4 Creative Uses for Smart Lockers

A smart asset vending system comprises four key components: the smart lockers, the touch screen panel for signing assets in and out, the RFID tags embedded in the assets, and the smart asset management system that ties everything together.

This type of technology has a wide array of applications, and most of which are familiar to many as package management solutions such as mailroom management, or package delivery, to name a few. But as it turns out, smart lockers are more than just storage space for packages and e-commerce. Here are four interesting uses for smart lockers you may not have considered before:

1. Electronic Repairs and Services

Electronic repairs, most of the time, can be such a hassle. You need to drive to a repair shop, wait in line for the check-up, and then wait some more for the work to be completed.

Because smart lockers can be programmed individually to fit their purpose, each locker can be configured to trigger a specific alert when items are placed in them.

For example, when an electronic device like a laptop, phone, tablet, or handheld scanner needs troubleshooting, the customer or an employee can open a ticket and log notes at the screen panel before depositing the device into the locker. The asset tracking system will then notify IT personnel right away via text message, mobile push notifications, or email.

In this setup, some lockers can be designated as repair lockers. This cuts down on the waiting time that is usually spent on queues in repair shops. The items will be safeguarded until an IT staff can finish the repair or servicing. After which, the items will be placed back into the lockers, where customers or a company employee will receive a notification that their items have been serviced and are now ready for pickup.

2. Banking Transactions

Bankers deal with a lot of incoming and outgoing sensitive information. Financial institutions mail out checkbooks, debit or credit cards, account statements, and the like on a regular basis. These are items that you don’t want falling into the wrong hands.

Smart lockers are a great fit for handling banking transactions or any other hard copy of sensitive information. Once a banker deposits an item into a locker, only the intended recipient can access it. That is much better than dropping the new checkbook or ATM card in the mail, where it could get stolen. Alarmingly, that tends to happen quite a lot. It has been reported that mail theft reports soared by 600%, from 25,000 cases in 2017 to about 177,000 in August 2020.

When implementing smart lockers, the customer receives instructions to retrieve these items with sensitive information, in not only a more convenient way but secure as well. All they have to do is to pick up these items from a locker at their local bank. There’s no need to line up at the bank counter, and no more risks of theft.

3. Book Borrowing

With social distancing rules still in effect, a smart locker with Smart asset management is perfect for promoting book borrowing in a contactless manner.

Readers can browse online to select books, and the librarians can then deposit these books into the lockers for the borrower to pick them up at their convenience. Likewise, the borrower can securely return the books they’ve finished reading via the same smart locker system.

4. Support For New Hires And Remote Workers

During the pandemic, many organizations switched to a work-from-home setup. Now, even after the restrictions and lockdowns were finally lifted, some companies still offer their employees an option to work from home, and what better way to support these types of workers, than through secure, and convenient smart lockers.

Both new hires and work from home employees can use smart lockers to exchange essential work-related items like sensitive documents (budget, project, or onboarding proposals), keys, IDs and passes, or electronic devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets)

Having a smart locker system with Smart asset and inventory management like Teqtivity is the most secure and contactless way to transfer items, as you can get. Organizations can even install these lockers just outside their building to encourage more convenient transactions without compromising security.

Conclusion

These are just some of the game-changing ideas for implementing smart lockers in organizations, and this is only the beginning. As software and sensor technology continues to develop over the years, expect a more seamless integration, tighter security, and smoother business operations to follow.

Controlling and securing the important items that an organization owns from the time it is procured up to its disposal is integral to operational improvement.  What follows is a more enhanced customer or employee experience, on top of the time savings, reduced optimal costs, and a safe and secure contactless way to retrieve items.

These creative solutions can help organizations take charge of their assets and solve many of their pain points.

Talk to us about how our smart locker can help your business.