Globally, more than one million Wellington’s Connect™ SCS controllers and Connect™ Clicks are collecting data from bottle coolers, chest freezers and foodservice cabinets. Many customers report that the insights that flow into their business from their IoT connected equipment allow them to make rapid, intelligent decisions on asset location, performance and servicing.

Bluetooth for communications and beacons is a standard feature of the Connect SCS Controller, Connect Click and the soon to be released, Connect™ Monitor. Many think that Bluetooth beacons are only for consumer promotions and proximity marketing; however, they also add significant efficiency to commercial operations.

Wellington’s cloud-based iPX™ platform manages the beacons in the Connect range of controllers and sensors. The iPX enables multi-tenanting functionality; simply, this allows for many different apps to connect to a beacon, and for each app to deliver a different outcome for the user.

Once the iPX SDK is integrated with your native iOS or Android app, the app can be triggered when the smartphone/tablet comes into range of the beacon. This triggering can include deep linking which may enable programmed workflows. Some examples include:

• When your salesperson enters a store, their device automatically looks up the customer’s purchase history, sets a reminder about the new promotional material to be set up and prompts the salesperson to check for purity of stock in the cooler.

• A Connect SCS controller has detected a compressor issue with a cooler. When the service person arrives at the premises, the Connect SCS beacon triggers the app and the relevant service information, history and diagnosis information is automatically displayed within his service app.

Many Wellington customers deploy the Connect™ Field and Connect™ Track apps on all their employees’ phones. These apps use the Bluetooth functionality to automatically connect to the coolers, verifying the location of the cooler (asset tracking) and uploading the data from the Connect SCS Controller or Connect Monitor to the customer’s Cloud platform. By deploying the app on all employee devices, rather than just the field staff, allows a more substantial number of devices collecting data as the employees go about daily lives.

One of Wellington’s new apps is the Connect™ Retailer (previously known as Connect Storekeeper); this allows the retailers the benefit of having control of some of their Cooler functionality, such as lighting, temperature, performance etc. One of the most significant benefits of this app is again the automatic Bluetooth connection that regularly uploads the Connect SCS Controller or Connect Monitor data to the cooler owner’s Connect Cloud.

Another consideration for business efficiency for your Wellington connected coolers is to use your installed beacon fleet to trigger third party apps. Why not commercially engage with one, or several app partners to trigger their apps when they come into range of your coolers. For example, you may want to trigger a food service delivery app when a consumer enters a specific restaurant, or pop that potato chip promotion right on the consumer’s phone when they enter their favorite convenience store!