Cantaloupe Systems announced an update of its Seed Platform, adding new capabilities to its cloud-based vending management and cashless solution. This release makes it easier to get started with Seed Office (Cantaloupe’s web-based VMS), makes it easier to control product shrinkage and adds 14 different customer-requested improvements throughout Seed Platform, according to the company.
This is Cantaloupes sixth major upgrade in the past 12 months. “As a modern, web-based platform, we can respond quickly without requiring software upgrades or other IT hassles. This release is no exception, combining ease-of-use improvements in Seed Office setup and product accountability with a long list of customer-requested improvements product-wide,” said Justin Grant, director of product of Cantaloupe Systems, in a prepared statement. “This latest upgrade makes Seed even easier to use for all our customers, and stay tuned for even more progress coming later this year.”
As usual, this new release will automatically be available for all Seed customers without them having to pay an upgrade fee or bother an IT department. Full details will be available online in the home page that Seed users see after login.
Key updates include:
Easier On-Ramp to Seed Office
Operators who want to move to Seed Office now can avoid costly and error prone manual data entry by importing customer and product information in bulk using Excel. In addition, setup and editing of customers and locations is now much faster.
- Easier Customer and Location Setup – adding, removing and viewing customers and locations is now much easier. This means faster initial setup and less work when an operator gets new business.
- Customer Bulk Import/Export – provides an easy on-ramp when moving to Seed Office from another VMS
- Better Bulk Import/Export of Product Catalog – operators can now import/export product catalogs using excel, including bar codes, case counts and other data needed for Seed Office. This makes it easy to edit product catalogs offline or import them from a distributor or another VMS.
Easier Product Accountability
Seed Office now further reduces the time and complexity required to identify the sources of product shrinkage with the following new features.
- Driver Check-in with Automated Warehouse Product Return – streamlines workflow when drivers return to the warehouse at the end of their day, while ensuring more accurate product accountability with less work for drivers and route managers.
- New Warehouse Product Accountability Page – makes it easy to identify warehouse shrinkage patterns by product, spot shrinkage trends across multiple inventory periods and diagnose the likely cause of shrink so action can be taken in real time to avoid costly product losses.
14 Customer-Requested Usability Improvements
This release rolls up many small improvements to make Seed easier to use. These include:
- Easier Service Ticket Entry and Editing – smoother workflow when creating and categorizing service tickets, which optimizes dispatching of service techs
- Easier Planogram Entry – keyboard shortcuts now work like Excel when entering planograms, which provides faster planogram entry
- More How-To Video Tutorials – more video tutorials are now available within the Seed Web App, including new tutorials for Commissions, Sales Tax, Import/Export of product catalogs, and more.
- Seed Mobile iPhone 5 Support – Seed Mobile now uses screen real estate more optimally on iPhone 5 devices
- More Space-Efficient Machine List – Seed’s Machine List page now shows the same information with less wasted space, making it easier to use Seed on smaller-screen devices like iPads.
- And many more!
