Tag: vending machine

iVendTech – A Smart Way to Manage and Track Your Office Supplies

Posted on by John Van Horn

When productivity and uptime are at stake, the penalties can be expensive, especially when there is no instant access to IT supplies. By providing your employees with 24/7 self-service access to an office vending machine or computer equipment locker, IDS’s office IT vending machine will enable you to reduce wasted time in the IT department and supply room. It does this by resolving your employee’s supply needs with a convenient and exciting solution to this problem.

Our office tech vending machines and supply lockers provide instant, self-service access to IT and office supplies. With our asset and inventory management vending solutions you can provide employees with instant, self-service access to IT and office supplies and a place to securely store devices for repair, replacement, and procurement with a hi-tech device that streamlines your office supply portfolio. This article introduces you to iVendTech, a smart way to manage and track your office supplies. 

What makes iVendTech unique?

The availability of IT assets and supplies is one of IT support’s most significant burdens. Failing to address issues immediately affects the entire company. A lack of IT and office supplies can be frustrating for employees. The pressure of looming deadlines and the inability to check their support requests’ progress can worsen the problem.

iVendTech allows the support team to easily collect requests for new assets, ensure controlled distribution, a document distributed assets, and collect for repair or replacement. With iVendTech’s IT asset management system, all stakeholders can track progress across the entire support lifecycle via web and mobile interfaces.

iVendTech combines supply dispensers, lockers, inventory management software, customizable visibility, and mobile and web alerts into one comprehensive platform. Such an IT asset and supply management solution makes IT hardware disbursement, maintenance, and support intelligent and transparent. 

How Will You Benefit? 

Here’s a glossary of how you would benefit from this platform: 

SECURE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL – iVendTech’s high-tech vending machines help save money by cutting down on unaccounted supplies. 

Comprehensive Real-time Reporting – In addition to real-time reporting, our reporting features include sales data, re-stock lists, visibility of users, and alerts when inventory runs low.

Increased Productivity – As employees spend less time searching for replaceable office supplies in IT departments and on telephone calls. 

How to Use iVendTech?

Many organizations have adopted the solution of dispensing IT peripherals as needed without supervision. Providing tools and options allowing workers to perform their duties without being bogged down with admin protocols makes them better equipped to increase productivity and effectiveness. Companies can significantly reduce expenditure by providing users with accountability for such resources and products, notably those in IT departments. This is achieved by inspiring staff to be mindful of utilizing supplies and directing their attention towards achieving company objectives rather than personal undertakings.

IDS leverages local employee ID technology to control access to dispensing machines. Administrators can set restrictions based on the user and/or department while also allowing them to track usage trends or misuse. iQ Technology’s IDS software platform can export or integrate transaction data daily, weekly, or monthly into other systems. Custom real-time integration solutions are available for instantaneous data transfer.

Areas of Applicability 

iVendTech can be used across the following areas:

  • New user/repair 
  • Consumables 
  • Travelers 
  • Broken items 
  • 24×7 remote pickup 

Need of the Hour

The inventory management requirements of today pose unprecedented challenges to organizations, which implies that methods of the past may be less effective in today’s complex, error-prone demands and work structure. This is where iVendTech can provide a solution by streamlining your inventory, making it more efficient and profitable. For more information, contact us today!

Vending Machine For Office Supplies Opened in a Library

Posted on by John Van Horn

There are few things more irritating than needing something to write with and not having it. Whether you’re an office worker getting ready for that big presentation or a student getting ready to take that test, nothing quite matches the sinking feeling in your stomach when you reach for your trusty pen and can’t find it. If certain companies have their way, however, this is one problem that society will never have to face again. A number of IT office supply vending machine options have recently made their way into the world and are yielding incredibly positive results.

The Penn State Bookstore

Seeing a vending machine on a college campus is certainly nothing new. College students have been using them for quick snacks in between classes for decades. However, Penn State University recently took a bold step to make sure that students didn’t just have access to all the salty and sweet snacks they want, but also to all of the office supplies they could ever need.

