Smart phones and tablets: game changers for managing a vending business

I love technology. I admit it. I’m one of those people that wake up at 2 a.m. to pre-order the newest iPhone or iPad on the first day. I try to convince myself it is not just about having the latest gadget. To my defense, I work to integrate it into my vending business to maximize my productivity and to improve the company’s operations.

If you’re an entrepreneur, one of the reasons you went into business in the first place was to have “freedom”— the freedom to do what you want, when you want, how you want, and with whom you want. Ironically, not too long after you’re in business, you realize you have less freedom than if you actually were an employee for someone else.

Couple that with communications technology — we’re getting so connected that even when we’re home or out of the office, we’re always connected to the business. Technology that was supposed to help us become more productive and provide some additional freedom has simply tied us down more!

My goal in writing this article is to share how I use my iPhone and iPad to improve my productivity and hopefully provide a little more freedom. While I will cite specific examples, it is not intended to be a guide to implement the technologies — rather a means to show you what is possible. Moreover, my use of specific product names is not intended to be an endorsement for any particular supplier of technologies over others — my examples are based on my practical, real-life examples of how I use the technologies at my company.

The thrust of innovation in the vending industry is focused around route operations — cashless, DEX, pre-kitting, dynamic scheduling, vending management software (VMS), and the like. Perhaps this is rightfully so because route operations are our core activity. But as any operator knows, route operations are just a part of our overall work and effort.

Consumer technology advances

The technology in the consumer marketplace has evolved at an incredibly fast pace and we are into several generations of innovations. Five years ago, very few people had smart phones; there was no iPhone, no iPad, no Netbook, and mobile Internet was not widely used. In the big scheme of things, these technologies are economical and can provide a huge value in the vending company if properly utilized.

If you already have an iPhone, you are probably using it at minimum for email, calendar, contacts, pictures, and directions. Those are the most basic uses for the device (in addition to making calls!). I won’t get into the other basic things you can do like browsing the Web, reading the news and ebooks, paying your credit cards and bills online, etc. I’m keeping this article specific to the vending operations.

At my company, we use MEI Easitrax for our vending management software (VMS). I don’t know of any VMS that has an iPad or iPhone app — wouldn’t that be useful if they did? But look at the picture below – I am running the full version of MEI Easitrax on my iPad. How’s this possible?

One of the absolutely essential applications on my iPad is Jump Desktop — it is a remote desktop client (there are many others). With Jump Desktop, I can remotely connect to my desktop computer (or any computer in my company, including servers) from anywhere.

When connected to my computer, I can use it like I was in front of it — run any application, including my MEI Easitrax.

Remote desktop protocol available

The remote desktop protocol is available for both the iPad and the iPhone. The iPhone screen is small, but it still allows me to do critical things (like reschedule an account, look up a service call, change the handheld download date, etc.). With the iPad, the Easitrax experience is almost the same as if it were on a desktop.

Of course, with Jump Desktop I can run any other application too, not just Easitrax. About 99 percent of my server maintenance is done through remote desktop because it typically has to be done when no one is at the office working. Remote desktop allows me the freedom to work on the server at 10 p.m. at night from home. Remote desktop is one of the biggest time savers for me and allows me to multi-task. I have literally fixed a handheld download date or other issues from bed at 4 a.m. in the morning when a driver has called about a problem, saving me a trip in.

Change electronic locks remotely

We have electronic locks on all our machines, and all our facility doors. CyberAudit is a critical component to our business — like the VMS, it is a mission critical application.

While CyberAudit does not have an iPhone app, I actually access it more on my iPhone than on my desktop computer because inevitably I need to make permission changes when I’m not in the office. For security reasons, only two people in my company have access to the CyberAudit database, and this works well for us because I can do almost everything I need to do remotely.

To connect to CyberAudit Web, we don’t need to use remote desktop software (although you could do it that way, too). I simply connect to my work network through a virtual private network (VPN) connection and in Safari navigate to the same address I would if I were on my computer.

I saved the Webpage shortcut to the iPhone home screen so it actually looks and is accessed just like an app, even though it is not. It works through Safari quite well.

Just a couple weeks ago, I was in my car heading back to the office when I got a text message from my office with a problem. It said the janitorial crew was there and my office was locked and so they weren’t going to clean it this week.

Well, I wanted my office cleaned! But I was still 45 minutes away. So I said, “Give me three minutes. I’ll pull over and set your key to open my office for today.” So I pulled over, took out my iPhone and gave my office staff’s key access to open my office so the crew could clean it. Problem solved.

