Facebook excels at being the first among equals. The Social Media Giant has come up with an innovative idea which makes the work-place a place of convenience for its employees – a vending machine for computer accessories.
As we all know from personal experience, getting replacements for broken or faulty computer accessories at the workplace is a bureaucratic errand, to say the least. You fill in forms which need you to explain what, why, when and where and then wait for the IT department to process your application and deliver you the goods. The entire process is also man-hour intensive which spells costs.
CNNMoney reports, “Facebook CIO Tim Campos decided to take a more user-friendly approach to this common problem. His original idea was putting computer accessories into cabinets that employees could freely access. To keep track of who was taking what, he installed small digital kiosks next to each cabinet and asked employees to swipe their badge and mark which accessory they took.”
Campos found that this procedure did not work well as only 5% of the employees bothered to tell the kiosk that they took an accessory.
The “Eureka moment” credit goes to his assistant, who came across an iPod-dispensing vending machine in an airport.
Campos green-lighted the project and his team began working with a manufacturer to custom make machines that could dispense computer accessories for Facebook employees.
Six weeks later, in June, the bulky, rectangular machines arrived at the social networking company’s Palo Alto, Calif. Headquarters, ready to dispose keyboards, power cords or any other accessory needed.
So now, when Facebook engineers spill coffee on their keyboard (a common mishap) they head to a nearby vending machine instead of hitting up their IT guy or just grabbing a replacement from a nearby cabinet. They swipe their badge, key in their selection and voila! —a brand new keyboard drops down for them to take.
Of course, the vending machines make business-sense too. According to Campos, they’ve reduced the cost of managing replacement accessories by about 35%.
While products found in the vending machines are free, items are clearly marked with price tags so employees can see the retail value of each accessory they take. The new vending machines also require all employees to swipe their badge before making a selection. That means each and every power cord, keyboard and screen wipe they take can be traced back to their name, ensuring that the system won’t be abused (at least not as much as the previous cabinet system was).
Three machines are already installed and Campos says if all goes well Facebook’s new headquarters in Menlo Park will soon be decked out with two vending machines per floor. And future machines could also dispense higher-value items like phones and PCs.
“Now 100% of employees have to badge in, and there’s better accountability on what people are taking,” says Campos. “More importantly, it’s just cool. Employees love to see these machines.”