Penn State University installed two such vending machines on its campus that are packed with the types of necessities that you CAN’T eat. These library vending machines are filled with notebooks, headphones, calculators, pens and other miscellaneous office supplies, taking “convenience” to a whole new level.

From the student’s perspective, the benefits are clear. If they get to the library and realize they forgot their notebook, they don’t have to rush back to their dorm – they can just buy a new one. From the University’s perspective, they’ve also unlocked a brand new revenue stream at the same time. It’s the type of situation where everyone wins.

iVendTech | A New Versatile Approach to Office & IT Supply Asset Management

iVendTech is just one example of an office and IT supply solutions provider that is paving the way in this regard, taking the concept of the vending machine for libraries to an incredible new level. Not only do iVendTech’s solutions help to provide all of the important supplies people need at a moment’s notice, but they also offer additional benefits by way of features like will-call lockers, real-time reporting, inventory management and control capabilities and more. All transactions from the notebook vending machine are recorded, allowing people to experience a more deeper level of insight into their inventory control than ever before. These real-time analytics can also help them make more informed purchasing decisions based on buying patterns, trends and more.

These are just a few of the reasons why smart supply vending machines for offices and other contexts are so great. They take the natural benefits of the vending machine to the next level by offering on-demand access to the tools students, business professionals and others need when they need them the most. This is just another in a long line of positive steps that vending machines have taken towards becoming important fixtures in all of our lives in recent years.

What Happens if you Ban Bottled Water on a College Campus Vending Machine?

Posted on by John Van Horn

If you’re on a college campus and are frantically running from one building to another to make it to your next class on time, it’s natural to want something to drink to quench your thirst. You may turn to the nearest school vending machine as a solution thanks to the efficiency and convenience that it brings to the table. What if you wanted a nice, cold bottle of water from the vending machine and were only greeted by sugary sodas that you had no interest in? What if this was the result of your college campus taking the unusual step of banning bottled water altogether? What would happen next?

A new study published by the American Journal of Public Health seeks to understand the effects of banning bottled water. According to the study, restricting access to bottled water on college campuses actually statistically increases the consumption of less healthy beverages. Another side effect is that the ban increases the amount of plastic waste that a college campus has to deal with at the same time.

The study, which is appropriately called “The Unintended Consequences of Changes in Beverage Options and the Removal of Bottled Water on a University Campus,” closely tracked vending machine activity after the University of Vermont banned all bottled water sales on its campus. Not surprisingly, other unhealthy alternatives to water saw a 25 percent increase in sales almost immediately. At the same time, there was an astounding 8.5 percent increase in the total amount of plastic waste that then had to be dealt with by university officials.

Ironically, the purpose of the University of Vermont’s ban was not to spike the sales of sugary drinks at all. College officials report that they originally just wanted to encourage students to bring their own reusable water bottles that they could then fill with tap water from drinking fountains located all over campus. The university even went to the trouble of retrofitting 68 water fountains across the area to make it more convenient to use them with reusable water bottles, making it all the more interesting that the opposite effect seems to have occurred.

The International Bottled Water Association has long maintained that the restriction of bottled water will absolutely lead to the increased consumption of less healthy beverages and increased creation of waste that must then be dealt with. Thanks to the AJPH, these findings have been confirmed in a way that is difficult to argue with. For many people, the choice between cold, healthy bottled water and an unhealthy soda alternative isn’t really a choice at all.

Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=The+Unintended+Consequences+of+Changes+in+Beverage+Options+and+the+Removal+of+Bottled+Water+on+a+University+Campus

Redefining The Retail Experience

Posted on by John Van Horn

The very nature of the retail experience has been changing dramatically over the last several years. Even as recently as 15 years ago, you essentially had one option if you wanted a particular item – you left your house, got in your car and drove to the nearest appropriate store. The Internet changed all that and made it easier than ever to get items delivered right to your home with no car trip necessary. Now, a new type of vending machine solution is poised to take things one step farther by offering a huge range of different items that you wouldn’t normally find in these machines.

