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Top 10 Virtual Queue Management Benefits

Top 10 Virtual Queue Management Benefits

One of the biggest challenge for business in Dubai, UAE and all around the world is to provide a great customer experience and customer journey. However, the reality is no one likes to wait in long lines, people often think that waiting in long queues is a waste of time. People thinks that the businesses and brands who failed to reduce the wait time or long queues don’t care much about their customers. Business too could have a very negative perception about the wait time, often businesses think that the wait time can’t be reduced or can’t be reduced more than a certain level. However, that is not the case. The customer wait time can be reduced significantly by proven methods and technologies. The virtual queuing is one of them. It is the most effective queue management system type which help in reducing the wait time. The virtual queue management systems are very effective in managing the customer flow and they also help improving customer experience.

Top 10 Virtual Queue Management Benefits

The effective customer flow management also improves employee efficiency which also help improving customer experience. The primary goal of having any queue management system is to make your customers happy and satisfied. Only the satisfied customers are loyal to the brand. The unhappy customers will immediately switch to others as soon as they got another option. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE the competition is too high, customers have a lot of option. The customer expectations are also very high and the customer retention is very difficult. A virtual queue management system is a very helpful tool in improving customer satisfaction hence it improves customer retention too. The loyal customers act as a strong foundation for the business. The business can build their future on that base. If a business keep on losing existing customers then they will have to invest more in acquiring new customers and studies have shown that acquiring new customers could be 8 to 12 times expensive then selling to the existing customers. That is why the queue management system is extremely important for any business. Here are top 10 benefits of the virtual queue management system:

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 1: Reduce Wait Time

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 1: Reduce Wait Time

The virtual queue management systems can significantly reduce the wait time. In fact the virtual queuing is the only queuing method that can promise to completely eliminate the wait time. Thanks to the remote sign-up, smartphone apps, the other features of the virtual queue management, the customers can be booked a spot in the waiting line (virtual queues) and the estimated time of their turn is given to them, which allow them the freedom to spend their time in other activities or arrive at the branch at the very exact time of their turn. The customers can also schedule a visit or book an appointment at the time of their convenience which also add value to customer journey and customer experience. If customers and visitors will have to wait in the long queues inside the branch then the staff could also get overloaded, as they will have to manage the crowd too along with their primary tasks, which further prolonged the wait time and harm the customer satisfaction.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 2:Remote Sign-Up

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 2:Remote Sign-Up

The remote sign-up improve customer experience and provide them freedom to sign-up remotely for the physical queue. That is not all, with the virtual queue management system the customers and visitors can also wait elsewhere, they are not required to wait physically in the queues, instead they are placed in a virtual queue and their number called as they were physically present in the physical queue. The virtual sign-ups can be done through various mediums and methods for example, Queue Management System Smartphone Apps, Online Appointment Booking System, Website, Customer Portals, Email, SMS, Call, etc. When a customer or visitor is remotely signed-up using any medium they have been issued an e-ticket or mobile ticket which is their position in the queue. Along with that mobile ticket they are also given the estimated time of their turn along with the counter number. This helps them to plan their arrival accordingly and save a lot of wait time.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 3:Prevents Crowd

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 3:Prevents Crowd

The crowd and congestion in the branch can have big impact on customer journey and customer churn rate. Customers often leave when they see crowd or too long queues, in addition to that it also put more burden on the staff and management and it is harder to manage crowd. Customers and visitors usually avoid reaching out to staff or spending much time in conversation with the staff when they see a lot of people waiting in the queue or when there is a crowd. This can prevent new sales as well as it will leave your customers unsatisfied. Some customers and visitors often left without getting serve or purchase due to crowd and too much congestion. But a virtual queue management system provides the facility to arrive just in time and immediately get served, which means there will be no congestion or crowd formation, the customers and visitors will be comfortable and the staff can also focus on primary tasks rather managing crowd. The staff performance get improved and they deliver better quality service.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 4: Implement Social Distancing Easily

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 4: Implement Social Distancing Easily

Implementing social distancing is mandatory for all public places and offices. If you appoint staff to prevent people from entering into the store/branch then the crowd could form outside the store/branch. People also don’t like such practices. But with the help of a virtual queue management system the customer journey can be made contactless, the management can easily control the number of active queues and can easily prevent congestion. The management can also limit the number of active queues in a way to ensure the social distancing which will protect the customers and visitors as well as the staff.

Businesses and stores in Dubai and all around the UAE are only permitted to have a certain percentage of the full capacity of hosting the number of customers and visitors at a time. Which makes it very hard when managed manually, but with a virtual queue management system the system can be configured to ensure the number of customers and visitors will not exceed that limit. Moreover the virtual queue management system also provide direct communication channels to the customers which makes it easier to send instructions and notifications to the customers and visitors. This helps maintaining the social distancing and implementing other company policies with ease and accuracy.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 5: Improve Employee Efficiency

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 5: Improve Employee Efficiency

The major factors that reduce the staff efficiency are the crowd formation and unbalanced work load. If there is congestion then the employees will have to stay on the counter all the time and they couldn’t spare time for off-the-counter tasks. Which is a big reason of employee work deficiency. Moreover when the customers are coming through a bad customer journey the employee may focus more on a single customer to make them happy and satisfied and for that a single employee will have to spend more time on a single customer. This reduces their daily capacity of handling customers and visitors.

