Cord Management: Top 5 Best Practices
by Natalie Schlueter
Do you currently manage over 10 devices at your job? Do you have nowhere to put the mangled cords for all of these devices at the end of the day? If so, you are not alone. With 91% of corporate employees using mobile applications for their daily work activities, it is clear that device management is important, and with that comes cord management of these devices.
Read more to find out the top 5 best practices for implementing effective cord management.
1. Find Charging Solutions that Come Pre-Wired
Imagine purchasing many charging cart solutions for your devices, feeling great, but then realizing you have to wire them all. Pre-wired solutions can save you over one hour of manpower wiring your carts. Pre-wired solutions also save the organization money by coming with all the cables needed to charge the devices, leaving the organization with the original cables for each device to send home with the employee or use as back-up if needed.
Saving the cables from the original device by having pre-wired solutions will allow for easy cord management when an employee forgets to leave the device at the office, or just wants to charge it at home. You will not need to provide them with any new cables, or remove the cables that are wired into the charging solution already.
Charging carts that come pre-wired, or any solution that comes pre-wired to assist with charging, syncing and even sometimes provisioning devices for the next day will help the IT department get what they need, as well as provide a smooth transition for the next working day. A pre-wired charging cart is a charging solution and a cable management system all in one.
2. Find Products that Imbed A Cord Management System
In order to successfully use charging solutions to provision, sync, charge and manage devices, they need to have their very own cord organizer that does not include twist ties, or cable ties, or cord wraps. It needs to be clean and simple. Something like the CableBoss™ Cord Management System that Bretford has in place to easily assist you in wiring your existing cords all in one place will alleviate some of the pressure to cord the cart in a timely manner, and will provide you with the ease of mind knowing that the cords will not move, and will be extremely organized when done.
Having power cords sitting all over the place where employees can just grab one and go is not the most efficient way of managing devices and cords. When having an open system like that, it allows for easy breakage, device mis-management, and device loss.
Having a system in place with all cords lined up, easy to use, and designated to a specific number allows for IT departments and other stakeholders to rest easy knowing that devices are safe, secure, and all in one spot at the end of the day with every cord in the right spot.
3. Instead of Assigning Names, Assign Numbers
When you are searching for ways to manage cords, assigning numbers is the best way to go. Names are too long, they can crowd your labels on the cords, and they might get confusing when the first names and the last initial of some employees is the same.
Plastic labels or bread ties often fall off, get cut off, or get destroyed from frequent use. Using numbers on a cart or any other charging solution that is solid will assist in these issues. For most charging solutions, the numbers are right on the inside of the cart and line up with the bay that is open for that number. Additionally, the cord hangs right in front of the bay so there is no worry about who’s cord is who’s.
With a number system to manage cords and devices, it is easy for employers to assign a number up to 45 for each employee on each different cart, and then ask them to manually fill the carts each night with their device they used before they go home. The next day, they will know exactly what cart, what number, what cord, and what device is theirs.
4. Consider the AV Solution Necessary for Power Delivery
All charging solutions for easy management come with a CableBoss™-like system, but there is a lot of back end things that need to be taken care of. The necessary power delivery that many organizations like to have comes with the cost of having to attach your own AV power solutions to the cart that was purchased. While the cord management of this cart might look good on the cosmetic level, turn it around and it is a complete disaster.
This is when cable ties, twist ties, and labels prove necessary. Making sure that all the cables are neatly organized in the back will allow for easy transition from cart to cart if devices ever need to be moved around or the organization decides to do an upgrade.
Before purchasing a cart or any other charging solution for cord management abilities, recognize that not all solutions are present. You will need to have a strong cord management system in place in the backend and having a plan for this is the most important part. AV solutions are an integral part of power delivery, quick charging and fast deployment, so make sure your organization is prepared to take on the challenge.
5. Consider How Frequently You Move Cords
The less you move the cords around, the safer it is for the cord and the longer it will last. Make sure when you are moving cords from place to place, keep these four practices in mind:
- Unplug the cord from the device from the source, not from the cord itself.
- Unplug the cord from the device before starting to coil it up.
- Do not tightly coil the cord and coil it in the direction that the casing was previously bent if the cord is new.
- Do not wrap it around your elbow and hand, only start wrapping the cord by making generous loops around your hand holding the cord with the other hand.
Cords generally last around three years, but you can extend this life if you put in place good cord management practices. Cord management is not just about how to make sure the cords do not get jumbled together, but it is also to ensure that the cords have a long life.
Bretford is here to make your cord management system abilities streamlined and effective. With our CableBoss™ Cord Management System, and our pre-wired options, there is a plethora of cord management-conscious products available. We would love to assist in your journey to finding the right management system for your organization and begin the process of streamlining your charging, syncing and provisioning needs for your employee devices.
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