feature or see the flashing LED lights and bright scanner illumination – all of which can be programmed to automatically turn on and stay on. If they still don’t realize the mistake, someone nearbyshould notice and be able to take swift action to avert a “lost device” situation.

Plus, the Virtual Tether tool is synced with the scanners’ battery preservation feature and will alert users and others nearby when scanners have been out of their cradles for a long (predefined) period of time. Though designed to reduce unnecessary power drainage and extend the battery’s life, this alerting system does much more than just ensure the scanners are always fully charged and ready for use – and where they should be when not in use. It lets everyone know when scanners might be lost and a quick search can be launched.

And though you can’t just pick up the phone and call a barcode scanner to locate it like you can with a traditional voice-enabled mobile device such as a smartphone, you can “ring” both the CS60 and DS8100 Series in a very similar fashion. Simply push a button on the associated base station/charging cradle to trigger an audible, visual and/or haptic alarm on the scanner.

Worried that people will become immune to such signals? Just have users select the feedback options that will be most apt to grab their attention – or set it so all alert mechanisms are used to capture self-checkout customers’ attention before they leave scanners in carts in the parking lot.

You can also integrate the Virtual Tether solution with Zebra’s Scanner Software Development Kit (SDK) and Remote Diagnostics logging agent for advanced reporting and alerting. This allows managers – or even a point of sale (POS) system – to be alerted when a CS60 or DS8100 Series is taken out of Bluetooth range. You can even adjust the range to suit your facility. If you want to keep devices within a certain department, 25 feet might be the edge perimeter. Just want the scanners to stay within the four walls? You can expand the range to 250 feet. Think of this feature like the lock that helps keep grocery carts from rolling out of the parking lot either accidentally or intentionally, except better. It is also the key to keeping nurses and associates connected and productive, as they will always be aware of the Bluetooth signal’s range.

The best part? We’re providing this comprehensive set of Virtual Tether functionality free of charge to all CS60 and DS8100 Series scanner users as part of our DataCapture DNA suite. You can get the free firmware download here.(It will also be integrated into future software releases for other barcode scanner models.)This ensures you have the tools needed to flexibly configure, securely deploy and easily manage both your scanners and the Virtual Tether anti-loss functionality. In turn, you should find it easier to manage your budget and spare device pool, as fewer scanners should go missing forever.

Originally published here!

The US Chambers of Commerce is enacting a massive effort to support business. There is an acute shortage of skilled and professional workers in the US. As such, doubling the H-1B visa quota and eliminating the per-country quota for Green Card holders are being pursued by the Chambers.

The highly sought-after non-immigrant H-1B visa supports foreign workers in specialty occupations to work in the US. The demand to increase the H-1B quote from the current 65,000 annually is part of the America Works campaign. There are an additional 20,000 H-1B visas available for those who have higher studies.

A worker shortage is holding back companies across the US.

Through the America Works program, the US Chamber highlights specific requests, including:

• Double the cap on H-1B employment-based visas
• Double the quota on H-1B and H-2B visas
• Growth in federal investment for employer-led job education and training programs
• Expanding childcare for working parents

The program asks for support to train workers in the skills needed by US companies to help fill high-demand jobs locally as well as internationally.

The Chamber asks to double the cap on all employment-based immigrant visas from 140,000/year to 280,000/year. By eliminating the practice of counting spouses and minor children under the Green Card annual quota, the number of employment-based immigrant workers could nearly double.

The program also asks the Biden administration to give international students who graduate from US universities more opportunities to get employment-based green cards. Additionally, they ask for more options for entrepreneurs to gain permanent residency so they can grow their businesses in the US.

As possible on a safe level, the US Chambers is also asking the administration to reinstate routine visa processing at consulates around the world.

It also seeks to expand access to H-2A agricultural worker visas for non-seasonal agricultural businesses to ensure the future success of these businesses.

As always, ILBSG continues to monitor developments around employment-based visas and all immigration topics. If you have questions, contact us at ILBSG. We are here to help ensure you get the right advice.

Originally published here!

If you are having trouble finding fresh flower arrangements, chicken wings, and even some prescription drugs, you’re not alone. These are among the many items still in short supply due to pandemic-inflicted production delays and/or unusually high demand. They are also among the many items cold chain stakeholders are working diligently to preserve when they do have inventory on hand.

In fact, we’ve seen a dramatic uptick in technology spending among those responsible for producing, storing, and distributing temperature-sensitive products since COVID-19 emerged. Between the current shortages and the 2020 storage overstocks of beef and dairy when restaurants suddenly closed and orders were cancelled, cold chains have had to simultaneously accelerate throughput, extend shelf life and reduce waste. Any one of these efforts alone is a heavy lift from a logistics perspective. In fact, it’s dizzying to think about the resources required to keep tabs on the billions of items exchanging hands each day across the globe. It’s not easy to keep an eye on static inventory, either. Stock being held in refrigerators and freezers at warehouses, distribution centers, retail stores and hospitals need frequent quality control inspection, as a single temperature excursion can render them inconsumable.

So, we sat down with our cold chain experts, Andre Luecht, the global vertical practice lead for Transport and Logistics at Zebra Technologies, and Mike Montana, a Senior Business Development Manager for Temptime, which is now part of Zebra, to find out just how the temperature of cold chain products gets tracked through each touchpoint and what can be done to create more visibility into temperature-related quality for consumers, manufacturers, and retailers. Andre has spent the last 25+ years in the supply chain, transport, and logistics field, both as a provider of technologies and services and as a customer/end user. And Mike has spent nearly two decades helping biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device companies improve manufacturing and supply chain process controls. 