But when the number of customers are controlled and the customer flow is managed by a virtual queue management system there could be no crowd formation, the work load of the employee also get reduced, they can have small breaks too, which significantly improve their productivity and capacity to work. Another great advantage of the virtual queuing is that it can provide basic information and data of the customer beforehand through the agent portal/dashboard which really expedite the service delivery process and increase the capacity of the employees to serve more customers in a single shift.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 6:Integration with Smartphone Apps

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 6:Integration with Smartphone Apps

Virtual queue management system also integrates smartphone apps to improve customer journey and customer experience. The customers can get the e-ticket or mobile-ticket from the smartphone applications. The easy sign-up process and is one of the main advantage of the virtual queue management systems. The business can also easily communicate with their customers using the smartphone apps. The live queuing data and ticket information can be published on the smartphone applications. The alerts, notifications and queuing information make sure the customer can easily reach in time to get the service delivered with very little or almost no wait time. The smartphone applications integration also provide other useful information and functionalities such as branch locator, branch details, nearest branch or least busy branches and so on. Moreover the smartphone applications can also be used for various other purposes such as making online payments, submitting customer feedback and much more.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 7:Collect Customer Feedback Easily

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 7:Collect Customer Feedback Easily

The customer Feedback is a very important piece of information for any business. As businesses often spend thousands upon thousands on solutions and system aiming to improve customer journey and customer satisfaction, it is crucial to understand how your all efforts are going. The best way is to let your customers talk to you, let them identify the areas of improvements and let them tell you what do they expect from you. The customer feedback system comes as an additional module to virtual queue management system. The businesses can utilize this module to collect various types of customer feedback such as NPS (Net Promoter Score), Customer Effort Score, Customer Satisfaction store and much more. The feedback can be collected via smartphone apps, SMS, emails, online links, etc. The feedback data is very helpful in identifying the areas of improvement. It help businesses to understand their strengths and weaknesses. It is also very helpful in evaluating employee performance, customer journey, business practices, product/service quality and a lot more.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 8:Cost Reduction and Profitability

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 8:Cost Reduction and Profitability

The virtual queue management systems can be very helpful for business in cost reduction and improving profitability. The less wait time, enhanced customer journey, quick service delivery, and employee performance can significantly increase the overall operational capabilities and work efficiency of the branch/store. This means with the same amount of resources the business can serve more customers with better work quality. Hence per service delivery cost is automatically reduced. Moreover as the entire customer flow and customer journey is managed by the virtual queue management system, businesses can automate various business processes. The automatic customer flow management, reduced customer numbers in the branch and efficient customer journey reduce the work load of the employee and improve their efficiency, these all factors collectively results in less cost per service delivery. Either the business can use the same resources to serve more customers or can adjust the resources as per the needs to minimize the cost. In each case the per service delivery cost get reduced significantly and the profitability get increased.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 9: System Integration and Central Management

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 9: System Integration and Central Management

Another great advantage of the virtual queue management system is that it is very flexible towards integration with other tools, systems and third party software. The system is usually hosted online, which means that connecting all the branches to the head-office is very simple. The virtual queue management system can be integrated with smartphone applications, online appointment booking module, CRM (Customer Relationship Management tools), Customer Feedback and Survey Modules, CLM (Customer Loyalty Program), ERP, Sales System, Enterprise Performance Management System and much more. The integration is usually achieved using APIs, which is a very secure and efficient technology. This high connectivity also enables the head-office to monitor and control (if needed) any connected branch. All the real-time monitoring data and queuing stats are available for the head-office, branch manager or anyone else who is authorized to access them. The central management is very important as businesses usually scale, and require to add branches and counters.

Read More: Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords in UAE

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 10: Reporting, KPIs and Business Intelligence

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 10: Reporting, KPIs and Business Intelligence

The virtual queue management system is capable of capturing data at all touch points in the customer journey along with various other KPIs (key performance indicators). As the system is integrated with smartphone applications and customer feedback modules, it also collect various types of statistical data from these two interfaces. The KPIs are important to assess various customer journey steps and the employee performance. The customer feedback is very important and can be used for evaluating the entire business operation. Moreover the system is also capable of collecting stats and fetching data from other connected systems and tools. Collectively these all data streams forms and sophisticated matrices of analytical and statistical data which is called business intelligence.

Such data is very important for the management to assess and evaluate their ongoing business process, methodologies and the entire infrastructure. It also includes the evaluation of the products and services. A good queue management system always have an in-built data analytical and statistical tool, which can compile this data in the form of actionable reports. The management can use these reports to improve their strategies, methods and processes. With the help of such reports the management can easily make informed decision which can help them to improve the entire business operations for future.

Read More: How to Setup IT Infrastructure of a Startup in Dubai

Conclusion

For the businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE the virtual queue management system is a great tool keep up with the latest trends while maintaining the highest level of operational efficiency. The virtual queue management systems enables a business to effectively control the customer flow and also allow the customers and visitors to sign-up remotely through the easy remote sign-up channels. The crowd prevention, automatic customer flow management and automation of various customer journey steps reduced the work load of the employees, which improve employee performance and efficiency. Only the basic features of the virtual queue management systems can effectively reduce the per service delivery cost and on top of that the businesses can also customize the virtual queue management systems to further improve their efficiency and profitability. The system integration via APIs, smartphone apps, customer feedback system module and central management are the key features of a virtual queue management system. RSI Concepts is a leading name in Queue Management System providers in Dubai, UAE. Feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below to learn more about our queue management systems and solutions.

Check out this blog: Why Business Need Mobile Apps along with Classic Queue Management System?


Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords in UAE

Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords in UAE

The Google Adwords is a very effective digital marketing platform. It is an estimate that the yearly Google searches are 1.2 Trillion worldwide which means that 3.5 billion searches per day and 40 Thousand searcher per second. This is staggering. The Google is the top search engine occupying 92% of the search engine market worldwide. It is the most dominate search engine worldwide. The UAE as a nation is a very modernized and advanced nation, almost 94% of the population have access to the internet. This means the digital marketing could be your ultimate game changer. In the modern world the focus has already been shifted from the typical and traditional marketing channels to the digital and online marketing channels. The biggest advantage of the digital marketing is that it enables businesses to effectively reach to their targeted audience. It is cheaper comparing to the traditional marketing methods and it also returns good results. In the digital marketing eco-system we can confidently say that the Google is the leader having huge market share (92%) and excellent marketing tools.

What is Google Adwords?

What is Google Adwords?

