The importance of good Labelling
Helier Mabbs
Date:
26/07/2010 14:10:17
Historically labelling used to be completed by the engineers on site and all be it they had touch points with the client this was not always the best solution. Ascetically labelling design doesn’t always meet with the customers expectations and as a result can prove to be a return to site to rectify at a cost. Secondly to this it was also more expensive with time to have the engineer produce these labels followed by even more impact if the labelling machine failed. Its not everyday you have a spare!
We wanted to take more control of this and introduced Silver Fox Labelling to our portfolio, as a consultant and working with the customer a labelling solution could be designed at the beginning of the project and agreed before works even commenced. As a result of Silver Fox we now can provide complete project packs to the engineers that deliver to the customers expectations from start to finish.
Not having labelling correct or even pleasing to the eye can impact customers experience and be damaging to the relationship. Customers do not necessarily see the effort and quality behind the installation but their experience they have is at the administration end of the solution, labelling as a result is a critical component and must be correct. Silver Fox helps Jersey Telecom do this.
Paul Goodison
Date:
01/10/2010 23:22:28
Nick, interesting comments on labels and certainly from where I stand I can’t agree more with the need to label efficiently and have efficient labels. What do I mean by efficient labels? Well I can’t tell you how many times I have seen detailed labels attached to cables in data centers with the source and destination of the cable neatly printed and attached to the cable. Of course, this all needs to be carefully planned then exactly the right labels applied to exactly the right cable and used in exactly the right place. This is a huge effort.
Our company – Cormant – supplies an easy to use, but extremely powerful solution, called CableSolve, to allow companies to track their IT assets and connectivity. While there are server, client and web components with CableSolve the clever bit that makes extensive use of labels is the Windows mobile handheld module. Rather than labeling each cable with specific information we use a barcode label (from Silver Fox naturally!) that can be applied on bulk (even by the manufacturer) to the cable and then the mobile computer associates the specific cable to its place in the channel of connectivity and also in relation to the IT assets. So very much like a supermarket or warehouse the barcode label provides access to a rich source of information instantly rather than being one itself.
So I certainly agree, get the labeling right, but also think about how labels can best be used to deliver long-term management in the infrastructure.