The WMSDC supports minority-owned communities in Northern California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Once a business is certified as an MBE, the council works to advance business opportunities and connect the business to corporate members. The organization has created over 760,000 jobs and trained over 300 minority-owned businesses. 

The National Minority Supplier Development Council’s Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Certification is the gold standard for Ethnic Minority Business Certification in the United States. 

This new certification comes after a year of explosive growth for Smiota. 

“This is a perfect time to have received this certification,” said Manju Kashi, the Founder and CEO of Smiota. “We have so many great partnerships and the MSDC community is a great addition for our growing business.”

Most notably, Smiota has expanded into new industries, introducing solutions such as:

• Unique software for custom last yard delivery solutions 
• Secure buy online and pick up in store system for retailers, minimizing touchpoints with shoppers
• Contactless click-and-collect systems for libraries
• Automation for package delivery systems at residential locations
• And more

Smiota is the first Locker as a Service company of its kind to receive this certification. 

“Because of MSDC, minority owned businesses, like Smiota, have more opportunities than ever before to offer our Smart Locker Platform and services to a wider customer base that are helping minority owned businesses,” said Waheed Rashed, Smiota’s Chief Marketing Officer. “The last 12 months was huge for our company and access to the MSDC network is only going to improve our company’s trajectory.”

Smiota provides last mile delivery services that promise a complete chain of custody, security, and a great user experience. It’s flagship solution is a Smart Locker to automate the exchange of physical goods. The company’s goal is to provide the most viable, best in class solutions for various industry applications such as BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup in Store), Fortune 1000 enterprises, socially responsible organizations and more where delivery as a service is required. With a leading edge Smiota Cloud Platform, the company offers easy integration features, multiple workflows, customization and more through secure APIs for partners and third party developers. 

The post Smiota becomes MBE Certified appeared first on Smiota.

Now more than ever, it’s important to receive the support you need from the brands you trust. That’s why we’re doing everything we can to ensure you get the level of service you’ve come to expect from our team.

We’ve taken a number of steps to respond to the outbreak, including:

• Enabling employees to continue remote support operations from home
• Limiting on-site technical support to non-lockdown locations
• Suspending global and domestic non-essential business travel

While we continue through these uncertain times, be assured we’re doing everything we can to support our customers for everything from locker installs to answering questions from end users.

We’re regularly reviewing updated guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other agencies, and we will adapt our response accordingly.

If you have any questions about these efforts or thoughts on how we can better serve you, please don’t hesitate to reach out — you can respond to this email or call us at (925) 412-3611.

Be well,

Manju Kashi

CEO
Smiota

The post COVID-19 Update From Smiota appeared first on Smiota.

That’s why Smiota developed Smiota Service, a software solution aimed at improving operational efficiency at the workplace by managing operations and maintenance tasks in enterprise facilities. This software is part of Smiota’s Facilities Enterprise Suite, which also includes Smiota Mailroom. 

Smiota Service is a highly flexible platform where administrators can create, edit, delete, and manage tasks and rooms. Admins can also use the platform to generate recurring reports to meet Service-Level Agreement (SLA) requirements. 

Here’s an in-depth look at what makes Smiota Service easy to use and beneficial for businesses.

Using the Smiota Service web portal

Smiota Service includes a comprehensive administrative dashboard, accessible via a web portal. Using this portal, facility administrators can manage rooms, assign tasks, and monitor service staff performance.

Room management

Through the web portal, administrators create new rooms by choosing a room name and selecting its type (Conference Room, Print & Copy Room, Cafeteria, etc.). If they’re managing multiple facilities, users can specify the buildings in which the rooms are located. There is also a field to set the service frequency for each room. 

The dashboard includes easy access to a complete room list, organized by room type. 

Task management

To create a new task, users simply choose a task name, provide details and instructions in the “Description” text box, and assign the task to a room type.

The software provides an overview of all tasks, organized by room type.

Report management

A single click grants users access to a comprehensive list of rooms, room types, buildings, service staff, tasks, starting and ending times/dates, service durations, and notes filled in by the staff. Here, administrators can view tasks performed in real-time to ensure that SLAs are met.

They can also generate SLA reports based on frequency (daily, weekly, monthly, days of the week, and days of the month), date range, building, and room type. These details are customizable using the drop-down menus displayed on top of the page. The reports present this data in the form of charts and tables, as shown in the example below.

Using the Smiota Service app

Through an easy-to-use mobile app, service staff can keep track of their activities in real-time. The app makes tracking tasks a quick, effortless process.  

1. The staff member installs the mobile app on their device, signs in, and selects “Enter Room.”

2. Users scan the barcode located outside the room that needs service. If the room is occupied or unable to be serviced for other reasons, they can select “Cannot Enter Room?” to postpone task completion. 

3. After scanning the barcode, the list of tasks assigned to that room will appear. The service staff member should check off each task as it’s completed. Once done, they will tap “Finish.”

The Smiota Service app is currently only available for Android devices (iOS-compatible mobile app coming soon). 

Have questions about Smiota Service? Contact us for more information. 