The Google Adwords is a paid digital marketing platform works on pay-per-click (PPC) or pay-per-impression (PPM) advertisement models. The Google Ads are the most effective in terms of driving good quality traffic and higher conversion rates. As whenever someone searches in the Google they are most likely to have already plans for purchase. So it yields higher online conversions. It is a common misconception that higher the budget you have more the return you will get from your Google Adwords campaigns. But that is not the case, the ROI is vastly dependent on Ad Quality, Quality Score and Relevance. Of course the budget is also very important, but it is not like the budget is the only variable in the ROI. Here are some stats that will give you an idea of how effective the Google Adwords are:

  • 8% CTR (click through rate)
  • 180M monthly impressions
  • 43% of Prospects Convert into a Sale from YouTube Ads
  • 65% of Clicks from Ready-to-buy Users

The Google Adword’s Tools also allow you to optimize your advertisement campaigns to suit your budget and you can also stop any campaign or advert at any time to keep the budget within your monthly spending limits. Another great feature is scheduling of the ads, so that you run your ads only at the times when you are expecting most of your targeted audience to be online. These all features and campaign optimization tools enable the businesses to get the higher ROIs from Google Adwords.

Understanding the Technical Terminologies of Google Adwords

Understanding the Technical Terminologies of Google Adwords

Since our content is for all levels of marketers with varying technical knowledge and understanding of the Google Adwords platform so let us begin with a short introduction to the frequently used terminologies. These introduction will provide you basic technical understanding of platform and you will be able to setup and execute your Google Adwords Campaigns without any help from the professional. However, we always recommend to acquire professional services to ensure highest possible return over your investments. Here are some basic technical terms used in the Google Adwords platform:

  1. Keyword: The keyword is a ‘word’ or ‘phrase’ a user used to search for a particular information in the search engine.
  2. SERP: The word SERP represents ‘Search Engine Result Page’ and it is the page which contains the results/links when a user put an enquiry/keyword in the search engine.
  3. Clicks: The clicks are the actual clicks and counted when a visitor clicks on the ad.
  4. Impressions: The impression is the count of how many times your ad appears on the SERP regardless of if it is clicked or not.
  5. CTR: The CTR means ‘Click through Rate’. When you divide your ad’s number of clicks by the number of impressions you will get the CTR.
  6. Budget:The budget is the overall budget of the Adwords campaign. There are monthly budgets too and campaign budgets too.
  7. Bid:Like any other auction the Adwords also allow the advertisers to bid on the placements, ads with higher bids appears on top positions.
  8. Conversion: The conversion is a genuine lead or sale but it is also taken as the required action being taken by the user, which could be a purchase or a contact form or subscription, etc.
  9. Ad Rank: The ad rank is measured by multiplying maximum bid value and quality score and it determines the rank/placement of the ad in the result page.
  10. Quality Score: That is a very complex Google rating criteria, it includes CTR, quality of the landing page, past performance in SERP, and the relevance and keywords.

These are some of the basic terminologies that are being frequently used in the Google Adwords.

What are the Types of Google Adwords Campaigns?

What are the Types of Google Adwords Campaigns?

There has to be a goal and objective of any marketing effort. Similarly for Google Adwords campaigns there are several types which are designed to keep in mind several different goals and objectives. It is extremely important that you choose a right campaign type else you will end up spending huge amounts with very low or no gains whatsoever. The Google ads are everywhere on the internet, it could be on search result pages, videos, websites and blogs you are reading and in mobile applications too. It is quite possible that we have clicked on some of these ads without realizing it. This may sound difficult but Google have made it a lot easier with continuous innovation and improvements in its tools and interfaces. Here are different types of Google Adwords Campaigns:

  1. Search Campaign: It is basically the textual ads on the SERP.
  2. Display Campaign: These are images based adverts published on website which are connected to Google networks.
  3. Video Campaign: The video ads are published of video streaming websites, the main platform is the YouTube and these ads are also published on other affiliate websites.
  4. Shopping Campaign: These ads are basically product ads and are catered to the users who are ready to buy and searched for a specific product.
  5. Mobile App Campaign:These ads are used to promote mobile apps across Search, Google App Store, YouTube and display network.
  6. Local Campaign:The ads are automatically optimized to publish on multiple channels (search, display, YouTube, and Maps) along with the location details of the business.
  7. Smart Campaign:The smart campaigns are automated, you just create some ads and Google Adwords will find the target and optimize the campaign to ensure the best ROI.

These are basic campaign types of Google Adwrods. The correct selection is critical for the successof the campaign. The selection should be based on your goal and objective. What you want to achieve should be the driving factor of the selection of the campaign. For example if you want to launch a brand awareness campaign then the Video and Display campaigns are a suitable choice. In case if you want to get more leads and sales then the Search, Shopping and Local campaigns are the best choice.

How to Set Up a Google Adwords Campaign?

How to Set Up a Google Adwords Campaign?

Setting up Google Adwords Campaign is very easy using the Google Adword Dashboard tool. Once you have basic know how of the tool, you understand the terminologies and their meaning, and have understanding of different campaign types you can easily create a successful campaign. All you need is to setup your goals first, for example, if you want to acquire more leads and online conversions you must chose an appropriate campaign for that, if you need brand awareness campaign then another campaign has to be chosen. Here are some basic steps that will help you creating an effective Google Adwords campaign:

  1. Creating Adwords Campaign Step 1: Do keyword research using Keyword Planner (Free tool provided by Google) tool or any other tool. It is crucial that you create ads for the keywords and key-phrases which people are searching else there will be very low or no conversion.
  2. Creating Adwords Campaign Step 2:Shortlist the good keywords and key-phrases with adequate search volume and make sure you will be able to afford them too. In the Google Keyword Planner you will also find CPC which is Cost per Click. This is an estimated CPC but it is a good reference point to begin with. Consider the competition and also take account of the bid range, this will help you estimated the cost of the keyword.
  3. Create Adword Campaign Step 3: Now that the keyword list is finalized the next step is creating a search ad (we are writing about search campaign as it is the most widely used Adwords campaign) with a very strong USP. The USP is a unique selling proposition, you have to think that what statement can convince your prospects to make them purchase your product or service.
  4. Create Adwords Campaign Step 4: Make an offer which can help you get more clicks even if you are at second or third position or even at the bottom of the page. Tell the visitors about the value of your product or service but it has to be very realistic, and use a simple call to action, adding phone number can also improve conversion rates.
  5. Create Adwords Campaign Step 5: Use an excellent landing page. Do not divert the entire traffic to your homepage or contact page, instead prepare an excellent landing page which could offer a great customer journey and it will help you improve your conversion rates. Remember you are paying for each click.