Obviously, this is a simple problem, but nonetheless, it shows you how it can be used. I have done similar things for route keys and machine access. I’m hoping someday Videx builds an IR encoder that can connect to the iPhone via Bluetooth or wi-fi so we can actually use it to sync keys in the field too! We currently do sync keys in the field with Netbook computers, but it would be much more convenient to do so with an iPhone.

Syncing a key in the field in itself is a time and cost saving for us when there are problems. Our technicians have Netbooks issued to them and they have an IR encoder that plugs into the USB port (see sidebar).

If a key dies in the field, or we need to change permissions for whatever reason, we can save the effort of having the driver come back. We can dispatch a tech to them and have the key renewed in the field! This has been a huge lifesaver a few times when the drivers have been 45 to 60 minutes away, but the technicians have been much closer to them.

How to sync all devices

DropBox is something you install on your computer first. Basically it is a folder on your desktop that stays in sync across all your devices. It is like having a USB drive with files, but not requiring the physical drive! I use six computers and devices on a regular basis. Any file in that folder stays in sync across all my devices seamlessly and automatically.

While DropBox has an app for the iPhone that allows you to access all documents in that folder, I actually rarely use the app. Rather, they provide other apps the ability to access and upload documents to the DropBox and that is the way I use it most.

For example, I have in the DropBox every proposal I am working on, every presentation for the past few months, every important document I could possibly need in the field. Even more advanced, you can create a “briefcase” in the DropBox folder (using Windows technology) to sync files in the DropBox from across the internal network (so in other words, you don’t need the original file there).

I use OneNote to take notes on my iPhone. The OneNote app syncs over the air with OneNote on my computer so it is a really nice and a seamless way to keep the notes synchronized. OneNote allows me to insert pictures in-line with the notes so it is much better than the default Notes app.

There are two regular uses for me. First, as all the brokers that visit me know, I take all my meeting notes on the device. To speed up note taking, I use a Bluetooth keyboard. When the brokers show me new products, I take pictures of it with my iPhone. I also take pictures of any brochures, pre-order forms, and promotion flyers. I like to keep all my information in one place.

When I’m done, by the time I head to my computer, all the information is there. I then can send my notes to anyone else in the company via email. Another neat feature of OneNote on the computer is that it can even search text in images!

The other way I used OneNote is when I am doing site visits for new or prospective customers. I can track all my notes and take pictures of machines and locations. It works out very well.

We have a digital video surveillance system in our facility. With GView I can access the cameras with my iPhone and iPad and view them in real-time. Of course the benefits of this for any operator are self-explanatory.

With our system, I can even set certain cameras to run on motion-detect and notify me. For example, if anyone enters the cashroom (which has limited access through the CyberAudit system anyhow) I can immediately get notified on my iPhone with an email stating someone entered and it attaches three pictures taken about a second apart so I can even see who it is!

Our trucks are equipped with GPS North America service. While they don’t have an iPad app, I can access the system through my iPad and view in real-time where our service vehicles are located right now. The system can even send alerts when certain things happen – like if anyone drives over 75 mph, or if any technician is stopped in any place for more than one hour, or if anyone enters the 7-11 just up the road from our warehouse.

This can save money! When we first implemented the GPS system, we discovered we had an employee who clocked in and then stopped off at this 7-11 first thing every morning and spent about 15 minutes there. Think about this – 15 minutes a day times five days is 75 minutes a week times 52 weeks is 3,900 minutes or 65 hours a year. At $20 an hour, that 7-11 stop was costing me $1,300 a year and I didn’t even know it until we implemented the GPS. He was advised that if he wanted to go to 7-11, he needed to do it before he clocked in.

It surprises me how many people store their passwords and PIN numbers in just a note on their mobile device. That is not a very secure place to store sensitive information. I have used eWallet for many years across many different devices. It basically allows you to store all your sensitive information in an encrypted manner, and keep it synchronized to your computer.

More apps on the way

With over 500,000 apps available, these are just a small sampling of how an operator could leverage the iPhone and iPad in their vending business. While I have nearly 100 apps on my iPhone, the apps I mentioned in this article are ones I use in my business on a regular basis.

As you read, some apps do require setup on the computer side, and accordingly, it does take varying levels of skill. But again, this article was written with the goal of providing insight on what is possible using the iPhone and iPad.

Also, I should mention that while I focused on Apple hardware in this article, most of these apps are also available for the Android platform.