What Businesses Can Learn about Mobile Device Deployment from the Education Sector
The education sector is a lot more technologically advanced than you’d think. As technology has evolved, so has the way we use it for education. What used to be one computer lab in every school has turned into iPads or tablets for every student, and educators have quickly learned how to harness technology to enhance education. Because of the education sector’s vast knowledge about and experience with mobile device deployment, we believe businesses can learn a lot from the education sector when implementing their own mobile device system.
Starting in 2007, smartphones started to increase in popularity and were widely used by students. However, they were not accepted as a classroom learning device until the iPad came to be in 2010. Now, interactive mobile apps have become central to classroom learning. Teachers can provide better learning opportunities and also work with a myriad of different learning styles using a wide variety of low-cost apps. The education sector has been working with mobile devices for what seems like forever, yet only 46% of businesses are even in the research phase of their mobile device deployment.
At Coachella Valley Unified School District in California, Superintendent Dr. Daryl Adams had a vision of leveling the playing field for all of his students using technology. This dream led to the school district becoming the first in the United States to provide mobile devices to all students and teachers pre-K through 12th grade, which was a trailblazing moment in mobile device deployment. To charge and secure their new iPad devices, the school district went with the LocknCharge EVO 40 Cart™, which secures and charges 40 iPads and features time-saving Baskets to easily deploy devices in a classroom. Learn more about this here.
The University of Oklahoma has a Research Campus to help educators in Oklahoma navigate tech solutions through their K20 Center. The Center provides training and grant money for tech resources and helps schools find the right hardware and software solutions by fostering conversations within the district. They have a full demo room where they open their doors to school officials to come and test new tech products. The school officials are then able to narrow down products that are proven to be successful in the classroom and apply their learnings to their school. Business might be able to take some notes from this structure, as it saves schools valuable time in researching products. Learn more about the K20 Center program here.
This type of learning model can also be applied to businesses. The Erie County Medical Center made sure their staff was fully trained on mobile devices before rolling out their deployment. Many of the healthcare providers at Erie had never used an iPad before, so the IT Team began a weekly training program in June of 2018, three months before the program went live. They covered training for using the iPads, the software, the FUYL Towers and the new workflow. By September, when their staff had the devices in-hand, they were fully prepared for–and even excited about–the mobile device program. The Network Team (IT Team) immediately embraced the plan and found the FUYL Towers very easy to use and manage.
Businesses can learn quite a bit from the education sector, which has a leg up on businesses in many ways:
- They have properly set up a streamlined workflow for their devices in advance of the mobile device rollout.
- They use centralized areas to charge, store and secure their mobile devices by implementing deployment solutions from by trusted companies like LocknCharge.
- They distribute and collect devices daily/weekly in an organized fashion and are able to detect issues with the devices, fixing them quickly.
- They have improved communication throughout their institution–between teachers, students and parents–through the use of devices and apps.
- They have a diverse group at the table when making tech decisions so that all opinions are understood and heard.
- They sync information or apps to devices with syncing stations and/or MDM software.
9 Reasons Why Schools & Teachers Love LocknCharge
Over the past 20 years, we’ve been listening to the needs of teachers, IT staff members, administration and students. And because of what we’ve learned during these critical conversations, we’ve designed mobile device charging carts and stations that relieve pain points specific to challenges in education. Our products boast features not offered by our competitors: high-quality components, top-loading cart designs, Baskets by LocknCharge, ECO Safe Charge™, compact designs, lifetime warranties and much more. After talking to thousands of educators around the world, we’ve jotted down just a few of the reasons why schools using our products love LocknCharge. Check out ’em out:
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Time-saving baskets allow teachers and students to quickly, safely and easily distribute devices every day, putting up to two weeks of class time back into the hands of teachers every year. |
Compact device charging stations, save valuable real estate in space-strapped classrooms, allowing more room for expanding class sizes. |
Our budget-friendly product lines save schools serious money while still offering time-saving features like baskets and top-loading cart designs. |
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Simple and organized cabling of our products will cut cart setup time in half, easing the burden of a device deployment on your schools’ IT Teams. |
Future-proof designs will increase the longevity of your charging investment. Never get stuck with an outdated charging cart or station again. |
Ultra-secure locking systems protect mobile devices from theft, breakage and loss, giving teachers peace of mind that their devices are always safe and sound. |
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Durable products and lifetime warranties mean your charging carts and stations will last well into the future, saving schools serious time and money. |
Excellent Customer Support is always here to help with any questions or issues that may arise. You can count on us to be there for you. |
We are the experts in mobile device deployments, and our Customer Success Managers are here to help find the solution that’s right for each of your schools’ specific needs. |
Click here to get a quote and fall in love with LocknCharge products!