These are some general steps of creating a compelling Google Adwords Campaign.

How to Increase Google Adwords Campaign’s ROI?

How to Increase Google Adwords Campaign’s ROI?

Once you have learned the basics of the Adwords and are able to create your first campaign you might first feel lucky and have good results too but eventually you will start thinking about improving the ROI of your Google Adwords Campaign. This will not only reduce the cost of the campaign but it will also increase its profitability. It doesn’t matter if you are an individual, a business (small or large), a professional marketer or a startup, the Google Adwords could become expensive and need to be optimized to improve the results. Here are some simple steps that will help you optimizing your Google Adwords Campaigns to increase your return over investment (ROI):

  1. Increase Adwords Campaign’s ROI Step 1:The first step is to filter out your audiences. Target appropriate demographics and location data to ensure your ad is displaying only to the people who will be more interested in purchase. This method is equally beneficial for both B2B and B2C advertisers.
  2. Increase Adwords Campaign’s ROI Step 2:The next thing that can be done is segregating your audience by the income group (this feature might not available for all countries and regions). For certain products and services certain income groups are more profitable than others.
  3. Increase Adwords Campaign’s ROI Step 3: The headlines get the most attentions, trying with dynamic keyword insertion is the best way to increase the CTR and conversion rate. This is also very helpful when you are targeting low search volume keywords.
  4. Increase Adwords Campaign’s ROI Step 4: The remarketing is a great tool to improve campaign ROI, so enable it on all campaigns. The remarketing is displaying your ads to the people who have already viewed them, such users are more likely to convert.
  5. Increase Adwords Campaign’s ROI Step 5:Use display ads, the display ads are a great source of generating leads and improving brand awareness. They are comparatively cost-efficient and provide you a chance to publish more information.
  6. Increase Adwords Campaign’s ROI Step 6: Evaluate your ad placements and try to avoid the platforms which are not returning good amount of leads. By default certain mediums are selected make sure you are putting ads only on the mediums with higher conversion rates.

These are some steps that you can take to further optimize your Google Adwords Campaigns. The campaign optimization for cost and ROI is a continuous process hence the above steps should be taken on regular intervals. Moreover you can schedule your campaigns and limit your daily and monthly budget to keep it under you monthly cap.

Read More: How to Setup IT Infrastructure of a Startup in Dubai

Conclusion

The Google Adwords is considered to be the most effective digital marketing tool. There are other platforms too with their own pros and cons but the Google with its monopoly in the search market is on the top. Especially if you want to generate good amount of leads very quickly then the Google Adwords is a great choice. This also makes it a bit expensive than other platforms. But if the campaigns are created as per the standards and certain steps are followed during the campaign creation process the best ROI is a guarantee. The Google Adwords is equally beneficial for all types and sizes of businesses. It really doesn’t matter if your monthly budget is AED 1,000 or AED 10,000, the important thing is that you have a better understanding of the Google Adwords platform, its interface and tools and its management. The Adwords campaign management and optimization is extremely important. It is not like a one day process but from the day one till today you have to keep a closer eye on the stats and keep tweaking here and there to compare the results. This way you can achieve the highest ROI of you Google Adwords Campaigns. RSI Concepts is a leading digital marketing agency in Dubai, UAE. If you need any help with your digital marketing feel free to reach us out through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you.

Check out this blog: Why Business Need Mobile Apps along with Classic Queue Management System?


Why Business Need Mobile Apps along with Classic Queue Management System?

Why Business Need Mobile Apps along with Classic Queue Management System

A classic queue management system is a system that enables businesses to manage and control the customer journey at their stores, branches, and customer support centers. The queue management system is a great tool to manage customer flow and is very popular in Dubai and all around the UAE. If you have ever visited a bank or a telecom service provider or any government department, you would have noticed queuing systems there, they are everywhere. That is why whenever someone is visiting a business or organization, they are expecting a queue management system rather than long lines managed by the staff manually. Another most impactful event happened in 2020, yes the pandemic, and it changes everything, it also had changed the general behavior and expectation of the customers as well. Nowadays, customers prefer a fully or partially contactless customer journey along with a bit more digitalized customer experience. On top of that, social distancing has become a new norm. Businesses have to limit the visitors and customers to a certain number, depending upon their facility’s capacity. For example, earlier if you could accommodate 100 customers at a time, now you should have only 40 or so.

The social distancing, strict policies, and changed customer behavior demanded an innovative and high-tech solution to manage customer flow and customer journey. In Dubai and all around the UAE more than 90 percent of the population owns a smartphone and also have access to the internet. The government is offering tons of services digitally via smartphone applications. And smartphone usage is also higher in the country as compared to the other regions. People tend to spend hours on their smartphones on daily basis. This makes the smartphone a very powerful and effective platform for communication and customer services. The flexibility of smartphones and technological advancements lead to an entirely new era of digitalization. The queue management system is not different, businesses often ask about the mobile app for their queue management systems. When a mobile app is integrated with a classic queue management system it can offer a variety of features such as:

Improved Customer Experience and Customer Journey

Improved Customer Experience and Customer Journey

The mobile apps are very convenient and easy to use. Everyone loves them these days. People tend to rely on mobile apps more than on websites for acquiring digital solutions. Several surveys and data suggest that if given a choice between a website and a smartphone app for digital services most of the customers will prefer mobile apps. The mobile apps don’t always require you to sign in, the customers can leave a process in the middle, and as soon as they will open the mobile app next time the process can be continued from there. Smartphone apps are easier to perform tasks, people tend to spend more time on different types of mobile apps rather than surfing the websites. This is why people prefer mobile apps over traditional websites. For example, when it comes to online banking, almost 90% of the times customers prefer to use smartphone apps rather than the website. This is why mobile apps are very important and can be more efficient. The customer journey is improved with mobile apps, and people feel more comfortable with the mobile apps.