Your Edge Blog Team: For months we have seen workers loading COVID-19 vaccines into coolers with dry ice and ultracold trucks parading across our cities via headline news channels. And, in the process, we’ve learned a lot about the effort that goes into delivering other perishable or temperature-sensitive items to stores and homes, including fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, dairy and cosmetics. Now that consumers’ interest in cold chain logistics has been piqued, have you found supply chain organizations under more pressure to become transparent about their inventory handling and storage processes?

Andre: I do think there’s been a call from consumers for more information. Or perhaps consumers are just proactively investigating cold chain practices now that they know what information to look for and the questions to ask. Before last year, I doubt many of us realized how intense the distribution process is for something like makeup or the muffin we get at the local coffee chain. And, yes, we know manufacturers, warehouse operators, distributors, transporters and others are having to share more information about their quality control standards – specifically the equipment and processes used to preserve the quality of temperature-sensitive goods. That’s not a bad thing, though. They have always been held accountable for the quality of goods they sell or distribute by commercial customers, such as retailers or hospitals. Now, the end user is paying more attention.

Your Edge Blog Team: Are you seeing technology investments heat up in the cold chain to be able to streamline the distribution of information to stakeholders or improve visibility and accountability across operations?

Andre: Most certainly. Of course, the most publicized investments are those tied to the COVID-19 vaccine distribution effort. There has been a lot of coverage about vaccine vial monitors that can be used to confirm temperature stability was maintained from the first mile through the last. And we’ve seen a great deal of discussion about how electronic data loggers can be affixed to a pallet or installed inside a cooler or freezer to monitor temperature variations at a batch level.

However, we are seeing those responsible for other perishable items commit just as much effort to preserving their inventory, whether over or under-stocked. No one wants to have to throw away prescription drugs, food, beverages, flowers or even cosmetic items.

Your Edge Blog Team: Can you walk us through how temperature tracking works?

Mike: It varies a bit depending on the type of goods being distributed and the required features or complexity of the temperature sensors selected. There are different temperature indicators on the market today, ranging from simple chemical-based sensors to passive USB monitoring devices to more advanced Bluetooth-enabled ones.

But, in essence, a temperature indicator for shipping is either attached to a product or pallet – or perhaps installed in a truck, train or shipping container – to help someone easily confirm the performance of the cold chain. If the sensor detects a variation in temperature from what was programmed in as acceptable, it will alert the next person to handle the temperature indicator or potentially someone monitoring the shipment from a distance. Or there may be a self-adhesive, chemical-based indicator attached to the packaging of each item, like a vaccine vial monitor, that allows for a fast visual confirmation of temperature stability.

Your Edge Blog Team: A box doesn’t have to be opened or a pallet broken down to read the temperature monitor or extract sensor data?

Mike: With chemical-based sensors, as well as many of the data loggers in use today, someone does have to open the shipment and/or remove the data logger before the data is accessible. However, recent advancements in data logger technologies have resulted in the addition of Bluetooth® and near field communication (NFC) connectivity. In turn, cold chains gain what I would describe as modern-day x-ray vision. They can see what’s happening within a package without needing to open the box, making it very convenient to track temperature variations in near-real time.

Your Edge Blog Team: Is the data accessible to multiple stakeholders throughout all phases of the supply chain?

Mike: It is. Data from these wireless-enabled data loggers are typically sent to the cloud. The inventory or quality control manager can then sign into their private portal to view the data for an entire shipment.

However, chemical-based sensors don’t transmit data. They require a visual review by the people handling the product.

Your Edge Blog Team: So, inclusion of the temperature sensors starts at the very beginning?

Mike: Yes. In most cases, the manufacturer will hand the product off to a qualified cold chain third-party logistics company (3PL), which will take responsibility of maintaining the temperature in storage and in transit to its next destination.

Your Edge Blog Team: How does the manufacturer decide which type of sensor to use?

Mike: There are many factors that the manufacturer must consider when determining what type of sensor to use. Some of these include the product value, the stability profile of the product being shipped, the length and duration of the journey, and the requirement for data at the reception point. All of these will help guide whether a chemical sensor or data logger is most appropriate.

Your Edge Blog Team: What other technologies can be leveraged throughout the cold chain to track and trace inventory, either from a quality or location perspective?

Andre: There are several technologies critical to executing the cold chain in today’s fast-paced world. You can see in this infographic how many different Zebra technologies alone are used in the distribution of temperature-sensitive vaccines.

The ones most important to note are:

• radio frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth® Low Energy and other locationing solutions, which are a primary method for the track and trace of items as they move in, out, and through facilities.
• fixed industrial scanners that can help track the status of items moving down an assembly line or warehouse conveyor belt during production and packing via automated barcode scans.
• machine vision solutions that can automatically identify product or labeling defects and validate quality as items move down the production or inspection line.
• printers capable of generating the specialized RFID tags or barcoded labels needed to track and trace items.
• mobile computers that can push detailed instructions to workers about the best next step to take in every workflow.(Efficiency is key to cold chain logistics given the time and temperature sensitivity of goods.)
• handheld barcode scanners that can be used to verify which items have been put away, picked and/or packed as part of a more focused inventory count, stock management or fulfillment effort.

