Cantaloupe Systems announced the addition of Seed Service Desk™, a new component of Seed Platform™, the integrated, web-based suite of telemetry, analytics, cashless and vending management software (VMS) applications that power modern vending businesses around the world.
Seed Service Desk helps vending technicians and service managers become more efficient by reducing the time required to enter and manage work for technicians, according to the company. Users of Seed Service Desk can expect the following benefits:
- Web-based service ticket management. Like all Seed Platform features, Seed Service Desk is web-based, meaning service tickets can be entered and managed from any PC or device with a web browser. Even iPads!
- Easy creation of service tickets. An easy-to-use, web-based form allows non-technical users like receptionists or salespeople to enter service tickets in response to customer calls.
- Integration with Seed Smart Alerts™. When Seed reports alerts like bill jams or temperature alerts, a service manager can easily create a service ticket in seconds with just three mouse clicks.
- Easy drag-and-drop dispatching. After service tickets are created, service managers can assign tickets and manage technician work queues using an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface.
- Instant email and SMS notifications. Technicians receive instant email and/or SMS notifications when a service ticket is assigned to their work queue.
- Self-service access. Operators can give restricted-permission logins to their customers to directly enter service tickets over the Web, without giving them access to other Seed features.
“Seed Service Desk gives vending technicians and service managers the same level of efficiency and ease-of-use that users expect from Seed Platform’s other features like Seed Scheduling™,” said Justin Grant, director of product of Cantaloupe Systems, in a prepared statement. “Vending service departments often have to deal with hundreds of service calls per week. At those volumes, where efficiency matters a lot, Seed Service Desk reduces time required to manage service tickets. This means less time wasted on the phone and on the PC, and more time fixing broken machines driving sales and customer service.”
Seed Service Desk is available at no additional cost to operators using Seed Pro™, Seed Enterprise™, Seed Office, or Seed Cashless™. Seed Service Desk is fully integrated with the other Seed Platform applications, and like the rest of Seed Platform, requires no software installation, no on-site server, and no IT hassles.
“We manage a large service department and staying on top of the incoming stream of customer calls and service calls take a lot of time and things definitely slip through the cracks. Seed Service Desk helps us reduce that time overhead, so my techs can handle more calls,” noted Jennifer Toomey, general manager at Refreshment Solutions, the largest vending operator in New Orleans area, “It’s also useful that Seed Service Desk is integrated with alerts in Seed. Every morning, my service managers can scan through the day’s alerts and focus only on new problems without wasting time on old alerts where we already have open Service Tickets.”
“I like that Seed Service Desk is Web-based, because our account managers want to enter Service Tickets directly from their iPads while they’re at a customer site. This saves time and impresses customers too,” said Mark Stein, president of Mark Vend Co., a large Chicago vending operator, “For my largest accounts I can even give them self-service access so they can enter service tickets directly without calling our service department. This will make everyone more efficient.”
Seed Service Desk will be available in the May 2013 release of Seed Platform coming to operators shortly after the NAMA OneShow later this month. To see how Seed Service Desk can make vending service departments more efficient, visit the Cantaloupe Systems booth 1414 at the NAMA OneShow.