In the case of a classic queue management system, the mobile app can provide various features which can improve customer experience and customer journey. Such as:

Enables Smart Mobile Queuing

Enables Smart Mobile Queuing

When a classic queue management system mobile app is used the businesses can offer their customers and visitors to have a facility to issue mobile tickets. These are also like the regular paper tickets but the only difference is the mobile ticket are digital and are stored inside the mobile app. This allows the customers to have freedom of waiting anywhere whether outside or inside the branch. Those kinds of features and flexibilities can significantly improve customer experience and customer journey. This also reduces the workload of the staff and employees and improves their efficiency. When the wait time is reduced and the customer has a great experience prior to reaching the counter, it is easier to satisfy them as well. If a customer had a bad waiting experience or they will have to wait for so long at the end when they reach to the counter they are already frustrated and annoyed, it becomes far more difficult to please them at that time and more customers end up leaving unhappy.

Less Wait Time More Customer Happiness

Less Wait Time More Customer Happiness

The wait time is very crucial for customer happiness. The studies have shown that an average customer can wait for up to 13 minutes and wait time any longer than that start impacting their mood and as much as the wait time extends it keeps bothering the customers and the customers start getting annoyed, anxious, or stressed. Long wait times completely ruin the customer experience. No matter how hard an agent/server tries to please them they will not be happy. Another important factor about the wait time is if the wait time is known or not. The fear of the unknown is in human nature, the studies have shown that if the wait time is known to the customers they feel better and the waiting is also less stressful, but it the wait time is unknown then the customers will get more anxious. The smartphone application can be used to provide live information about the queuing with the estimated time of the customer’s turn. This also reduces the negative impact of waiting. With smart queuing and virtual queuing using mobile apps, the wait time can be reduced to virtually none. As the customers have the freedom to wait anywhere, they are only required to arrive at the very exact time of their turn which means they will get served immediately after arriving at the business. This improves the customer journey and customer happiness.

Offers Virtual Queuing with Mobile Apps

Offers Virtual Queuing with Mobile Apps

The queue management system mobile apps are a great platform to offer virtual queuing. The virtual queuing allows the customers and visitors to signup remotely, without being physically arriving at the business or branch. Usually, the remote sign-up is done through various mediums such as Smartphone applications, SMS, Email, Phone Call, Customer Portals, Websites, etc. But the mobile apps are the best way to offer virtual queuing. The mobile app can instantly issue an E-Ticket or digital token, which sign-up a customer for a virtual queue. The mobile apps can also provide real-time updates, queuing data, notifications, alerts, and much more. This allows the customers to sign-up for the queue from their smartphones, then they can either wait outside or plan their visit accordingly that they reach closer to the estimated time of their turn. This reduces the wait time and is also very helpful for the staff and management. Virtual queuing also allows implementing social distancing and other company policies easily. The management can have more control over the customer flow and can also communicate with the customers through the mobile app if needed.

Mobile App Provides Branch Locator and Trip Planner

Mobile App Provides Branch Locator and Trip Planner

The branch locator and trip planner are very useful features of the queue management system mobile app. The branch locator helps the customers to search and locate the branches in their proximity. It can also provide additional data such as the route to the branch, the current queuing details in the branch, the timings, contact details, and much more. The branch locator helps customers and visitors locating a branch with the probability of getting the quickest service. The customers and visitors can also have access to the important branch information, such as the route which can also be linked with navigation and the information of the busy hours, busy days, and the most convenient time to visit. Which could help the customers to easily plan their visit. Such features are very helpful in making the customer journey more desirable and convenient and also improve customer happiness.

Mobile App Provides Appointment Booking Facility

Mobile App Provides Appointment Booking Facility

The queue management system mobile app can also be linked to an appointment booking system or it can have an in-built appointment booking module that enables the customers to easily plan their visit and book an appointment at their convenience. Moreover, the mobile app also keeps a record of past appointments and it can also provide useful information about the busy hours, busy days, etc. Sometimes some services are exclusive for certain branches only, that information is very important for the customers. If a customer arrived at a branch and then learned that the service they need is only offered at another branch they will be upset and annoyed. There is so much other information that can be provided in order to improve customer experience and customer journey. The customers and visitors can easily book appointments using mobile apps and set reminders and alerts for that appointments. The calendar app can be integrated too to highlight the appointment on the calendar. There are so many features that can be added to improve customer experience and customer journey.

Mobile Apps Collect Customer Feedback

Mobile Apps Collect Customer Feedback

The queue management system mobile apps are a great way to collect customer feedback. Usually, businesses use tablets, touch screens, and kiosks to collect feedback. Sometimes customers don’t use these devices as they think if they will do the survey the next customer will have to wait. Especially the customer who had a great experience and want to give a positive remark, usually avoid attempting feedback because they don’t want to put the next customer on wait. That is why mobile apps are a better alternative for customer feedback. Moreover, when businesses are setting up feedbacks and surveys for the mobile apps or online they can have more questions. The customers usually do such things when they are free so more questions will not go to affect the conversion rate. In fact, when customer feedbacks and surveys are done through mobile apps the conversion rate is always higher. The mobile apps can have notifications, reminders, and alerts which encourages more customers to do the feedback. Another great advantage of conducting customer surveys and feedbacks through mobile apps is that the business doesn’t have to ask the customer to input their contact and identity details, this can be extracted from the app automatically. Some businesses also have follow-up features. The customer support agent can contact the customers after the submission of their feedback. The personalized communication also improves customers’ happiness and increases their confidence and trust in the brand. Especially in case of negative feedback the staff can easily follow up with the customers and resolve their problems or inform them about the actions taken to prevent any such inconvenience in the future.

Mobile Apps Provide Valuable Business Intelligence

Mobile Apps Provide Valuable Business Intelligence

Business intelligence is the most important data that is required while decision-making and making future strategies. The mobile apps contribute to that too. The customer data, their purchase patterns, their favorite products and services, and all such information are very helpful to understand the market trends and to evaluate the products and services. Moreover, mobile apps can also be helpful in tracking the customer journey. The mobile app can track the time between the ticket generation and the service delivery accurately. With this data along with the data of the services, the business can easily understand which services are taking more time and which are taking less time. The business can also utilize this information to compare with the employee KPIs to increase their assessment accuracy and measure performance. In addition to all that the customer feedback collected from the mobile app is extremely important and it can provide a variety of information which are crucial for making informed decisions and effective policies. The customer surveys, happiness meter, NPS Score, difficulty score, customer satisfaction score, and much more are very helpful in evaluating various business processes and practices. Mobile apps are a great source of vital business intelligence data.