There are also several intelligence-based software solutions that can fuse data from multiple sensors to automatically and proactively make decisions about how to manage inventory without much human intervention needed, if any. For example, the data captured via temperature sensors, location beacons and RFID at the time goods were unloaded from the trailer, put in inbound staging, released from staging and taken to cold storage can be aggregated and compared using a prescriptive analytics solution. Should the temperature drop at any point in time, the inventory managers can identify the trouble area, time frame, etc. to rectify the root issue and prevent a reoccurrence. They also use the data to determine the potential impact of the temperature variation on product quality. It may have been a minor dip, and quality inspectors might conclude the shipment is still viable. Or they may realize the temperature excursion was long enough to potentially impact quality or efficacy. If that’s the case, they may reject the order or recommend disposal so those items never make it into consumers’ hands. No one wants to have to issue a recall.

Intelligent workforce management and task management software can then be used to reassign or direct labor to address identified issues in a highly effective manner.

Your Edge Blog Team: It sounds like it is quite easy to monitor and maintain the temperature of cold chain items if you have the right technologies in place then. Do you agree?

Andre: With the right technologies, absolutely. But what we’re realizing is that many cold chains are still lacking those technologies, and that’s posing a huge risk to the reliability and resilience of cold chains.

Your Edge Blog Team: How so?

Mike: Product packaging can be qualified before a shipment leaves the plant or warehouse. But it’s impossible to qualify a package and a transit process or cycle without the right technologies in place gathering real-time insights. For example, if a package is shipped from the manufacturer on the west coast of the country to a distributor on the east coast, it may encounter all kinds of different weather patterns, including snowstorms or even a tornado that could delay a shipment longer then the qualification has allowed. If a box qualification is done in an environmental chamber for 24 hours, but the product is held up due to a snowstorm for 48 hours, the product will be placed in quarantine.

Additional steps in the process will follow, further delaying the availability of the product to the market. Once a verification of the environmental temperature experienced has been reviewed, the product may be released for use, sent back to the manufacturer, or safely disposed. The challenge is that no two transit events are ever the same and thus cannot be repeated consistently.  That’s why temperature indicators for shipping have been designed to provide data about what happens to product environments throughout transit and allow data-driven decision making.  

Andre: Besides the countless numbers of weather calamities that could impact the transit path and duration of any given shipment, we must also worry about highway or maritime traffic. A single accident or canal closure could significantly delay shipments. As we learned in the past year, things like global pandemics can also interrupt supply chains in a tremendous way and be extremely costly to both the manufacturer and the consumer. So, we also have to monitor and make decisions about shipping activity in the context of other factors outside people’s control.

That’s why technology solutions such as Zebra SmartPack™, prescriptive analytics, and the Fourkites platform that Zebra Ventures has invested in are also becoming highly valuable to the cold chain. They provide a heightened level of intelligence about logistics operations and can help all parties adapt. For example, the Fourkites solution offers end-to-end, real-time visibility of supply chains, so you can see the real-time status for shipments in transit and in the yard with predictive ETAs. If it reports the delayed arrival of an empty truck, loading dock managers can turn to an intelligent workforce management solution to determine how best to reallocate labor. They may have four workers they can send to help load or unload another temperature-sensitive shipment to minimize exposure to warmer (or colder) temperatures. Or they can coach their teams on how to load a container faster to avoid having to discard loaded pallets sitting on a hot tarmac. In another scenario, the system may be able to reconcile weather reports with anticipated transit routes to recommend a delayed departure. Yes, the shipment may be late, but it’s better to be late than have to toss everything upon arrival because it was temperature compromised after being stuck on the highway two days.

Your Edge Blog Team: Do you find items flowing through commercial resellers, public sector agencies or healthcare providers being more closely scrutinized from a quality perspective and, thus, prompting more urgent investments in these types of technologies? Or do companies that sell direct to consumers value the visibility and accountability just as much?

Mike: I can confirm that pharmaceutical manufacturers spend an enormous amount of effort and resources to make sure their product is maintained at the right temperature throughout the shipment process. They will often use dedicated trucks and or active refrigeration cargo containers on air carriers to move inventory from the production facility to the first distribution point. In some cases, they use sophisticated packaging that consists of either expanded polystyrene (EPS), polyurethane or some other biodegradable insulation. These boxes go through a series of tests in an environmental chamber, as well as real-time testing in the field, to verify their cold tolerance and temperature stability capabilities. Wholesalers, distributors and hospitals want to see that every precaution is being taken to avert a loss while in route.

They will also add gel packs and a chemical-based sensor or electronic data logger (EDL) into the package as part of the shipping process. This helps product handlers, including pharmacists, clinicians and even the end customer, confirm that the medication stayed at the right temperature from the moment it was produced to the moment it was used.

Your Edge Blog Team: What about food producers, flower harvesters or even cosmetic manufacturers? Do they take this much care to maintain the temperature stability of their products? Is there even as much temperature sensitivity?

