BlindVending Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 Hey guys, Looking to stay current with the competition and the big boys around here all use lpads when dropping off office coffee or supplies to their customers. The customer just signs on the iPad acknowledging delivery. Currently I just use a sales book and give customer one copy, keep one with me and invoice from there. Getting complaints at my bigger locations of "Suzy lost the sales slip we don't know what was dropped off" when it comes time to pay. Is there any of you out there (LAcanteen looking at you) that use a device an app that you could recommend. Is it free or a one time fee to purchase? Ongoing costs? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacanteen Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 Our OCS route is not on iPad (yet). Out route System that is on iPads relies heavily on DEX via the card readers. I'll do a little digging for you, but most vending VMS are going that way. Our service call system is all done on iPhones through Streamware, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more offerings. You may want to attend the upcoming OCS & water trade show. Our iPads are powered by Gimme and interfaced with Streamware for real time vend visit data. The added benefit to the iPads is that syncing and daily route updating is done in the Gimme Cloud, and no longer a hard wired T-Com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Take a look at ParLevel VMS, they have an OCS app with exactly that function... this is SAAS (software as a service) so you pay a monthly fee to use. http://www.parlevelsystems.com/parlevel-on-demand/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindVending Posted September 2, 2017 Author Share Posted September 2, 2017 Any idea of the costs southeast? That looks like it would work. Really though I just need some type of app I can enter in what I am dropping off and get a signature. Not sure I need all the bells and whistles of a VMS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 I know that the parts I use are reasonable ($5 per month per online machine and $1 per month for offline) but I don't use the OCS part so don't know what that would run. Might be a setup fee up front also. Alan Munson is a good guy to speak to about it, he was in vending before he got involved in starting this company. You might be surprised at how much you would like having a VMS also, but parlevel is modular and you only pay for what you are using. If you are just looking for some online invoicing there may be a simple app available; if you use accounting software maybe they have something. I use Quickbooks online and they have a lot of different add-on apps available. I found this one within my accounting program - https://qbo.intuit.com/app/qboAppCard?shortName=app-b7q3mpuns7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindVending Posted September 3, 2017 Author Share Posted September 3, 2017 While waiting for parlevel to get back to me next week I assume, I decided t9 hire a freelance app designer to build my company a custom app of the few things I am in need off since I am in a bit of a time crunch to have something for a new client. For $750 in 10 days it was worth gambling to see what this gentleman who works for Google can build for me. Will keep this thread updated with my results for anyone who cares Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cblomqui Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 On 9/3/2017 at 3:21 PM, BlindVending said: While waiting for parlevel to get back to me next week I assume, I decided t9 hire a freelance app designer to build my company a custom app of the few things I am in need off since I am in a bit of a time crunch to have something for a new client. For $750 in 10 days it was worth gambling to see what this gentleman who works for Google can build for me. Will keep this thread updated with my results for anyone who cares Any update on this? Was curious if a full fledged OCS system is worth looking into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindVending Posted September 7, 2017 Author Share Posted September 7, 2017 The app building is not gonna work. Far to complex for anyone to do on a regular budget. The quotes I was getting were well above the initial $750. Closer to 5k. Signed up with parlevel and in the process of them setting me up currently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindVending Posted September 8, 2017 Author Share Posted September 8, 2017 I will say the amount of information/data entry/learning curve for parlevel is a bit intimidating so far lol. Slowly getting there....i think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southeast Treats Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 Yep! Any new IT project requires HUGE amounts of data entry to be useful! It helped me to break it up into stages. Take a few trial accounts, set them up, try it out, and if needed adjust to make it fit you better. Remember the sage advise on how to eat an elephant - one bite at a time! They will take time to coach you, my problem at first was I didn't even always know what questions to ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlindVending Posted September 9, 2017 Author Share Posted September 9, 2017 I'm in the same boat. I don't know what questions to ask and where to fully begin. All I've got done is adding all of my locations. However I deviated from my initial plan of setting up the OCS part first. I seem to keep wandering onto the vending portion. So need to refocus and stay with OCS and finish that first as that is the smallest albeit most important to finish for my new customer at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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