Conclusion

The mobile apps are used by everyone, whether it is a social media application, a service app, banking app, eCommerce, food ordering app, everyone is using the mobile apps in one form or another. The pandemic has completely changed the marketing industry and businesses and marketers are eagerly seeking innovative solutions to provide their customers with a digitalized and contactless experience. For classic queue management systems, the virtual queuing and mobile app-based queuing feature is gaining popularity. The mobile apps are a great tool for virtual queuing as well as for ordinary queuing. The mobile apps provide better control over customer flow management and also enhance the customer journey. Businesses can offer so many innovative features to improve customer engagements and increase customer happiness. The mobile apps can offer online appointment booking, branch locators, E-Ticket or digital tokens for the queue, remote sign-up facility, and real-time queuing tracking with alerts and notifications, and much more. The customer feedback collection and business intelligence gathering is a great source of data that can be very helpful in analyzing, evaluating, and improving business processes and practices. RSI Concepts is a leading name in Queue Management System and Customer Satisfaction Solutions providers in Dubai, UAE. Feel free to reach out if you want to transform your customer’s journey by integrating mobile apps with your classic queue management system. You can contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this blog: How to Setup IT Infrastructure of a Startup in Dubai


How to Setup IT Infrastructure of a Startup in Dubai

How to Setup IT Infrastructure of a Startup in Dubai

The IT infrastructure is considered to be the backbone of any business or enterprise not only in Dubai, UAE but all around the world. These days businesses can’t even function without any IT enabled support or system. The IT Infrastructure comprises of all the digital and information technology related solutions and systems including both hardware, software and online components. The startups and small businesses have limited resources, hence whatever they have in hand should perform at the optimum levels to ensure growth and stability. The IT infrastructure enabled a startup or running business to provide IT services and solutions to its employees, customers and the management or stack holders. For example, the company emails comes under IT, the computers and the online website also comes under IT. So IT infrastructure is a bit broader term and we will cover all important aspects in this blog.  Keep reading to learn and understand the IT infrastructure and how to start and what components should you have to kick start.

How to Setup IT Infrastructure of a Startup in Dubai

Plan and Budget Estimation of IT Infrastructure for Startup

Plan and Budget Estimation of IT Infrastructure for Startup

To begin with, you should have a plan for your IT infrastructure the most important thing is the budgeting and the needs. It could be hard to consider each and everything at this point of time, but make a list of all your requirements first. Then decide which one can be setup on cloud and which one has to be done in-premises. Here are some key points that you should think of:

  1. Make a list of all your needs
  2. Consider the possibilities of both Cloud and In-premises Solutions
  3. Consider the possibility of outsourcing (especially online components)
  4. Plan for the service and maintenance requirements
  5. Do cost Estimation for each component individually
  6. Search for solution and service providers, analyze and assess them deeply
  7. Search for purchase plans/subscriptions for individual items as well as clubbed packages
  8. Estimate the maintenance, operational and renewal costs
  9. Estimate the scaling and future Expansion costs for each component
  10. Compare different service providers, suppliers and vendors

This is the very first and most important step in setting up your IT infrastructure.Sometimes the vendors and suppliers offer very good deals if you opt for a package that includes several components. Sometimes some items are cost-effective and some looks expensive. Ask your vendors and suppliers about the scalability and future expansion cost and terms for each item individually as well as the package or plan.

It is extremely important that each software or hardware component you are acquiring should have ability to scale in future, so rather than replacing the entire solution you should be able to add or remove components as per your needs. This is how you should plan and do cost estimation for IT infrastructure. As startups and small businesses have limited resources so it is very important for them to have cost-efficient solutions which can maximize their operation capabilities and enable them to achieve high profitability and a stable growth.

Cloud-Based IT Infrastructure for a Startup

Cloud-Based IT Infrastructure for a Startup

Basically, the Cloud-Based IT Infrastructure is a bit modern solution for a very older problem. The cloud computing can greatly cut the cost and it also allow more flexible information flow and data access. Cloud computing can offer data storage, software and applications and information flow and all is hosted in online servers. The startup or small business owners and managers might want to get access to the data and information from their home, or while on the move via smartphone or tablet, which is very easy with the cloud computing. All you need is a device with internet access and you can be linked to the company network and you would be able to access everything.

Cloud-Based IT Infrastructure for a Startup

Here are some basic utilities of cloud computing:

  1. Storage Service: The cloud computing is very famous for its cost-efficient storage solutions, it allows data sharing and access for the daily operation with extremely easy access modes.
  2. Backup or Failsafe Solution: The backup or failsafe solution makes a regular backup of your company’s entire data and protect your data in case of server crash, cyber-attacks and unplanned deletion of the data.
  3. Cloud Hosting Service: The cloud hosting service is similar to the regular hosting but with added benefits and it is used for hosting emails, websites, web-applications and online tools.
  4. SAAS and PAAS Solutions: The SAAS is software as a service and the PAAS is product as a service, both are almost the same with a few differences. The most popular examples are Salesforce, Quick Books, Office 365, ERPs and Google Apps.