When you think about vending machines and the products inside them, you probably call to mind images of potato chips, soft drinks and candy. Items like designer handbags, cupcakes and children’s toys probably don’t fit your mental image of what a vending machine is capable of. The city of Toronto is working hard to challenge your perception, however, by installing a wide range of high tech machines around the city.

Deluxe vending machines are already popping up all over the Toronto area stocked with items like novels, beauty products, clothing and more. These items are strategically located in some of the busiest areas of the city, making them ideal for both tourists and residents alike.

These types of innovative retail vending machine solutions are truly taking the automated retail experience to the next level. In addition to the fact that they’re already starting to sell the types of items that you wouldn’t normally expect to find in a vending machine, they’re also playing music and even the latest Hollywood blockbuster in an attempt to attract the attention of everyone who passes by.

The retail experience is one that is in a constant state of flux that started with the advent of the Internet. Now that innovative vending machine solutions are automating the retail experience even further, it will be truly interesting to see what consumer shopping looks like five, ten or even fifteen years from now. Intelligent Dispensing Solutions will be there inventing and reinventing along the entire process.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/05/08/how-a-new-breed-of-vending-machine-is-poised-to-take-on-retail.html

Secure Dispensers for Office Supply Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

Vending machines have long been one of the best ways to get a wide range of different products to consumers in a quick and efficient manner. Because of the automated nature of these solutions, however, security was always a primary concern. A vending machine representative or service technician isn’t necessarily going to check a particular unit every day, so it could be quite awhile before anyone even realizes that theft has occurred. Now, one industry leader is taking things to the next level by offering vending machine solutions with a focus on security above all else.

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, a leading vending machine manufacturer and provider for both operators and businesses around the world, has released a new line of automated office supply vending machines into the marketplace with a major emphasis on security. These machines track office supplies by letting customers log in with their own user IDs and passwords to make a purchase. This adds a bold new level of accountability to the equation, as each purchase is always tied to a specific person. Management can then view these detailed records to help see who is participating in what types of activity at a moment’s notice. Keeping track of inventory and making sure that a machine stays secure has truly never been easier.

IQ Technology leverages the power of the cloud with inventory tracking to help provide an efficient solution that is intently focused on security at the same time.

IQ is an Internet-based software system, which means that business owners and vendors can access important diagnostic information about a particular vending machine from any device on the planet with an active Web connection. Business leaders can track current inventory levels, see who is checking out certain items, see when (or if) they’re being promptly returned and more. It’s a system that can be used to manage as many machines as necessary given the needs of a business, so long as each machine is connected to the Internet.

In addition to preventing theft, IQ-enabled solutions are also adept at preventing fraud. All transactions are 100% encrypted, so both consumers and business owners don’t have to worry about things like credit card fraud or identity theft when using these machines.

Thanks to the engineers and designers at Intelligent Dispensing Solutions and similar companies all over the world, security concerns are now a thing of the past. Businesses can depend on vending machines to help with everything from inventory control to efficiency and productivity management, all without having to worry about theft and similar issues that were prominent in an era not too long passed.

Vending Security and Control: How Software is Revolutionizing the Industry

Posted on by John Van Horn

The vending industry is currently in a state of expansion. Spreading outward from its core of foods, beverages, and entertainment, vending machines are finding their way into a number of professions. The reason is a unique combination of inventory control and advances in technology that give vending machine management several advantages. As vending machine manufacturers adopt these security features, the potential solutions vending machines offer continue to grow. Below are several of the most promising examples and what they can offer:

Controlled Substances and Healthcare Supplies

Vending machine manufacturers are making inroads into the healthcare system for one primary reason: The importance of supply management for hospitals, clinics, and similar organizations. Healthcare organizations deal with a number of products that require tight controls, particularly drugs and similar controlled substances. Despite their best efforts, many hospitals see losses due to mismanagement and ongoing troubles with employee theft.

