Dispensing office supplies in today’s office space
Modern work environment trends have changed workplace needs significantly over the past couple of years. With changing consumer needs, experts predict that office-based work has changed forever. Businesses and employees worldwide have realized the advantages and disadvantages of working away from the confines of an office. Several companies are moving from 5 days a week at the office to alternate days. Some are even considering moving entirely to work from home. Ensuring the availability of necessary resources for the employees in such an environment requires innovative ways to distribute supplies.
Today’s IT departments grapple with challenges like controlled access, attacks from hackers, resource management, and several other responsibilities. They also must ensure uptime of the office employee so that business can go on as usual. This is genuinely an unenviable position, but thankfully, technology can help them address such needs and challenges efficiently.
Changing trends in the modern work environment
The differences between the environment at a local or a global business are blurring every day. The employee mix is becoming homogenous. Increased labor mobility is creating a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural office space. This influences the access to resources and supplies as human intervention can cause communication and semantics-related hurdles. Using equipment to distribute supplies virtually eliminates this. Of course, this does not mean machines can replace people, but using controlled dispensing equipment and the power of human intelligence can drive excellent efficiency and experiences.
There is generally a favorable disposition for the employee to work from home. A research report on Statista says about 81% of employees working from home report an increase or similar productivity levels compared to working from the office. Another report also says more than 75% of employers describe their companies as having the same or better office productivity. Such a high level of employer-employee agreement is a rare sight in any other aspect.
Work from home is here to stay. And thus, employees must have real-time visibility to the status of their resource requests. Because unlike before, they now need to plan when to go to work and collect necessary supplies.
Pandemic or not, the workforce has become increasingly mobile. Concepts like hot-desking and coworking are changing the way people define the office. An employee may not even be sitting in the same bay or floor of the office every day. They may not even be sitting in the same building all day. They cannot rely on a centralized IT storage closet. Controlled and decentralized access to IT supplies is in great demand.
This is where IDS’s iQ Technology comes in. iQ Technology is our all-in-one and end-to-end solution for inventory and asset management. Our solution is all-in-one because it contains the software and hardware components that helps you take your hands from the wheel. iQ Technology is end-to-end because it covers all possible use cases from procurement, the physical dispensing, consumption tracking, and returns (in case of assets).
The diversity of devices and solutions in the modern work environment is genuinely phenomenal. Just ten years ago, casting and streaming devices were a part of emerging technology. Today, such devices form a part of routine presentations, discussions, workshops, and training sessions. Computer mice, business phones, slide controllers, and electronic notepads are other essentials in today’s office. There is a growing need for access to these pieces of technology. They also need replacement, repairs, or maintenance. Businesses that invest in dispensing and collecting technology that provides timely access to these gadgets are no longer options.
It also goes without saying that the solution that works for your organization will be built over time. Here too, our customer-centric R&D and implementation makes adoption easier with our modular offerings. The different packages cover everything from simple reporting and item management to credential-based access, customizable alerts like product expiration, API/Pre-Authorization etc.
In a world where handshakes have been replaced by elbow bumps and “Namaste,” physical transactions are becoming few and far between. The concept of hygiene at the workplace has taken a massive turn in the past few years. Everything has become contactless and socially distant. While the debate is still raging on the sustainability of these measures, the business must go on. Gladly, technology comes to the rescue again. Distributing supplies no longer need as much human touch as it needed before.
The office goer today is becoming more and more focused on personal success. Individual productivity is now everybody’s concern. Nobody wants downtime due to a lack of resources or faulty equipment. Timely access to necessary supplies is a critical factor for employee motivation. With IDS’s dispensing solutions there are no constraints on the type of supplies that you want to make available to your employees. From fragile, sophisticated electronics to stationery, our range of dispensing solutions cover it all.
Lastly, business leaders and managers need data about the consumption of supplies. Technology enables this data-driven decision-making at all levels. Leaders can guarantee uptime, reduce waste, and improve productivity with better insights into consumption. Businesses can also use such technology to save costs, prevent resource hoarding, and improve profitability. Using automated controlled dispensing is now driven by demand from both sides. Employees need them for convenience, and employers need them for efficiency.
Controlled dispensing in the modern office
It is undeniable that modern work environment trends call for the technology that serves the unique nature of demand for IT and office supplies. The good news is that there is already proven technology available in the market from reputed suppliers that address this need. Such equipment can ensure the delivery of resources to the right recipient.
IDS’s office supply dispensing solutions are constantly attuned to the fast-paced changes in customer requirements because we listen to our customers and keep our eyes open for emerging technologies that add value. Our solutions are capable of helping achieve high-level mandates and board-room philosophies around productivity, resource consumption, cost optimization, to name a few.
We help our customers achieve more by enhancing the trackability of assets and improving the performance of those assets through scheduled maintenance or repairs. They also provide transparency into the consumption and utilization of resources that give leaders informed decision-making power. They are also a vital component of the office process automation and the transformation towards a paperless office. The value that such technology brings through loss prevention, improved accountability, and support for material audit are simply icing on the cake.
Our team of consultants at IDS Vending can help you find the right combination of hardware and software that will serve the needs of the evolving office environment. Call us at 1-855-260-4771 to talk to an expert.