Andre: Food suppliers do spend a lot of time figuring out their packaging options to keep their high margin items from going bad, especially considering the time and distance traveled during distribution these days. For example, they want to keep fresh fish cold, but they may not want it to freeze. Or they want to ensure their flash frozen foods don’t start to thaw. Even strawberries require special care, as humidity can adversely affect their quality and make them turn quickly. So, food producers will typically include a temperature sensor in the packaging based on their distributors’ requirements and industry regulations. This allows the fish or strawberries to be monitored from the moment they leave the plant until they get to their destination. They know every effort has been taken to ensure the highest quality item is being delivered to their customers – their brand name is associated with top quality food.

Your Edge Blog Team: Is this level of diligence required for other types of temperature-controlled items that may be stable at room temperature but negatively impacted by high heat?

Mike: In the pharmaceutical space, we’re actually seeing more attention being given to temperature stability for these types of items. Many products that can be shipped at room temperature still need to be held between 15 degrees and 25 degrees Celsius for the entire duration of transport. This is considered “controlled room temperature” (CRT). Like refrigerated products, if these CRT products exceed their recommended temperature ranges, the items could be rendered unviable and need to be thrown away.

Andre: Even more broadly, there has been significant focus by manufacturers and regulating bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to assure controlled room temperature products are being handled with the same type of care commonly seen with cold chain medications. Like refrigerated products, similar packaging and temperature monitoring protocols are being implemented to assure CRT products maintain their quality and efficacy as they move throughout the supply chain.

Your Edge Blog Team: How accurate are the technologies used to capture temperature exposure? Can consumers trust the data generated by the solutions you just mentioned?

Mike: People need to be confident that what they’re putting in or on their bodies is of the highest quality, and they want assurance the foods and medications they receive have been stored and transported at the right temperature. So, we go to great lengths to ensure these technologies are accurate when developing and testing them, and there is a lot of regulatory oversight.

We also work with manufacturers, distributors and even the final suppliers – such as pharmacies and retailers – to ensure temperature sensors are visible in the packaging the consumer receives it, especially if sent in the mail. There is no way to know if there was a breach in temperature unless you have a chemical-based sensor or data logger in the package, so part of this effort is to provide peace of mind to that consumer that the package arrived in the right condition.

At the same time, if the manufacturer neglects to use a chemical-based sensor or data logger, it could put consumers in danger. If the product arrives outside of the manufacturer’s specified storage temperature range, there is a risk of reduced efficacy or, in some cases, an increased risk of toxicity. Though the temperature indicating device can’t be used to definitively determine a product’s safety or efficacy, it can prompt the consumer to pick up the phone and call someone who can advise on what to do if there is a verified temperature excursion. In many cases, the pharmacy or retailer will decide to send a replacement to err on the side of caution and just ask the consumer to dispose of the original product.

Your Edge Blog Team: Who incurs the cost of replacement in these cases?

Mike: If it’s a medication, usually the pharmacy, healthcare provider, insurance company and/or manufacturer. If it’s a food item, usually the food producer or reseller. However, the cost can be justified because the risk of consuming or using a temperature compromised product is significantly reduced. The use of a temperature sensor can reduce the number of replacement requests from consumers who suspect the product may have been exposed to either too warm or too cold temperatures. The temperature sensor allows them to know for sure if it was within the allowed temperature range.

Your Edge Blog Team: Have you run a cost-benefit analysis for all the cold chain technologies discussed? Are there some that will deliver a faster return on investment than others?

Andre: I could write an entire post on the total cost and benefits of ownership (TCO/TBO) for each of these technologies. The specific qualitative and quantitative costs and benefits will be influenced by several factors. So, cold chain organizations really need to consult with a trusted solution provider on their specific challenges and goals to get a personalized solution recommendation and TCO/TBO.

Your Edge Blog Team: What can participants in the cold chain do to reduce the maintenance expense of these technology devices? Obviously, some are meant for one-time use, such as the chemical-based sensors. But what about the other technologies used for cold chain logistics?

Andre: My biggest advice is to ensure you’re choosing hardware that’s purpose built for the cold chain, possibly attached to re-usable transport packaging like totes or trays. It must be able to withstand freezing temps or condensation without malfunctioning. You would be surprised at how easily internal electronics can rust out in damp environments because they don’t have heating elements to dry up humidity as they move between cold storage and the warmer temperatures of the warehouse, plant or yard. Also be sure you’re following the proper handling instructions provided by the technology manufacturer.

Originally published here!

Your device analytics dashboard probably looks pretty busy right now with charts, graphs and color-coded icons indicating the current health of your fleet. However, you might only be seeing a fraction of what’s really happening with each handheld mobile computer, tablet, and printer.

On average, our customers tell us they lose 5-15% of their device fleet every year, which has a direct impact on worker productivity and on their overall return on investment (ROI). If even a single device becomes unavailable, someone – most likely a front-line worker – has to stop to either troubleshoot or grab a replacement from the back room. Even if the disruption is short lived, it’s still a disruption. A workstation – or entire department – could go unstaffed. An entire workflow might get backed up. And that worker’s productivity level automatically declines, assuming only one person is directly affected. If others have to stop what they’re doing to cover, overall business output can start to decline on a broader scale.

In other words, your team needs the foresight to anticipate and mitigate a host of device issues, and that’s a lot easier when your system is pulling in and analyzing all the data points needed to fully assess device performance. The challenge is that devices are often geographically dispersed, and the information needed to make an accurate assessment may be “hidden” in separate places across your operation. This makes it difficult to centrally access performance data and nearly impossible to see what’s happening at a holistic level – even if all your mobile computers and printers are from the same manufacturer.