Secure medical vending machines offer a solution to these issues by allowing medical professionals to access exactly what goods they need without worrying about theft or mistakes. The system uses a mix of timestamps, access protocols, and unit tracking to control exactly who has access to drugs and valuable medical supplies, while keeping them safe. As a bonus, medical vending machines also provide solutions for dealing with scrubs using software like ScrubTrak to pick up new scrubs and return soiled versions.

Office Management and Accountability

In some respects, office supplies face the same losses that medical supplies do thanks to mismanagement, theft and miscommunication. A vending machine tracking software system for appropriate office supplies can solve corporate problems with these losses.

Office vending machines can be customized to offer everything from simple pens and notes to flash drives and electronics. Items are provided to employees who scan their IDs, helping to create more accurate accountability and removing human error from the process – as well as getting employees their solutions without requiring a lengthy request process.

Kitchens and Similar Workplaces

Busy kitchens found in large-scale restaurants and hospitality industries may seem like an odd choice for vending solutions, but the right kind of machine can provide a help to managers dealing with a balance of inventory control and workplace safety requirements.

Knives and other cutlery or expensive preparation supplies, vending machines can offer simple control answers to environments that are inherently different to closely regulate because of high turnover or sudden changes in volume and activity.

Law Enforcement Controls

While law enforcement may not suffer from the same turnover rates as the hospitality industry, these organizations do have plenty of sensitive products to monitor. Vending machines can help these agencies track ammunition, weapons, and similar products to increase safety and prevent deadly mistakes.

There is no better time to join the vending industry. With strict monitoring and inventory control, vending machine owners can rest assured that the technology is on their side.

Customer Convenience with ‘Will-Call’ Technology

Posted on by John Van Horn

will-call

In the world of business, convenience translates into money. The fewer steps necessary to get from point A to point B, the faster you can supply a demand, the more revenue can be generated each business day. This is why ‘Will Call’ Technology is the answer to the needs of many companies.

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions has found an innovative way for many businesses to supply their customers with what they need without running into unnecessary expenses. With state of the art vending machine technology, vending can be broadened into all types of product dispensing. Using custom vending machines to help distribute products to your customers can cut down on costly payroll additions and human resource issues.

Who Can ‘Will Call’ Help?

‘Will Call’ Technology is an innovative service created by Intelligent Dispensing Solutions to help companies make their products available to customers in the easiest, most cost effective way. ‘Will Call’ is most beneficial to companies that deal primarily with online orders which customers need to pick up. Any customer who has ever experienced the long lines at traditional pick up centers can tell you, the old days of waiting in line and dealing with tired, annoyed pick up employees is not ideal. ‘Will Call’ technology uses retail vending machine lockers which entirely eliminates the need for an additional employee at the station as well as wait lines. ‘Will Call’ Technology is also beneficial for larger companies for use in supply dispensing. Employees can order supplies and pick them up when they are ready. This new innovation eliminates the need for extra employees to disperse supplies.

How Does It Work?

When an individual’s order is ready for pick up, they are notified through email or text and they are given a security code. Only this code will open the ‘Will Call’ Locker holding their order. This ensures that each order only gets to the person who ordered it. The customer simply puts in their code at the pick up station, retrieves their order and the transaction is finished. The locker is now available to be filled with the next order for the next customer.

Is It Safe?

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions is among the top vending machine manufacturers today. Their products are custom built to ensure that each client receives a machine that will suit their individual needs. IDS understands that each company is different and one machine can not fit all. That is why from idea to completed product, IDS works tirelessly to make sure the vending machine you wind up with is exactly the product your company needs to solve distribution issues in the most convenient and cost effective way.

