In today’s working environment, smart lockers offer numerous benefits for organisations and employees alike. As a safe and secure storage solution for businesses, the smart locker benefits have made the solutions increasingly popular – and for a good reason. A locker system is an effective way to protect assets and personal property while helping to optimise productivity and streamline operations.
In this blog, we take a closer look at the unique benefits of installing smart lockers in the office and how they can support business and dynamic workplaces.
- What is a Smart Locker?
- What are the Benefits of Smart Lockers?
- Vflex Hybrid Lockers for a Flexible Workplace
- Summary
What is a Smart Locker?
Smart locker solutions are modern storage lockers that utilise smart technology to enhance the user experience; going beyond just your average workplace lockers. The tech can enable convenient features such as online booking of day use lockers, touchless access via app, email, or passcode, easy post-delivery, and much more. These lockers offer high-security storage and data protection, as well as valuable data analytics and dashboards that can be accessed by the appropriate management online.
Smart lockers are beneficial in many places such as workplaces, apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals. They can be used to store a wide range of assets, from documents and laptops to personal items and medical equipment. However, in this blog, we specifically introduce the benefits of smart lockers for office use with the ability to handle parcel deliveries, manage IT assets, and store personal items.
What are the Benefits of Smart Lockers?
Smart lockers have many advantages, but it can be hard to find the best locker solution for your office. To help, here is a list of 5 of the best benefits you can gain with a smart locker system:
1. Cost Savings
Although new technology requires investment, the automated tasks and added convenience reduces the spending for ongoing operations. With the benefits of smart technology, the locker systems can provide administrative and security benefits that traditional lockers do not, granting access to data insights that allow facilities managers to analyse people’s habits and optimise space efficiency to ensure money isn’t wasted on unused real estate.
Reduced cost of security staff
With secure storage lockers, the need for additional physical security measures is reduced, and the business can save both time and money on manned guarding. Contactless locks provide high-security access methods for additional protection from theft, vandalism, and unauthorised use. Furthermore, digital locks remove the cost of replacing lost locker keys – if a user struggles to access their locker, admins can simply release the door from the platform. No need for locksmiths or new keys.
Increase savings with automated workflows
The locker software reduces the administrative cost of managing storage space with manual processes of handling deliveries and distributing IT devices/tools. For example, if employees wish to drop off a device for the IT team, or a parcel gets delivered at an inconvenient time, the reception staff doesn’t need to get involved at all. Instead, they can focus on delivering good customer service.
2. Enhanced Security
The benefits of lockers in the office are that employees have a secure place to store their belongings. A smart locker system improves office security with more advanced security features so that all visitors and employees can rest assured that their items are stored safely and protected from unauthorised access.
The lockers can only be accessed via authenticated methods, such as QR codes, PIN codes, RFID cards, or fingerprints, meaning only authorised users can open their specific units.
Streamlined access control and occupancy tracking
Managers can access real-time occupancy tracking from the online platform or smartphone app. If the business has chosen not to anonymise users, admins will be able to view detailed user reports on daily locker usage and inventory, which helps prevent theft and reduces the risk of losing assets.
Push notifications
Users receive notifications via email or SMS when a package or device is ready for them, if their locker is about to expire, or in case someone else has gained access to their space. This feature helps users remember to pick up items so parcel and asset lockers won’t be occupied for too long, as well as remind people to empty visitor/rental lockers of personal belongings before their reservation ends.
3. Accommodate demand for flexibility
With hybrid workers and unpredictable work schedules, it’s important that office locker storage solutions support the flexible workplace. Smart lockers offer the freedom of access from anywhere, anytime, and on any device, allowing for a more collaborative work environment.
Instead of using space and money for each person to have a locker, they can be used as hot lockers for employees who don’t require a locker daily. This also supports activity-based workspaces and offices with hot desking policies.
4. Support workplace culture
With the ability to change workflows from day to day via the smart locker system, managers can make sure the lockers always adapt to meet people’s needs; e.g., changing visitor lockers in the reception area to delivery lockers during the holidays. The units can also be moved around to accommodate an office redesign, or changing user habits.
Additionally, many solutions can be customised to reflect a company’s brand, colours, and design, which can contribute to a positive and cohesive workplace culture.
5. Understand Your Workplace: Data Dashboards
Smart lockers give you a deeper insight into how your office space has been used, such as analytics of locker usage, occupancy, and parcel deliveries. This data can give companies a better understanding of space utilisation in their building, and be used to identify trends, optimise locker usage, and make informed decisions about future storage investments.
6. Reducing congestion
By offering a secure and convenient storage solution for personal belongings, digital lockers can help reduce clutter and free up space in public areas such as event lobbies, tourist attractions, hallways, and common areas. This also goes for the office, where the benefits of storage lockers are felt when employees have a safe space to store their bags, coats, and other personal belongings, creating a more organised workspace.
7. Adapting to your future needs
Lastly, cloud-based locker software with open API means the system can be upgraded to incorporate new features and trends when they emerge in the industry, ensuring that the technology will stay relevant in years to come.
For example, the software can integrate with systems such as access control and asset management, to create a comprehensive workplace ecosystem, ensuring that internal communication is efficient and boosting both the employee experience and customer satisfaction.
By investing in smart lockers, companies can future-proof their operations and stay ahead of the curve.
Vflex Hybrid Lockers for a Flexible Workplace
Vflex smart locker solution offers all the best smart locker benefits with in-house manufacturing and a cloud-based platform that can support multiple workflows in a single locker bank.
The top benefits of Vflex include the following:
- One locker bank, one platform, multiple uses (rental, visitor, team, personal, click and collect, delivery, IT asset)
- Up to 30% savings from space efficiency and reduced costs
- Multiple access methods (RFID, PIN, QR, smartphone app…)
- Regular software updates
- A tech-agnostic solution that integrates with other workplace systems
- Plug & Play: allowing the units to be easily moved around without causing issues with the software
- Increased convenience boosts job satisfaction
- A sustainable solution with sustainable design
- Supports human-centric workplaces
- Your lockers, your rules!
Summary
If you have been looking at storage solutions for the office and want to make a smart decision, Smart Lockers is a product that poses several great advantages to visitors, clients, employees, and employers alike.
Our 5 notable benefits of implementing smart lockers at the workplace are:
- Cost Savings
- Enhanced Security
- Accommodate demand for flexibility
- Support workplace culture
- Understand You workplace: Data Dashboards
- Reducing congestion
- Adapting to your future needs
