In the 1989 American science fiction comedy film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, a struggling inventor accidentally shrinks his kids, along with the neighbors’ kids, down to the size of a quarter inch. After being accidentally thrown out with the trash, the kids work together to venture through the backyard wilderness filled with dangerous insects and hazards to get back home.
The core premise of this movie is a family losing track of their kids—their legacy and the most important items they need to care for and nurture. For the film’s parents, this loss causes a significant disruption, while the neighbors cancel a fishing trip to help search for their children.
Much like the importance of the kids in the movie, businesses with a large fleet of shared rugged Android devices need to treat these devices with the same level of care. Frontline mobile devices are crucial to business continuity, ensuring that tasks are completed on time. For many businesses, losing track of devices can cause significant disruptions.
The Problem of Device Loss
Is device loss a problem that customers come to BlueFletch to solve? Absolutely! Out of the many value propositions we present, device loss tracking is probably the second most common reason customers initially approach BlueFletch. Much like in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, where the kids are accidentally discarded with the trash, organizations often do similar things with their mobile devices. Devices get dropped in boxes and shipped to customers, fall into trash compactors (and sometimes cause fires), or are simply thrown away. These incidents lead to significant financial loss and operational disruption.
When customers come to us, they typically lose between 10% – 25% percent of their devices annually. For example, if a company has a fleet of 10,000 devices and loses 1,000 of them each year due to lack of proper tracking, the costs can quickly add up. These losses are unnecessary and tremendously frustrating for our customers. Statistically, a device can become lost or stolen at some point, especially as the number of devices increases. However, with the right tools and procedures in place, the possibility of these losses can be significantly reduced.
Impacts on Business
One of the first areas impacted by device loss is productivity. If an organization loses a device, it leads to a direct loss in productivity. Many tasks assigned to frontline workers are now digital and delivered through a shared rugged mobile device. These tasks might involve warehouse management systems, ordering systems, picking systems, or receiving systems. Without a mobile device, workers may not be able to perform their tasks efficiently, resulting in paid labor not being utilized effectively.
In a retail environment, device loss can lead to poor customer service. For instance, in a retail location, if store associates use mobile devices for line busting or to check out customers, the unavailability of these devices can force customers to travel across the store, leading to inconvenience and potential loss of business. Additionally, if goods cannot be received into the store due to missing devices, shelves might remain unfilled, resulting in lost sales.
If an organization loses a device, it leads to a direct loss in productivity.
Tracking Peripherals and Device Health
Beyond mobile devices, customers are increasingly seeking accountability for peripherals connected to these devices, such as printers and ring scanners. BlueFletch can track these peripherals if they connect via Bluetooth, making the complexity of managing lost devices even greater. This makes device management much more complex. BlueFletch can track these peripherals if they connect via Bluetooth. Understanding the health of these devices is crucial. Devices and their peripherals need to be tracked, charged, and kept in working condition to maintain operational efficiency.
For instance, one of our customers—a retailer in Atlanta—uses our portal to generate daily device reports at the store level. Tracking devices have become part of their standard operating procedures when opening the store, between shifts, and at closing time. This practice allows them to understand where their devices are, who is accountable for them, and to identify problems quickly. As a result, they reduced device loss from over 20% to single digits, demonstrating the effectiveness of our tracking solutions.
Another retailer uses our system to track ProGloves paired with devices in their distribution centers. Before implementing our solution, they had no visibility into who was using which glove, when, and where. Now, they can track this data and address any issues, improving accountability and operational efficiency.
Leveraging Data for Business Insights
A feature that customers often overlook is our data export capability. This feature allows customers to pipe data in near real-time to their backend systems and combine it with other parts of their organization. Some customers use this data to build their own dashboards in tools like Splunk, Power BI, or Tableau. These dashboards inform the business, helping them understand their actions and how their initiatives impact the organization.
Understanding device utilization is crucial for our customers. Knowing how different locations / sites utilize devices can lead to more efficient device allocation. Additionally, understanding the health of devices enables customers to replace batteries more efficiently, only replacing those that are underperforming or unable to handle a full charge.
The BlueFletch Advantage
At BlueFletch, we are committed to being a partner that helps businesses navigate the complexity of device management. We ensure that their most valuable assets are always accounted for, enhancing accountability, leveraging data for valuable insights, and ensuring the health of devices. By maintaining operational continuity, improving productivity, and delivering exceptional customer service, BlueFletch Enterprise helps businesses keep their device fleets in check, much like the parents in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids who eventually reunite with their children.
Device loss is a problem that requires attention and the right solutions. With BlueFletch Enterprise, businesses can save on unnecessary costs, improve operational efficiency, and deliver better customer experiences. Our expertise in enterprise mobility and device management makes us the ideal choice for businesses looking to solve their device loss problems.
BlueFletch Enterprise helps businesses keep their device fleets in check