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW…UNLESS YOU ARE CHECKING ON YOUR DEVICES DAILY

Every organization should know:

• what assets it has online and in the storeroom.
• where its assets are currently located.
• the health of every asset.
• how – and how much – each asset is being used.

Without this information, it becomes difficult for procurement to know when it’s time to reorder batteries, labels or printer ribbons. And front-line workers won’t know when device batteries need to be pulled from service (unless they completely die). It’s also hard to keep devices online 24/7 if you can’t see their current status.

That’s why we have developed more than 20 VisibilityIQ application programming interfaces (API) that offer customers and partners the ability to leverage and ingest the collection of data points from the Zebra VisibilityIQ™ Foresight directly into their own management systems. (And more are on the way!).

We want to further expose – and help you distil – the volumes of detailed information related to device health, availability, utilization, and support collected from Zebra software, battery, device components, and service and repair systems. We also know how much it will help you to consolidate the 250 machine-level data points extracted via the Zebra Savanna™ intelligent edge platform alongside your contract-level support/repair data.

So, we’ve designed these APIs to give you a deeper and more customised view into your business than what you might have with our standard VisibilityIQ OneCare and Foresight services or a third-party product that can only access publicly-available Android and Zebra APIs and data points. Within seconds, anyone on your team can confirm an application’s responsiveness or utilization as well as device-level disruptions and usage. You can also retrieve other real-time and historical status details, such as battery swap activity, WLAN signal strength, and even predictive states. Plus, the APIs give you flexibility to incorporate this data directly into your systems to automate actions, such as purchasing new batteries or assigning a resource to replace one that is dropping below an acceptable performance threshold.

This makes it so simple to systematically and proactively check in on the health of every device, every day. More importantly, it makes it possible for front-line workers and others in your organization (i.e., procurement) to play a central role in optimizing device usage, which is critical to maintaining operational continuity when people and facilities are geographically dispersed.

Our VisibilityIQ APIs help to yield immediately actionable insights directly in your management systems. You can program your applications to automatically send workers clear-cut guidance on the time-sensitive actions they must take to avoid a device failure – or even degradation of performance. In some cases, workflow optimization will be necessary. Other times, a battery or entire device might need to be replaced. Either way, the proactivity elicited by the automatic ingestion and analysis of this aggregated cloud-stored data will prove extremely valuable, especially considering the correlation between device and worker/workflow performance.

BOTTOM LINE…

If you need a more complete or customized picture of your business, or you’re looking for a way to automate the distribution of device-related insights, visit our VisibilityIQ API webpages to learn about all the new tools available to you.

Originally published here!

​As the Official On-Field Player-Tracking Provider for the National Football League (NFL), Zebra frequently has the opportunity to team up with coaches, players, executives and even broadcasters to give back to those in need in our communities. For example, we financially supported the Safe Zone Activity Day hosted by Vincent Country during Super Bowl LV week, and we gave each child in attendance a copy of our Zippy’s Special Gift book. (Vincent Country is the philanthropic organization led by the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Troy Vincent, and his family.)

We also contributed to the “December to Remember” campaign sponsored by NFL linebacker Brandon Copeland’s non-profit organization, Beyond the Basics, which we spoke about during this podcast.

Most recently, we met with NFL Network Commentator Rich Eisen and six NFL Legends to see who could reach the fastest speed – measured as miles per hour (MPH) running the 40-yard dash – while raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

WALKING THE WALK WITH RUN RICH RUN

Every year for the last five years, Rich has run the 40-yard dash in a suit and tie to show off his speed during the NFL’s Scouting Combine in what’s now known as the “Run Rich Run” event. Over those years, he has raised about $2.5 million to benefit the St. Jude mission – and Zebra was proud to contribute to this year’s event!

On May 1, team Zebra was able to run “with” Rich and NFL Legends Terrell Davis, Ray Lewis, Rod Woodson, Michael Vick, Cris Carter, and Jerry Rice as they sprinted across the field at SoFI Stadium in Los Angeles, the amazing new home for the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. Two Zebra employees supported the event onsite and helped place Zebra’s RFID player tags on the participating legends and Rich himself. This is the same technology used by the NFL to track player speed, acceleration, proximity, and other data for every game as part of the NFL’s Next Gen Stats service.

Though everyone’s times were impressive, Michael Vick hit the ground running at 21.07 mph!

In case you missed it, Rich shared his enthusiasm about the experience during the NFL Network’s coverage of the NFL Draft and later on Twitter. And on May 4, I was invited to call into the Rich Eisen Show to talk more about the Run Rich Run results, how our RFID technology captures speed insights, and how we support the NFL and other industries with our tracking data. Check it out

Originally published here!

One of Zebra’s newest executives, Suresh Menon, is a well-respected technologist who has been responsible for growing a number of venerated software companies over the last 24 years. He has seen the big impact that small actionable data can have on organizational agility. He also recognizes that companies must embrace software-centric technology solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning if they want to simplify and adapt complex operations to do more with limited resources.