The Simple, Central & Smart Way to Track & Dispense Scrubs

Posted on by John Van Horn

Hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities and practices are constantly trying to balance quality care with inventory control and minimization of costs. This can be difficult, and it pays to find ways to control costs without compromising care, comfort and safety. One area of inventory that is notorious for shrinkage is scrubs. Personnel frequently forget to return scrubs, and they get lost or thrown away. Not only that, but standard methods of storing, cleaning and stocking scrubs may be inefficient.

Fortunately, there is a better way. Imagine a custom scrub inventory tracking vending machine that not only stores and dispenses clean scrubs, but also tracks them.

ScrubTrak systems offers an easy way to dispense, track and store scrubs using powerful, cloud-based software that can be customized for your facility. Flexible management tools allow management to generate usage reports that can be printed online or sent to a desktop application. These features put scrubs inventory control at management’s fingertips, and allows for better planning and greater cost efficiency.

In order to access the scrubs in the machine, personnel must key in a code. The computerized, cloud-based system stores all data, and management receives regular notifications regarding stock and other data. When stock is getting low, a notification is sent out. Personnel can return used scrubs to the vending machine, and that will be tracked as well.

Management can control the inventory, allowing only certain personnel access to the scrubs, and setting limits on how many scrubs are dispensed per person.

Storage of scrubs using a uniform vending machine is much more streamlined. Both clean and soiled scrubs are housed in the space-saving machine. No need to keep them locked up or to distribute keys to certain personnel. They can be accessed any time of day.

Vending machine manufacturers that provide and maintain this service include custom features like remote inventory control and mobile notifications. For facilities that are large, or have more than one location, these vending machines are ideal. Personnel can retrieve scrubs from one machine, and return them to another. The cloud-based technology keeps track of all the vending machines for the facility, tracking and recording inventory easily. This ultimately reduces waste, shrinkage and improves efficiency.

New Phone App Allows Vending Machine Operators to Connect to Customers

Posted on by John Van Horn

No matter what industry you work in, few things are more important than providing unforgettable customer service. However, in the world of vending machines, where customers are buying your product via automated transactions, there is very little room for communication between machine owner and customer. However, thanks to the work of VendCentral, vending machine companies can communicate directly with those purchasing their products via an innovative smartphone app.

According to Vending Times, the Mobile Request 1 app, will allow vending patrons to leave feedback on machines, report operation errors, and request new products and refunds. Vending machine manufacturers can attach a QR code sticker to their machine, allowing customers to scan the code with their smartphone and be presented with all of the aforementioned options. According to the article, the app also allows for an all-new level of social media integration between vending companies and their machines.

Despite their many advantages over physical stores, vending machines do sacrifice the one-on-one customer service that only a real worker can provide. However, thanks to the Mobile Request 1 app, it seems that the gap will be closing very soon. Between social media integration and the advent of custom vending machines, it has truly never been a better time to get involved with this ever-growing industry.

Vending Companies are Embracing Mobile Payment

Posted on by John Van Horn

Whether you are familiar with Intelligent Dispensing Solutions or have been following our blog, you probably know already that the vending industry is evolving and adapting at lightspeed. It might not be long before we are using custom vending machines to purchase tickets for space travel to Mars, where we will find even more machines. Okay, so that might never happen. But there are plenty of more practical examples of the vending industry growing perfectly with our ever electronic world.

A recent report from Mobile Commerce Press revealed that cashless payment solutions company USA Technologies has teamed up with Isis, a company specializing in mobile wallet options. The end result: the ability to make purchases right from your mobile phone. While the recent application of credit card capabilities in vending machines has added a great layer of convenience for customers, mobile payment saves the average consumer even more time, as they will not even have to touch their wallets. This new service forged by the two companies will be available in 7,500 machines in Salt Lake City and Austin, and will hopefully boost sales thanks to the novelty of the service.

We love hearing about these exciting vending developments, and we hope you do too. If you are inspired to create a completely custom vending machine for any type of business that uses state-of-the-art technology, Intelligent Dispensing Solutions is at your service.