Community Blood Center of KC Goes Mobile with Blood Bank and Devices
Over the past 60 years, the Community Blood Center (CBC) has supplied life-saving blood to 800,000 people throughout Kansas and Missouri. They are now serving 70 counties, and to meet the needs of patients at 60 different hospitals for blood and blood components, the Community Blood Center relies on approximately 500 donors every weekday. In order to fulfill this need, blood donation cannot happen only at the Blood center; they must depend on blood drives throughout the two states.
Challenge
To collect enough donations, the Community Blood Center has invested in mobile blood banks–a fleet of vans that are fully stocked with everything necessary for a blood donation procedure. The medical equipment they are using is loaded into vans that travel to satellite locations where blood can be collected in public places around the two states.
It’s no small feat to manage all of the technology that goes into a mobile blood bank. Their mobile technology needs to be loaded into the van every morning and unloaded from the van every night–as well as unloaded from the van to the blood collection site and back onto the van to be transported back to the Blood Center.
When moving as many as 16 laptops/tablets, 8 keyboards, 3 wireless printers, 3 webcams, and all of their power supplies (per van), the task can be fairly daunting. With some ingenuity, the Blood Bank was able to come up with a custom solution that met their needs.
The Solution
The blood bank needed a “mobile device kit” that could easily charge, store, secure and transport a wide variety of mobile devices and all necessary power supplies. They found success in the LocknCharge Carrier 40 Cart. Because of the open-concept design, they were able to remove half of the Baskets and retrofit their own padding and shelf to accommodate their unique needs.
Durability, easy transport of devices and efficient charging without removing devices from the Cart were all critical components of their successful mobile device deployment.
Results
A generation of Kansas and Missouri citizens has grown up with the Community Blood Center, and they know if blood is needed in the community during an emergency, Community Blood Center will make sure it's there.
To download a PDF of this white paper, click here.
*The Carrier 40 Cart is not recommended for outdoor use. Modifications were made to the exterior of the Cart to make it suitable for outdoor use–including industrial strength wheels, reinforced chassis and a customized cover.
The Cost of Lost Devices in Healthcare
The use of mobile devices in healthcare is rising. Healthcare providers are looking for ways to provide faster, more personalized care to their patients and improve communications within their facilities. And it’s working; mobile devices are improving patient satisfaction scores and improving communication between teammates.
To the average person, the consequence of a stolen laptop or tablet is likely the cost of replacing the lost device. The device may even be insured, and if contacts, photos, documents and other data are properly stored on the cloud, they can be downloaded onto a new device with ease. To businesses, however, the aftermath of a data breach can be devastating. Healthcare institutions are especially vulnerable, as a stolen laptop or tablet could cost millions in lawsuits and fines.
In 2013, four laptops containing unencrypted files were stolen from an administration office at Advocate Health Care, an Illinois-based health system. Another laptop containing the data of over 2,000 patients was stolen from an employee’s vehicle. Because of this massive data breach, the healthcare system had to pay $5.5 million dollars to the OCR (Office for Civil Rights).
In 2016, North Memorial Health Care paid $1.55 million to settle federal complaints that it mishandled patient data that had been stored on an employee’s laptop. This laptop was stolen out of the employee’s car in 2011.
In 2015, New York City’s Senior Health Partners notified 2,700 of its members that their personal information may have been exposed when a laptop and mobile phone were stolen from a nurse employed by one of their partners. The laptop was encrypted; however, the encryption key was in the computer bag with the laptop when it was stolen–a major issue in this case.