The post Introducing Smiota Service: Helping You Efficiently Manage Daily Facility Operations appeared first on Smiota.

Smiota, one of the leading providers of smart lockers and delivery management software, was featured in a recent Forbes article highlighting trends transforming the future of retail. The article cites personalization, technology, and ‘Buy Online Pickup In Store’ (BOPIS) as essential areas for retail chains to focus on as they transform to smart shopping hubs.

Specifically, Smiota’s smart locker solutions were cited as a potential answer to the BOPIS trend for retailers:

An emerging, rapidly evolving technology that enables a seamless BOPIS experience is smart lockers. Just like ATMs made it much easier to get cash from your account, smart lockers make it much easier to get what you ordered. Companies like Smiota, combine enterprise software, lockers, and machine learning to great effect to provide a delightful BOPIS experience.

The entire physical retail industry is going through a major technology transformation in the race to keep up with competitors. The emerging winners will continue to be those that successfully transform their physical retail stores into smart shopping hubs of the future.

Read more directly in Forbes and feel free to reach out to learn more about our smart package locker solutions.

The post Smiota BOPIS Smart Locker Solution Featured in Forbes appeared first on Smiota.

PLEASANTON, CALIF. (PRWEB) MAY 22, 2019

Smiota, a leading provider of state-of-the-art, open software for Smart locker hardware and a cloud-based agnostic delivery platform, today announced a partnership with Sanmina Corporation (Nasdaq: SANM), a leading integrated manufacturing solutions company to offer smart locker solutions for the secure exchange of physical goods across a wide range of industry verticals such as Retail, Enterprise, Multi-family, and Universities.

The partnership enables Smiota and Sanmina to jointly deliver comprehensive smart locker solutions globally for secure, streamlined delivery of packages and groceries. More importantly, this collaboration enables Smiota to scale operations and capitalize on the rapidly growing smart locker market, leveraging Sanmina’s breadth of offerings, global reach and ability to scale quickly as a top tier integrated systems manufacturer.

“At Smiota, our mission is to facilitate the secure exchange of physical goods across various industries, emerging verticals, and all walks of life,” said Manju Kashi, Founder and CEO at Smiota. “By partnering with Sanmina, we expand our global footprint and bring state-of-the-art solutions powered by Smiota software and Apps to enable various industry-verticals deploy LaaS (Locker-as-a-Service) ecosystem that simplifies the delivery experience.”

Sanmina’s Mechanical Systems Division (MSD) will support the hardware development and manufacturing of smart locker solutions, and Sanmina’s Global Services Division (SGS) will provide installation services and field support. Smiota will provide its Locker Delivery Operating Systems (L-DOS) and leading Smiota cloud platform to enable secure last-yard delivery of goods to smart lockers.

“We are very excited to partner with Smiota to expand use of smart locker solutions globally,” said Hossein Saadat, president of MSD at Sanmina. “Sanmina’s ability to deliver high quality products, combined with Smiota’s world-class cloud based platform, will provide customers with a competitive advantage in this fast growing market.”

Smart lockers are increasingly being deployed to streamline the delivery, pick-up, and, returns of physical goods, driven by worldwide growth in e-commerce, Click-and-collect, BOPIS/BOPUS, and, BOSS retail, cloud-based platforms and the adoption of Internet of Things (IOT) technologies among businesses and consumers. Deploying smart lockers in easily accessible locations such as building lobbies, retail stores, residential complexes, college campuses and mailrooms reduces cost and simplifies delivery logistics for couriers in the LAST-YARD. The full chain of custody that lockers enable gives recipients security, trust and peace-of-mind to receive, return and exchange packages /groceries.

About Sanmina MSD

Sanmina’s Mechanical Systems Division (MSD) is a leading global provider of complex mechanical, electro-mechanical and precision machining solutions to industry leading OEMs in a variety of markets including medical, industrial, semiconductor capital equipment, datacenter, and, self service (eg. vending, kiosks, gaming, etc). MSD is a division of Sanmina, a $7B global leader in providing integrated manufacturing solutions. In addition to manufacturing services, MSD also supports customers’ engineering needs in mechanical design, design for manufacturability (DFM), value engineering (VAVE), prototyping and new product introduction (NPI).

About Smiota

Located in Pleasanton, California, Smiota Inc. provides a cloud-based platform, locker operating system, applications and services that facilitate secure exchange of physical goods across all industries and walks of life. Smiota platform provides complete chain of custody, security, convenience and real-time analytics and reporting.  These features and more are available as secure Application Programmers Interface (APIs) for partners (Yardi, Realpage and others) and third party software developers to use with their own custom solutions.

About Sanmina Corporation

Sanmina Corporation is a leading integrated manufacturing solutions provider serving the fastest-growing segments of the global Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) market. Recognized as a technology leader, Sanmina provides end-to-end manufacturing solutions, delivering superior quality and support to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) primarily in the communications networks, storage, industrial, defense, medical, energy and industries that include embedded computing technologies such as, point of sale devices, casino gaming and automotive. Sanmina has facilities strategically located in key regions throughout the world. More information regarding the company is available at http://www.sanmina.com.