We recently sat down with Suresh to learn more about what organizations should be doing – and how they should be thinking – to better prepare for future disruptions and create more sustainable operations today…

Your Edge Blog Team: The magnitude of change that has occurred in the past year is unprecedented, and we know you’ve been having several conversations with Zebra customers since you joined the company in December to understand the state of their businesses. Can you sum up what you’re hearing? What are the pain points hindering their recovery? What opportunities are they hoping to pursue in the coming months?

Suresh: Everyone from retailers to healthcare providers and even food manufacturers spent the last several months trying to figure out how they can get the right people in the right places at the right time to meet demand. Even more so, they’ve been focusing on empowering those people to do whatever it takes to serve customers, support patients, etc. In many cases, their operations were completely upended. Retail stores had to start functioning as micro fulfillment centers. Hospitals were being set up in convention centers and parking lots. And restaurants had to ramp up to-go options in order to best serve customers in their homes on a much greater scale.

Therefore, many of the conversations we’re currently having with organizations about technology aren’t necessarily in the context of business modernization so much as reinvention. They want to know how technology can help employees more easily interact with new systems and provide new services.

Your Edge Blog Team: As tasks and operations become more complex and businesses are being asked to do more – or something completely new – they are turning to technology to simplify and adapt.

Suresh: Exactly. It’s not just about simplifying complex tasks, though. It’s also about optimizing simple tasks such as inventory counts and rotations – or even patient turnover – that can make a meaningful impact on the customer experience and your bottom line.

Most hospitals gradetheir operational performance using a bed turnover rate metric. Historically, they’ve been very slow to discharge patients once cleared to go home. A workflow that should take 30 minutes often takes five and a half hours because there are so many gates to clear (such as filling prescriptions) and disruptions (such as shift changes). If you can bring all the back-end systems together in a way that allows for better coordination between the people involved in the discharge process – the nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and porters – you could eliminate the gaps in communication, facilitate more simultaneous actions, and exponentially reduce that turnover time. This will help you see more patients, which benefits everyone.

The same concept applies in retail. You know you have to conduct an annual cycle count – and that it makes the most sense to manage that process in house for several reasons. But you need to ensure the technology tool you leverage for that count is so simple to use that a first-day associate could figure it out in a few minutes and then work independently the rest of the shift. Along those same lines, retail associates might be assigned to online order picking one day, shelf stock replenishment the next, and then the customer service desk the following week. If they don’t have a mobile device in hand with an app that can essentially tell them where to be and what to do when they get there, they will be challenged to be productive. You must give them more than high-level direction, though. That device essentially needs to coach them through each step of department specific processes, tell them how to prioritize tasks, and enable them to collaborate with colleagues when playing a role in highly coordinated workflows, such as order fulfillment.

Your Edge Blog Team: So, the goal is to find technologies that support a more optimized operation?

Suresh: Precisely. When we sit down with business leaders to discuss their technology leads, many ask questions about the nuts and bolts of certain technologies. They want to know what it is and how it works at a fundamental level. Yet, what they really should be asking is how those technologies can work within their unique business environments. If you understand what prescriptive analytics or RFID or a self-directed inventory management solution can do for you, then you can start to visualize the way in which assets can be connected – facilities, inventory systems, equipment, labor. Then, once you make those connections, you start to build this global data pool that makes it easier to see and analyze operations on a holistic scale. You can increase accountability across cross-functional or broader supply chain workflows. You can better gauge operational performance. And you can better direct individuals on what actions they should take in each situation to improve efficiency, productivity and outcomes.

Your Edge Blog Team: Here at Zebra, we often talk about how technology can help organizations become more “intelligent enterprises.” What does that term mean to you? And how should decision makers think about intelligence in the context of their technology strategies?

Suresh: A lot of people think an intelligent enterprise is one that can make sense of all the information flowing into its systems. But business intelligence is only valuable when it elicits action. You can’t just aggregate and analyze all the data captured via mobile computers, scanners, sensors, RFID systems, and intelligent automation platforms across your operation and assume people will know what to do with it. You must incorporate a higher level of intelligence – such as artificial intelligence and machine learning – to uncover the patterns and trends that impact your business. Then, any time opportunities and issues are identified, you must be able to elicit action among front-line workers, managers, or even IT in a very prescriptive and practical manner. Only then will you start to see your workflows enhanced in a way that improves the customer experience and drives operational execution. 

Your Edge Blog Team: In a recent Wall Street Journal article, you said “hardware is only half of the solution” when asked about what’s driving retailers’ increased technology spend on software right now. Can you explain more what you mean by that? And do you feel some businesses – or sectors – are underestimating the influence that software has on their ROI for technology holistically?

Suresh: Those who have embraced AI-powered software solutions, such as prescriptive analytics, workforce management, task execution, and even self-directed physical inventory management solutions, have seen just how transformative they can be in a very short period of time. You would be hard-pressed to find any hardware component today that can deliver the return on investment (ROI) expected without synergistic software. This is true of everything from mobile computers, tablets, scanners, wearables, and printers to more advanced RFID, robotics automation, and machine vision technologies. And it’s a notion applicable to all industries. Everyone from retailers, restaurants and hotels to banks, healthcare providers, and warehouse operators benefit from technology that enables them to better manage business processes and assets.

The world has been changing over the past decade, as have customer expectations. This was driven first by the proliferation of digital technology and then, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. Business leaders are quickly realizing that, if you can’t see what’s happening around you in real time or you can’t figure out quickly how to adjust to disruptions, the customer experience is going to suffer. That, in turn, could result in financial losses which could subsequently reduce your resource capacity and further hinder your ability to keep up with market demands. It’s a vicious cycle.