The use of mobile devices in hospitals is growing at an exponential rate. In a recent healthcare study conducted by Vanson Bourne, nearly all 600 IT decision makers throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands reported their organizations are either implementing, or plan to implement, a mobile device initiative in the near future. These mobile device initiatives include a variety of use cases, such as giving iPhones to nurses and doctors to facilitate better communication, providing patients with iPads for entertainment, and leveraging iPads at registration. The survey found mobile devices are most commonly used in nurses stations, administrative offices, and patient rooms as a means to improve the patient experience.
With the use of mobile devices growing so rapidly, the need to protect these devices (and their data) is more important than ever. The risk of data breaches in healthcare can be devastating. All of these breaches could have been avoided. One very effective way for hospitals and healthcare systems to avoid having devices stolen is to deploy a mobile device storage system and set up MDM software like JAMF. Healthcare administrators can rest assured that all of their devices containing sensitive patient data are locked and stored away and will be charged for use the next day. LocknCharge offers multiple device charging solutions that not only securely store mobile devices but charge them as well. See our products here.
If you’d like to learn about how to avoid potential financial disaster for your healthcare system, contact LocknCharge here and a rep will reach out with the right options for your needs.
3 Ways LocknCharge Can Help Solve Mobile Device Deployment Challenges
If you’re rolling out mobile devices across your organization, you’ve probably already done a lot of heavy lifting: selecting devices, developing apps, and strategizing the outcomes. You’re ready to launch … right? Not so fast. Successful mobile device deployment involves more than buying the devices and hoping for the best.
Challenge #1: Charging
According to our own research, 63% of organizations provide devices that are shared among employees, but only 27% have considered centralized charging—a key component of mobile device deployment. Uncharged devices can lead to a host of negative outcomes, including lost productivity and slower adoption of new processes. That’s why one of your most important considerations is how to charge devices when they’re not in use.
Solution: Versatile Charging Stations
LocknCharge charging stations provide a centralized point for charging, so staff members always know where to find charged devices. From carts to wall-mounts, our charging stations can fit in any space, and with versatile open designs and configurable baskets, we have solutions for multiple devices of any type. Plus many of our charging stations have external displays so you can see which devices are charged at a glance.
Challenge #2: Lost and Broken Devices
In our survey, 25% of respondents rated lost devices as a “very painful” mobile device deployment challenge. It’s no surprise: Lost and broken devices can create substantial budget overruns, not only due to replacement costs and IT labor, but also due to data breaches. Our research has also shown that 41% of data breaches are due to lost or stolen devices, which can lead to crippling fines and bring the success of your program to a screeching halt.
Solution: Smart Lockers
Smart lockers like our FUYL Tower give you the ability to not only securely store and charge your devices in a central location, but to improve your break/fix and check-in/check-out processes. With individual bays that you can remotely assign via PIN or RFID code, you can allow employees or students to pick up and drop off devices, contact-free, while improving accountability, because you always know who has which device.
Challenge #3: Security
After lost devices, the second-biggest challenge for mobile device deployment was theft: More than 20% of respondents in our survey rated device theft as very painful. Thieves not only target your data, but will also re-sell your devices or their parts to make some quick cash. That’s why one of the most important parts of any mobile device management strategy is security—not just of your data, but of the physical device itself.
Solution: Secure Design and Unique Features
If your team doesn’t use your charging stations or smart lockers, your security strategy will already have a weakness. LocknCharge devices are designed for efficiency and ease of use, making your employees’ or students’ lives more convenient, not more difficult, which encourages use—and helps improve security.
Our charging stations are also professional-grade. They’re made from durable, high-quality materials. Some carts come with anchor kits so you can secure them to the floor if desired. And all products come with a limited lifetime warranty.
At LocknCharge, we are the experts in mobile device deployment. Our charging stations seamlessly integrate into your workflow, so you can forget about charging and security and focus on your goals, while innovative product features increase your staff’s productivity.
Schedule a Live Product Demo
Ready to become a forward-thinking company and implement mobile device deployment strategically and efficiently? Contact us today and our expert problem solvers will walk you through the best solution to meet your needs.