Other Voices: Three benefits of a proper device utilization program

Editor’s note: The following column by Greg Henry, vice president of client solutions at Barcoding, Inc., is part of Modern’s Other Voices column, a series featuring ideas, opinions and insights from end-users, analysts, systems integrators and OEMs. Click here to learn about submitting a column for consideration.

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The last 30 years have brought three major mobile technology refreshes. Microsoft “DOS” provided the first big wave of mobile computers. The support tools for DOS were limited, so tracking and managing these assets was not really a priority. Next, Windows Mobile introduced the first true usage of mobile device management tools as the industry learned how to manage periodic OS, application and security updates. Today, we are in our third major technology refresh with Android, with more tools than ever to help make better business decisions.

Due to its popularity in consumer smart phones, Android had a large install base prior to its adoption by the rugged mobile device manufacturers. As such, enterprises have the opportunity to leverage a much larger set of support tools than were ever previously available.

Historically, retailers and other large mobile computer users would spend millions of dollars on mobile device hardware, deploy these devices to their stores and forget about them. Now, the mobile computer community as a whole is beginning to look at these assets in a different way. Companies today want to know who is using these devices, how and when they are being used and, when necessary, who is breaking them. They want to understand what kind of data can be tracked and how they can leverage that data.

This desire for more information spans all industries—from retail to manufacturing to health care. One way to capture this information is to invest in software tools that capture device utilization data. These tools can increase productivity and efficiency through real-world analytics. They also provide information to help hold employees accountable for the devices they use.

Here are three benefits companies can realize by capturing and analyzing device usage data.

Informed investments
Within most organizations, the operations team oversees technology investments and determines the amount of investment needed. As technology continues to advance at faster rates and with more changes, operations departments are in need of better data to make optimal investment decisions.

It’s important to maximize the return on every hardware investment, and that begins with understanding your device usage. A device utilization tool can improve an enterprise’s insight into device and employee utilization by capturing device usage data that can be used by operations to better perform investment analysis. These applications also provide the proper analytics to understand where and when assets are needed and ultimately how many devices to purchase.

For example, a grocery retailer that had invested in six devices per store discovered discrepancies in allocation—some stores actually had three devices and others had 12. The retailer thought devices were being lost when, in reality, they were moving with employees from store to store due to employees being attached to the performance of a specific device. Tracking usage data from the devices allows the retailer to know which assets are at each location and, more importantly, when they are being used, so the retailer doesn’t make an unnecessary investment in new devices.

Improve resource allocation
Most managers face a challenge when determining how to best allocate all of their resources. One of the long-term benefits of implementing a device utilization solution is the ability to improve employee scheduling. The data captured provides a better picture of how an organization’s operations are running on a day-to-day basis and helps companies be more thoughtful in planning resource allocation.

Your company will receive insight as to whether you have enough devices and employees throughout the day. You may find that your organization has the flexibility to shift around resources, such as employee schedules, rather than making an additional investment in hardware to fill gaps in your process. By recording data usage, you’ll also see when you do and do not have assets available. Over time, you can leverage that data to create employee schedules based on your needs.

Take that same grocery retailer as an example. There are six devices in the store, but the produce order consistently does not get submitted in time. Why is that the case? By leveraging a device utilization tool, the team can see that all of the devices are already allocated and being used by employees during that time window the produce order is supposed to be collected. With this data, the retailer can reallocate resources to ensure the order can be submitted on time going forward.

Strengthen security
One reason technology must constantly evolve is because of new and increasing security threats. When evaluating device utilization tools, look for a solution with an authorized sign-in process. This offers an additional layer of security to your organization by ensuring that only authorized employees can access your mobile applications.

In addition to greater security, a sign-in requirement also reduces the risk of someone stealing devices and reselling them online. And requiring employees to sign in with unique credentials will ensure better care of devices since there’s a use record tied to each login.

By implementing a device utilization solution, you’ll discover a wide spectrum of data-driven insight to better identify opportunities and efficiently resolve them.