People counting technology is crucial for justifying requests because it answers questions that a POS system cannot. This is especially true in the case of nonprofit organizations and learning facilities like public libraries, museums and university centers. People counting data provides insight into the amount of people being serviced by these facilities and the amount of people using their resources.
Additional technology requests
Requests for additional technology resources like computer labs, iPads® or printers are often hard to swing due to their expensive nature. Buildings like libraries, museums and student unions need several of each unit to serve waves of visitors and students. They often need to replenish their existing resources or request additional resources as their technology is used by thousands of people and used thousands of times. Also, as technology continues to advance and educational resources become increasingly digitized, it is in the best interest of these learning environments to keep their equipment up-to-date to better serve their communities.
Librarians, museum curators and university boards can install people counters near each exit, area or floor of their buildings to gain information about their heavy and light traffic areas. By comparing the traffic numbers of different areas, they can understand the best and most easily accessed areas to place computer labs, printing stations, interactive exhibits that utilize iPads® or tablets or any other type of technology that would benefit the facility and its users. They can also compare areas that house existing technology to determine which resources visitors use most often or find most useful.
And with their people counting data, these facilities can make cases to their administration for these resources. By proving that you are a valuable resource for a large amount people in your school or community, you can justify requests for an increased budget with hard numbers and metrics that prove the necessity for new technology.
To upgrade current technology, the process is the same. By knowing the amount of people that use your technology on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, you can prove the legitimacy of their wear and tear or prove the necessity of upgrades and replacements.
Staffing requests
In today’s economy, budgets for nonprofits, libraries and universities have tightened. Historically, they have been forced to make reductions to their staff and hours of operation. However, as funds decrease, the amount of people who visit these facilities stays the same. Communities and campuses still have the same amount of people to service, and therefore need the same amount of staff members and operating hours.
With people counting data, these facilities can prove the necessity of their existing staff or the need for additional staff members. A people counting system can provide information about a facility that cannot be gained from a POS system – the amount of students or community members who enter the building without making a transaction. People who do not make purchases still need access to service and resources, and oftentimes they cannot gain that access without an employee. Providing traffic numbers can prove to administration or school boards that usage of the facility has increased, even if circulation or sales transactions are down.
Fight budget cuts and closings
Libraries, student unions and museums – in light of the digital takeover of media, education budget cuts and the rough state of the economy, respectively – might have to fight to stay open or keep their resources. However, a decrease in resources or funds does not necessarily mean a decrease in visitors. While these facilities typically don’t generate much (if any) revenue, people counting systems can produce reports that prove that these facilities are used and valued by a large number of people and staying open would be in the best interest of the students or the community. It can help facilities to ensure they don’t get the axe when budget cuts are made.
You know that your facility, services and resources are useful to the community, but people counting systems allow you to make sure that others know, too. Leveraging people counting data to justify requests can prove to be a much more powerful method than petitioning or providing sales history