The cloud computing has gained popularity in past few years, earlier it was available but expensive. Later all types and sizes of businesses and enterprises start adopting to cloud computing based platforms and suddenly a lot of vendors jumped in to the market, this increased the competition and we have witnessed a lot of innovative products and solutions with the competitive cost. The cloud computing offers more features at less costs which also lead to rapid adoption of cloud based platforms. Here are some key benefits of cloud based solutions and products:

  • Remote Access: Cloud computing allow remote access to software and applications. The business software and applications are usually not commonly used at home, so in typical arrangements these types of tools are installed on company computers. The cloud allow users to access such applications and software from anywhere, it can truly bring your office to your living room.
  • High Consistencybetween Employees: Usually more than one employees are working on a single file or project. The cloud store all the files on the internet in a central information center so whatever work is done by any employee will automatically get updated on the file and each employee get the latest version of the file whenever they access it or work on it.
  • Simple Data Access and Authentication: Usually the main reason for switching to cloud is to enable high availability and simple access to the data. Any employee or user can access the data from the compatible device with sufficient authority and access credentials.
  • Reliable Data Security and Backup: The data security and backup is always the main concern of a business. The company data is like the fuel in the engine, if lost the engine can’t run even for a second. The businesses can easily recover data from the cloud backups in case of a hardware failure, cyber-attach, naturel disaster, etc.
  • Higher Redundancy and Availability:The cloud architecture by default offers great redundancy and higher availability comparing to in-premises small networks. Usually the standard availability is 99.99% per annum and the clouds are also optimized to keep on working normally in case of failure of a component or even partial failure.
  • Cost Efficient:Setting up in-house or in-premises data center and network requires high initial cost, expertise to keep it operational and physical space to construct it. However, the cloud doesn’t require any of that. The cloud offers both unmanaged and fully managed servers businesses can chose any to optimize their initial and running cost.

These are some of the key benefits of the cloud computing. However, sometimes it is difficult to acquire small plans, the redundancy and the backups are also meant to be purchased separately. Usually businesses running with customized solutions and software require certain control of the server which could be very difficult in case of fully managed clouds. The business will also have to rely on the service provider for support, service and system updates.

In-house or In-premises IT Infrastructure for a Startup

In-house or In-premises IT Infrastructure for a Startup

The in-house or in-premises IT infrastructure is the more traditional approach, it means all the network devices, storage devices, servers are physically installed in the business facility. Usually the business who need more control over their networks and data management goes for in-premises IT infrastructure. The in-premises IT infrastructure is very easy to set for startups and small businesses and is not as that expensive either. An entry level server will cost you no more than an ordinary PC. Technically a single entry level server can easily support up to 25 users but ideally 10 users per server is a good setup. Moreover rather than adding more servers, the existing server can be upgraded with added memory and storage to improve the network. The routers, network switches and hubs are also not so expensive.

In-house or In-premises IT Infrastructure for a Startup

Here are some basic utilities of in-house or in-premises IT infrastructure:

  1. Flexible Storage: The business can have as much storage as they want, they can also easily extend the storage by adding new drives to the server or storage devices and these days network enabled storage solutions are also very cost-efficient.
  2. Offline Backups: The business can easily manage and maintain offline backups for their entire company data. The offline backups are more reliable and secure.
  3. Easy Hosting Solution: The businesses can easily host any type of application in their in-house or in-premises data centers. As they have no limitation or restriction so they can easily upgrade or downgrade their hosting servers to meet the needs of the customized software and applications.
  4. Private Company Network: Businesses often seek to establish private company networks to make sure no one from the outside of the company network can have any access to the data and information. When all data is stored on the in-premises servers the private network can be built easily.

The in-house or in-premises IT infrastructure are very popular among the medium and large size businesses and enterprises. Especially businesses who have very sensitive data have certain security needs the in-premises based IT infrastructure is the best option for them. The technology is evolving rapidly, the consumer level computers and devices have become very powerful. The startups or small businesses can even use consumer level devices too to build their IT infrastructure. But we always advice to use only business level hardware and solutions as eventually when the business will start growing they will have to switch to the business level components. Here are some key benefits of the in-house of in-premises IT Infrastructure:

  • Full Control over IT Environment: The business has no restriction to align with the any operating system, or its versions or any such limitation. The business can chose and setup any environment they want as per their needs and requirements.
  • Data Security and Protection: The business have full authority and control over the data security and protection, no third party can access your critical data. The private data and sensitive data can be hosted offline to ensure better security and controlled access.
  • Easy Scalability: The expansion and scalability is a lot easier and cost-efficient with the in-premises IT infrastructure. Although there would a physical limitation of your data center but usually that is not a problem at all.
  • No Need of Internet: Unlike cloud based IT infrastructure the in-house setup doesn’t require internet as all the data is stored and applications are hosted in the local/private company network so internet is not required.
  • Quicker and Easier Maintenance:As the entire IT infrastructure is physically approachable by the business or the IT staff, the maintenance and problem fixing is quicker and easier. No need to rely on the service providers or support teams.
  • No Annual Subscriptions or Licensing: As the in-premises IT infrastructure is based on purchased components which in most cases are one time purchase so annual subscriptions or licensing is not required. In case of a startup or small business the in-premises IT infrastructure can be very cost effective. The initial and running cost is quit comparable to the cloud computing.

These are some key benefits of the in-house or in-premises IT infrastructure. However usually the initial cost is higher, the business must have sufficient technical staff to keep the network up and running. One or two servers are fine, but for an infrastructure larger than that, proper physical environment such as electrical wiring, air conditioning/ventilation and physical security are must to have. The up-time or recovery-time totally depends upon the infrastructure itself and the IT staff. Sometimes some employees or the higher management requires to access the company data from outside of the premises which requires special networking setups and could be technically difficult for the users.

Hybrid IT Infrastructure for Startup

Hybrid IT Infrastructure for Startup

Hybrid IT infrastructure is the infrastructure which have components from both the cloud based and the in-house or in-premises based IT infrastructure. The main objective for such setup is usually to optimize the cost and improve the efficiency. In that kind of setup the businesses can trade-off certain features of both types of IT infrastructures to achieve more innovative and efficient functionalities. This type of setup is fairly common among all types and sizes of the businesses and organizations, whether it is a startup or a large enterprise both can equally benefits from the hybrid IT infrastructure. For example, any system or application that has to be online can be hosted on cloud and all other systems can be hosted in in-house or in-premises IT infrastructure.

The email servers are usually very hard and costly to maintain in the in-premises environment so it can be moved to cloud, similarly the websites and customer portals can also be moved to the clouds. However the ERPs, HRMS, or other such tools can be hosted to in-premises IT infrastructure to achieve the ultimate security, privacy and data protection levels. The business should have to be creative and should have sound knowledge of both IT infrastructures to form a very cost-efficient and productive hybrid IT infrastructure for their needs.

