Last week Ximedes started a pilot of “get IT” via a vending machine with our Pecunda payment solution at PWN in Velsen-Noord. We are running this concept, in cooperation with Jaski, at Nationale Nederlanden, Alliander, and now at PWN. The first reactions of users at the client's premises are very positive.
The vending machines in this concept are not about soda cans and chocolate bars but about the tools we need to do our job. The little things that we forget to bring with us or break down after a while when used daily. Like chargers for our phones or laptops, trackpads or mouses we use with our laptops, screensavers telephone covers, or other peripherals.
PWN is short for Provinciaal Waterleidingbedrijf Noord-Holland. It provides 112 bln liters of freshwater to over 800.000 households each year. PWN has offices around Haarlem and Amsterdam with its headquarters at Velserbroek.
The concept of supplying IT products via a vending machine reduces bureaucracy by 95%. It provides instant access to IT supplies for employees of PWN and eliminates having to fill out forms or wait at a service desk and avoids any manual action that involves workplace management. It delivers instant satisfaction. Employees use their secure access pass to identify themselves at the vending machine. Each employee gets a yearly privilege that can be managed by our client. On January 1st, each account's maximum withdrawal privilege is reset to the amount permitted.
Employees are permitted to take whatever they require from the machine as long as their privileged amount is not exceeded. Each purchase is noted in our Pecunda back-office. Automated reports are available to the manager of the system at PWN. Employees are not required to put any money on their cards. In this closed-loop payment system, all transactions are completed without actual money or payment processors. This means there is also the added benefit of having no fees associated with each transaction.
The vending machines are operational 24x7 and, apart from restocking them with new items after purchases, need very little manpower compared to the previous manual process that involved a lot more people and took much more time. That precious time saved can now be spent more wisely on complicated workplace management requests.
Many organizations work with Fujitsu to provide them with IT workplaces. Fujitsu's clients are very satisfied with the support, maintenance, and reliability of their products. This is one of the reasons why PWN chose Fujitsu to supply them daily with all their needs in IT supplies to make workplaces more effective and create a better environment for employees.
Together with Jaski, one of the biggest vending machine operators in the Netherlands, Ximedes developed this Pecunda solution as a pilot at PWN. Jaski Automaten is a Dutch company that operates and manufactures vending machine systems. The company has been operational for more than 60 years and has over 40 employees working on innovative and sustainable vending machine solutions.
Ximedes hosts the Pecunda back office in the cloud and provides a local network based on routers with SIM cards installed in the vending machine. This way a stable and secure connection to the machine can be established at any time without the requirement to have access to PWN's company network. To ensure further privacy and security requirements are met, Ximedes also does not store any privacy-sensitive information of the cardholder.
Once PWN started using the pilot the benefits became self-explanatory. Starting a pilot with one machine is a perfect way to get acquainted with this new concept. We have set up an interactive feedback column next to the vending machine that allows employees to instantly give their comments on the new situation. In addition to that, access to the Pecunda back-office combined with comprehensive reports allows PWN management to assess whether the staff is using the new solution sensibly. The pilot also provides the insight necessary to make an educated decision on whether this is something they want to implement company-wide.
The pilot is scheduled to last for 6 months. It is not unusual for pilot customers to extend the use of the system and expand to other physical locations after a few weeks into the pilot. If you're looking for ways to improve your workplace environment or find better solutions for managing company-wide logistics, contact our experts today!
For more information on how you can create a better workplace for your employees, please contact our experts at: info@ximedes.com.
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