About the Company
Safety and security are increasing concerns in senior living communities. Ensuring a safer environment requires trackable data and real-time screening. Accushield provides a superior level of security through an innovative sign-in and credentialing kiosk. Criminal background checks, liability insurance, immunizations and other data are captured in the system to accurately authenticate each visitor and provide an additional layer of protection for residents and staff.
Business Challenge
The majority of senior living communities use paper logbooks to check-in visitors. This poses a serious security risk to both residents and staff and can even lead to theft of prescription drugs. Recognizing a need in the senior living community to replace the outdated sign-in system, Accushield created a touchscreen, badge-printing system to automate the check-in process. The device is preconfigured with the credentials of all third-party healthcare providers and other vendors working in the facility. Each visitor must be authenticated by the system prior to entry. In addition, the system can aggregate visitor data and provide dashboards through a cloud-based portal that facility managers can use to help better run their communities.
Accushield has seen a significant increase in product demand over the past few years. Less than three years ago Accushield kiosks were used in about 20 retirement communities in just a few markets. Today, they are deployed in over 1125 communities in 47 states as demand continues to grow for this technology. Accushield partners with leading mobile service and printer companies for integration of its proprietary software into communication and hardware devices. Initially, the company chose to manage its own product staging, kitting, fulfillment, returns and customer service (help desk). However, the sudden and rapid product demand made order processing a challenge.
“As a software development company, our core competency is to create solutions for our customers to enhance their safety and security,” said Lever Stewart, chief operating officer, Accushield. “That’s where we wanted to focus our efforts and not worry about the logistics side.”
The Solution
The large volume of orders Accushield was experiencing led them to seek out a partner who could manage logistics and help desk services to ensure its customers received the highest level of support.
Accushield was referred to Peak Technologies by Sprint, its mobile service provider. Peak Technologies is a Sprint platinum partner and delivers end-to-end supply chain, mobile workforce and retail solutions for business-critical applications. After learning about the company’s challenges, Peak Technologies proposed a customized turnkey logistics and customer service solution to execute Accushield’s mobile deployment requirements.
Following the receipt of an order for an Accushield kiosk, Peak Technologies stages the mobile device, installs the application software and configures it to the customer’s exact specifications. Peak Technologies then performs a series of quality assurance tests to ensure the device is ready to deploy right out of the box. Orders that are placed before 2 p.m. can be shipped the same day, which was impossible when Accushield was managing its own orders.
“Peak Technologies has been a great partner in allowing us to focus on our core business while streamlining logistics and helping us raise our service levels,” said Stewart. “The chaos and stress we were experiencing has gone away and we’re glad Peak Technologies is there to help solve our customers’ problems.”
Help desk calls are taken and responded to promptly – providing customer support during the most critical times. Orders are shipped quickly and efficiently, while returns are processed and redeployed in a timely fashion, significantly minimizing loss of system times. Additionally, Peak Technologies’ relationships with major shipping companies allows it to negotiate lower “bulk rates” to help Accushield save money on shipping costs.
As the Accushield business continues to grow, Peak Technologies can grow right along with the company and provide the same level of exceptional service to its customers. Because Peak Technologies offers mobile device management services to many of its clients, the company has the flexibility and scalability to add or remove resources to Accushield’s program as needed.
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Industry:
Healthcare
Business Challenge:
Managing secure check-in kiosks using mobile devices in over 1125 different locations
Featured Services:
Managed services including staging, kitting, mobile device management (MDM) and help desk
Key Benefits:
Faster deployment of mobile check-ins. Mobile devices arrive ready to work out of the box. Ongoing support keeps devices running as they should. Repair services minimize downtime of mobile check-in kiosks.
"As a software development company, our core competency is to create solutions for our customers... That’s where we wanted to focus our efforts, and not worry about the logistics side.”
- Lever Stewart, COO, Accushield
Peak Technologies also provides first and second-tier technical support for the devices. If a kiosk becomes inoperable in the field, Peak Technologies can remotely reboot the device, reload the software or reset the operating system. If a device cannot be repaired remotely, Peak Technologies handles the returns processing and can quickly redeploy the kiosk to the customer.
“Peak Technologies’ next-level staging, deployment and help desk services has allowed Accushield to pass on a higher level of service, safety and security to its customers,” said Billy Lawder, senior vice president of operations, Peak Technologies. “By leveraging our enterprise-grade processes and scalability, Accushield is able to focus on what it does best – develop and deliver a premium EVV (Electronic Visit Verification) experience to its customers.”
Benefits and Results
Accushield realized several noteworthy benefits from outsourcing its mobile device management services to Peak Technologies. The immediate benefit was the ability to completely focus its energy on the core business of developing software to meet the safety and security needs of the senior living community. Accushield has also seen a significant increase in its overall customer service.
Peak Technologies has been a great partner in allowing us to focus on our core business while streamlining logistics and helping us raise our service levels.”
- Lever Stewart, COO, Accushield