The post Smiota and Sanmina Partner to Deliver Innovative Smart Locker Solutions to “Secure LASTYARD with TRUST™” appeared first on Smiota.

As we enter this new chapter, it’s truly humbling to reflect on where we started and how far we’ve come. With the help of an amazing and talented team, in just a few short years we’ve transformed a simple idea — securing the last yard of package delivery — into a suite of package management solutions more powerful than we could have ever imagined.

And today, we’re excited to share our new look with you.

It starts with the new “S.” Two arrows form the letter, representing the simple, seamless, and secure exchange of goods that our package management solutions offer. Our new logo is bolder than ever, acting as an unwavering reminder of our core mission to fearlessly innovate solutions that ensure package deliveries always end up in the right hands.

Our website has a new look, too. The site is sleeker and more user-friendly than ever, with everything you need to get started with Smiota right at your fingertips.

We are grateful to have you along on this journey as we make package management easier for managers of residential buildings, corporate offices, student housing facilities, and retail establishments.

– The Smiota Team

The post Smiota Announces New Branding and Website appeared first on Smiota.

The NACUMS conference is developed to assist Directors, Managers and Supervisors, Team Leaders and staff members of Mail and Logistics departments in colleges and universities with their personal and professional development.

Smiota and TMG will be in attendance on July 15th and 16th, 2018 featuring their IoT based fully-automated receiving and secure package delivery platforms including advanced intelligent delivery lockers as well as its integrated on-campus print and mail management services.   These solutions are aiding Colleges and Universities increase efficiency, streamline processes and save money.

During the conferences, TMG and Smiota Executives and Business Development team members will highlight Where Service Matters solutions across the nation. Would you like to meet with us during the events? Please contact Pamela Sajnani to set up an introduction.

About NACUMS 2018

During this year’s four-day conference a variety of educational sessions covering topics gathered from past attendee feedback. One can expect to see sessions on topics such as personal enrichment, professional development, and of course the latest information on USPS changes and updates as well as our attendee certificate programs.

About TMG & Smiota

Earlier this month, The Millennium Group (TMG), Where Service Matters, the largest private provider of on-site managed Mail, Print and Office Services outsourcing for commercial enterprises, announced its strategic investment in Smiota, Inc. a major cloud-based IoT technology platform company that provides package management solutions for the last-yard deliveries bringing secure exchange of physical goods across all industries.

TMG’s investment combines its’ expertise in managed office services and logistics with Smiota Inc.’s expertise in delivering solutions that address the increasing demand for fully-automated receiving and secure package delivery platforms.  Smiota is an acronym from SMart Internet Of Things Appliance.  With expanded innovative offerings, TMG’s investment further provides its clients with integrated solutions for secure automated package delivery.   For Smiota, this investment allows for rapid penetration into the corporate enterprise space, complimenting their retail and residential market growth.

The post Find The Millennium Group & Smiota at NACUMS 2018 Annual Conference appeared first on Smiota.

The investment combines TMG’s expertise in managed office services with Smiota Inc.’s expertise in delivering solutions that address the increasing demand for fully-automated receiving and secure package delivery platforms.  Smiota is short for smart internet of things appliance.  With expanded innovative offerings, this investment further provides TMG clients with integrated solutions for secure automated package delivery.   For Smiota, this investment allows for rapid penetration into the corporate enterprise space, complimenting their retail and residential market growth.

“We are extremely excited with our strategic investment in Smiota, Inc.  Our industry experience in managing on-site services coupled with Smiota, Inc’s technology ensures that our clients will receive the most advanced and innovative service delivery solution,” said Timothy P. Kerner, TMG President. Tim will join Smiota’s Advisory Board effective immediately as both firms begin the integration process.

“We are seeing rapid adoption of our advanced package management solutions from software to smart lockers in the enterprise space. Having TMG as a strategic investor and partner further accelerates Smiota’s technology adoption in Fortune 1000 companies”, said Manju Kashi, CEO of Smiota, Inc. “We are excited to have Tim Kerner on our board as he brings over 30 years of industry expertise that will help position and grow Smiota in the enterprise space.”

About The Millennium Group, Where Service Matters

The Millennium Group is a widely recognized premier provider of Mail, Print and Office Services outsourcing to business enterprises across the U.S. and Canada. Experts drive down operating costs while optimizing service delivery in Mail, Shipping, Receiving, Warehousing, Centralized and Distributed Print, Records and Scanning Management, Reception, and related Administrative support. Operating its own digital print and document fulfillment centers gives The Millennium Group a unique capability to provide hybrid (on-site and off-site) solutions to limit exposure, mitigate risk, and achieve cost savings. One finds The Millennium Group’s success in industry leaders from insurance, pharmaceutical, technology, retail, financial services and the investment banking sectors, to legal, education, healthcare, media, non-profit and also government agencies. We achieve measurable results with continually trained professionals, a robust technology platform, and best operating practices.

Visit The Millennium Group’s website here.

The post The Millennium Group Announces Investment in Smiota, Inc. appeared first on Smiota.