On the flipside, if you’re able to systematically collate and make sense of all the information at your disposal and figure out how best to use that data, then you can prescriptively tell employees the best next step to take to manage each challenge that arises. You won’t always be able to prevent disruptive events, but you can dampen their effect on your operations and the customer experience by leveraging the right SaaS solutions.

Your Edge Blog Team: Can you give us an example of how you’ve seen software improve a customer’s operations in the past year?

Suresh: Let me give you a more categorical example of the larger trend we’re seeing. If you’re a grocery store manager, and you have a truck that comes in at 11am every day, you might have four people ready to unload the pallets and put away items in the back stockroom every day like clockwork. And you might have a whole other set of workflows in place to support related front-of-store actions, as well as workers who know that – at 1pm every day – they need to go retrieve that new inventory and restock empty shelves to ensure in-store shoppers and online order pickers can find the items they need. This is representative of a system of record. “I have my plan for the week based on how I think things will go.”

Of course, we can’t predict the future and something disruptive inevitably will happen. Perhaps Tuesday’s truck is delayed 4 hours and you have workers that need something else to do. This is where SaaS solutions have become invaluable. Because of the way they’re constantly analyzing data and the unique level of visibility they provide into multiple facets of your operation – even beyond your four walls – the right software solutions can help you prescriptively rework those workflows and redirect labor within minutes. Perhaps there’s a big game tonight and you’re expecting a lot of shoppers to come in for meat, beer, and soda. A prescriptive analytics solution can help identify and assign tasks related to those high demand items to workers to keep them productive – and shelves stocked – while they wait for the truck. Or perhaps you had two of your five banking associates call in sick today. A workforce management app can help you see that the bank branch down the street is overstaffed today and allow you to reassign people to your site for the day. The system of reality powered by SaaS solutions helps you react to issues and opportunities as they unfold.

You can even integrate data from external sources, such as weather reports or the number of local COVID-19 cases, or other internal systems to better understand demand trends that could lead to stagnant inventory without pricing adjustments or potential impacts on labor availability.

Your Edge Blog Team: Are there certain industries or sectors benefitting from data analytics more than others right now?

Suresh: Everyone is trying to cope with this unprecedented scale of change and demand, and everyone is adapting in a different way. If we’re being honest, many organizations have not put data analytics at the forefront of their business strategies yet simply because of historical risk tolerances. They don’t necessarily want to be on the bleeding edge of innovation, even for something as fundamental as SaaS utilization. They want to wait and see how it works for others. Fortunately, investments are starting to pick up now in the SaaS space in healthcare, banking and traditional brick-and-mortar retail.

Warehouse operators and logistics companies need visibility into their assets, and workers need access to real-time data tools that can tell them the best next step to take at every turn. There’s also a dire need for greater visibility into the transaction lineage as goods move from one node – or touchpoint – to the next, starting at the point of production.

Everything from food to vaccines and medicines are closely scrutinized these days to ensure quality is preserved during distribution. Retailers, restaurateurs, consumers and regulators alike want to see when and where farm-raised salmon was packaged. They want to know that it has changed hands seven times between the farm and the table. And, if a quality issue is detected or a delay incurred, they want to be able to trace that chain of custody within minutes to identify the responsible party.

So, we’re going to see more money spent on building this global data pool, making those digital connections, and improving analytics capabilities. The more data we can bring in, the better the analytics will become.

Plus, even businesses with a basic technology setup – maybe a smartphone-like handheld mobile computer used for inventory and order management and a label printer for shipping – will find operational speed and capacity is influenced by the software they choose to use (or not use.) You can buy an enterprise-grade mobile device with all the bells and whistles in the world, but if it’s not running the software you need to properly track inventory utilization, order fulfillment actions, or even demand trends, you’re going to find it very hard to keep up when demand starts increasing, inventory starts depleting, and critical adjustments need to be made.

Your Edge Blog Team: What advice would you give to organizations that have integrated SaaS solutions into their business environments and want to maximize their investments?

Suresh: First and foremost, you must be business oriented, not technology oriented. I know this may seem counterintuitive when you’re talking about how technology can be applied to support your business. But if you think first about your pain points and goals at a very granular level, it will become very easy for you to pinpoint ways in which your solutions can better unite and harmonize each department/function over time as your business evolves and market demands fluctuate. The ultimate goal is to eliminate process bottlenecks that could disrupt workflows and slow down workers. So, be prepared to continuously optimize or scale SaaS solutions to incorporate new data sets, look for new patterns, or make current insights more actionable.

It’s also important to maintain an entrepreneurial mindset at all times. This might feel unnatural, especially for business owners who are rightfully hesitant to do anything disruptive. However, we’re in uncharted territory here. We must think about how we can apply best practices and proven technologies to new business models to maintain workflow efficiency and meet the expectations of today’s workers – many of whom have spent their whole lives with a device, and real-time guidance, in hand. Listen and learn from your peers and competitors, but always make decisions based on what’s best for your unique business. Find a technology partner you trust to keep you focused, and don’t be afraid to think ahead when making decisions about new utilization strategies. I’m always considering what’s around the corner: what type of technology or business model might emerge or suddenly mature? What could potentially disrupt my business or my customers’ businesses?

