I'd like to thank Monte (p4photel member for sending me this blog the other day. After 15 years of writing blogs for the industry, it can get interesting to try to write about something new. Monte delivers with this nice blog about copiers and coin boxes
How Scannx Changed My Fear Of The Library Coin Box
I don’t know about you but in my 20+ years of experience in our industry whenever a client came to me wanting a solution for a public library that included a coin box or some other pay model I ran for the hills. I’ve installed a few of these in my career but they were few and far between and I never really made a decent commission for the time I spent. A while ago I learned of a new solution that is inexpensive and makes much more sense for these installations. The company is called Scannx. I had the opportunity to have lunch with the chairman Murray Dennis and he demonstrated his product to me. We should all have this arrow in our quiver to respond to RFPs or vending installations.
Back in the old days if you wanted a copy of a book or a document that was in a public area you need to make a copy of it. Today why not scan it? It’s less expensive, is better for the environment and is easier to service a scanner as opposed to a printer. The Scannx solution is hardware configured with software. Plug-and-play. The hardware is a scanner attached to a workstation that is preconfigured with the Scannx software. The scanner is designed for book and page copying and the user interface for the software is simple and easy to use. By simple I mean a 3 grader could easily understand how to scan! You can scan to your email, cloud repository like Google drive, USB and many more options. There are editing tools, image enhancement and the ability to convert the document to a PDF, Word or even MP3 format. There’s even an option to convert the word file format from English to one of many different languages. Of course, there’s a small fee for the library patron to use this service and monies are collected in one of many different ways including coin and electronic methods.
While I don’t spend much time in libraries today and have done little business with them, I now have the perfect solution and an incredible differentiator when I’m responding to an RFP. Does a library really need to offer its customers the ability to copy in 2019? Why not scan it? If I really want to print it, I can use the MFP in my office or my printer at home.
Here’s to a strong finish to 2018!