By taking this future-forward approach to technology decisions, you will gain extreme value from scalable solutions that can support your operation as demand grows, new platforms need to be integrated, and workers require more data to be most effective day to day.

Originally published here!

There’s no doubt that productivity is directly tied to one’s online connectivity. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find someone whose job isn’t at least partially dependent on digital data. Farmers, factory workers, retail associates, transporters, and utility field technicians must all be able to report, receive, and review information related to the job at hand in order to meet demand, even while on the move. But they aren’t the only ones who rely on mobile technologies to stay connected and productive. Over three-quarters of the global workforce is deskless!

That’s why we recommend organizations of all sizes do these three things to help keep devices in workers’ hands and make them easy to recover when accidentally misplaced:

1. Create a record of daily device ownership/usage and location. (This is especially important if you have a fleet of shared devices and workers grab a different device each shift.)

2. Provide team members the insights they need to be able to manage and identify devices that are at risk of being lost.

3. Invest in a tool that makes it easy for anyone in your organization to locate any number of missing devices, regardless of where they may be – even if they’re powered off.

Though there are other ways to locate devices, the easiest, accurate, and most effective in my experience – if you’re a Zebra customer – is to use the Device Tracker tool. This tool is particularly valuable as the volume of devices used – and misplaced – in the workplace grows. Locating missing devices can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Was a device left behind in the break room? Or by the promotional display in the sporting goods department? Or in Row J in the warehouse?

These are all questions easily answered by Device Tracker, especially the new cloud-based version we just rolled out. It can help you locate up to 100,000 Wi-Fi connected devices at up to 5,000 sites!  

All you have to do is…

1. subscribe to the Device Tracker service for the number of devices you own.

2. configure the backend for your environment.

3. download the Device Tracker Client application onto your organization’s devices via your enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution or StageNow, Zebra’s Mobility DNA complimentary staging tool. You don’t even need the user to do anything on the phone or with the app during deployment.

Our team takes care of the rest. You don’t have to purchase or maintain any infrastructure with the cloud-based Device Tracker iteration. Nor will you have to deploy or manage certificates. Our goal by moving this tool to the cloud was to reduce your device management overhead costs as much as possible. We also wanted to reduce your overall resource burden. So, our Managed Services team will fully deploy, monitor and maintain the cloud server for you to ensure uptime, and you can request as much technical support as needed day to day.

TAKING TRACK AND RECOVER TO THE NEXT LEVEL – AND THE DEVICE’S PRECISE LOCATION

Organizations with large device fleets will definitely benefit from the expanded coverage of the new cloud-based Device Tracker tool. But, if you’re a smaller business with just a few devices used in a single shop, you might be wondering, “what’s in it for me?” Do I need to spend money on something like this?

Let’s just put it this way: if a single worker’s mobile device goes down – or missing – for just a few minutes, productivity can be dramatically reduced and customers impacted. Even short recovery delays can compound and create longer fulfillment delays. And mistakes can occur when that worker must revert to manual processes, even temporarily. The problem is, 10% of all company-owned devices go missing each year according to our customers – not just one. On top of that, the typical “find my device” tool is limited to geographical locationing, whereas Device Tracker will locate your device within a couple feet even if the battery dies and the device powers off.  

You can always see the status of every tracked device at a glance from within the Device Tracker app on your mobile device. This includes details such as the name of each device and the access point to which it is connected, the remaining battery charge level, the time of the last check-in, along with many other useful data points associated with that device. You’ll know right away if it’s in the general vicinity of the “Hardware Department” or “Customer Service Desk” – or if it wandered to another site. (It happens!)

If a device is reported missing and it’s connected to your Wi-Fi, you or an associate will be able to quickly see where it was last located and head straight there to retrieve it. In fact, you’ll be able to use a real-time proximity indicator on your own Zebra mobile device to see whether you are moving farther or closer to the device as you get within range. (It’s a little bit like the game Marco Polo, except you’ll win a lot faster because you’ll have a Geiger Counter-style tool to tell you when you’re warm!). If you can’t see the device – which could be on a high shelf, behind a larger item, or in a box – you can remotely trigger the device’s alarm at full volume to pinpoint its exact location.

Of course, I’m always asked, “what happens if the device is powered down for some reason?” And it’s a great question. If there is a secondary Bluetooth® Low Energy radio built into the device or battery, you should still be able to find it because a beacon will still be broadcasted to Device Tracker.

So, if you’ve been looking for a better way to track and recover your company-owned Zebra devices, I’m happy to say you just found it!

A FINAL THOUGHT

In my opinion, the best way to use Device Tracker is as a loss prevention tool. It will enable you to take corrective action before the battery discharges completely and the device location is no longer visible. You can also have employees scan a barcode on their badges when checking out and in devices to increase accountability. And since you can see how many devices are in service at the start of every shift, you can ensure all devices are returned at the end of every shift – and know who to track down if they’re not.

Just remember, if you want to maximize your mobility tools and keep your workers’ productivity levels up, it’s just as important to track device performance as it is to track device location. There are several tools available to streamline device monitoring, especially if that’s something you’re managing in house. You can learn more about them, as well as best practices for device management, in these blog posts:

• How Healthy are Your Workers’ Mobile Devices? (Do You Really Even Know?)
• How Well Do You Know Really Know Your Business?

Originally published here!