Users Devices and Peripherals for Startup

Users Devices and Peripherals for Startup

No matter either you go with cloud computing, in-premises or hybrid IT infrastructure you will going to need basic user devices and peripherals for your employees. You will have to provide computers, printers, scanners and internet connection to your employees. There is a business practice known as BYOD, or bring your own device. It means the business ask their employees to bring their own laptops, mobiles, etc. The big equipment such as printers, scanners and internet connectivity to local storage is provided by the business. However, it is always in the interest of the business to provide each and every device, even if an employee is permitted to use company mobile connection then the business should not only provide the connection but the mobile phone too. Which should be strictly used for only work related communication. For startups and small businesses where the employees are less than 10 any consumer level network routers and WiFi will work perfectly fine.

But if you have more employees or rely heavily on the internet then only business level branded network routers, switches and WiFi should be used. It is better to have a LAN connection for each PC, this will provide better speed and file sharing on local network but good quality WiFi hubs also works fine. In case of printers and scanners, it is always good to have an all-in-one network enabled printer which have printing, scanning and photo copying facilities all in one. This will save you a lot of cost. As in a small setup all of the employees will be in closer proximity and everyone can reach to the printer, scanner and photo-copier easily. When purchasing user devices the licensing is very important, compare both Windows and Apple systems and then analyze which will be more compatible with the tools and software your employee would run and then take the decision. Local network storages are also required for quicker file sharing between employees, so use network enabled storage devices with SSD for better speed and longer life. Make sure all the important data and files are stored in a backed up storage.

Outsourcing of the IT Infrastructure Components for Startup

Outsourcing of the IT Infrastructure Components for Startup

Outsourcing could be very beneficial in some cases. It can save cost, efforts and a lot of time. For example in case of the email service, if you want to have an in-premises email server it will going to require a lot of efforts, time and expensive securities to keep it operational. Even in case of cloud based solution in any case whether you acquire a managed email server or an unmanaged email server the cost will be very high. It is always better to outsource your emails. Similarly hosting websites and small web-based applications is also more cost efficient and easy-to-manage when outsourced to a reliable IT service provider such as RSI Concepts. The important thing to understand while outsourcing any component is that the outsourcing company should have a good profile with local clientele and a great track record.

The professional company will not only be more cost effective but it will ensure a hustle free service and will keep you informed of the market trends and updates. It will keep you updated and informed of the information and ideas which otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get exposed to at your own. This will help you competing with others and will also help you in doing improvements.

Acquiring Necessary Tools,Digital Services and Online Components for Startup

Acquiring Necessary Tools,Digital Services and Online Components for Startup

There are so many enterprise level tools and systems that could help boosting your operational capabilities as well as work efficiency. However, for a startup or a small business it is not profitable to invest in those top-notched expensive off-the-shelf solutions. When planning for other IT solutions and software such as ERPs, Sales System, Inventory Management System, Customer Loyalty Program, HR System or any such tool, only go for the very necessary tools. It is always better to acquire a customized solution provider and ask them to build you a customized Intranet which can serve you with all your needs. The solution or system has to be an all-in-one system. It should be able to fulfill you all accounts, purchase, sales and customer relationship needs.

Another very essential online component of digital services is the digital marketing and online branding. The website is the basic component of all your online branding activities. When it comes to the websites, you will going to need the domain name, hosting, web designs and development service and occasionally you might be doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media management and paid digital marketing services too. Make sure for all such solutions and services you chose only a single vendor, it will be a lot easier and cost-efficient to manage all these services with a single service provider rather outsourcing them to so many different vendors.

Conclusion

The IT Infrastructure is the backbone of any business small or large. It is literally the foundation at which the entire structure stands on. The rate of businesses going bankrupt on the same year in which they somehow loss their data is increasing day by day. That is why when it comes to the IT infrastructure the business should have to plan it very thoughtfully. In this blog we have listed the details of both in-house or in-premises IT infrastructure and the cloud computing based IT infrastructure. We have also listed another type which is the hybrid IT infrastructure which includes components from both main classes. For a startup or a small business the hybrid IT infrastructure is the best option unless there is a specific need. It all depends upon the needs of the business. The outsourcing is also a great option for certain components. Whenever planning for the IT infrastructure the very important thing to consider is the initial cost and the running cost. In case of in-house or in-premises IT setup the business must have sufficient technical staff to keep the setup operational and running. Each type of IT infrastructure have their own benefits and limitations, think about the benefits and the limitation and then decide which component should be taken from which class and what services and components should be outsourced.

A business also requires essential software tools and user IT equipment. Plan those things with great care. Especially when you are planning to purchase computers and other devices for the employees make sure the platform or operating system you are opting for is also compatible with the rest of the IT infrastructure as well and also take the lifecycle and longevity in account. This guide is to help new startups and small businesses in building cost-effective IT infrastructure which can support them with growth and productivity. The major reason for most failure of new startups or small businesses is that their IT infrastructure is not optimized to enable the employees to work on maximum efficiency. The initial cost and running cost is also a big burden for startups and small businesses. RSI Concepts is a leading name in IT solutions and services providers in Dubai, UAE. Feel free to reach us our through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this blog: How Queue Management Systems are helping Businesses Grow in 2021


How Queue Management Systems are helping Businesses Grow in 2021

How Queue Management Systems are helping Businesses Grow in 2021

The impact of the year 2021 was a complete shift in customer behavior, expectations, and market trends. Businesses are quickly adopting new technological solutions to deal with such changes. A queue management system is a great tool to transform customer journeys and to monitor each and every aspect of them. The businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE are strictly following the health and safety protocols, the social distancing is a new norm. The number of active queues and customers inside the premises has significantly dropped, however, the facilities remained of the same size. Businesses will have to make the customer journey as quickly as possible to be able to serve an equal number of customers daily before the pandemic. Although this is a temporary situation and soon the businesses will resume as per their older states. However, the change in the customer behavior and market trend will be going to take a lot longer to reverse. Most probably it won’t reverse at all. In such conditions, businesses will have to have a better control over the customer journey and customer experience. Which is only possible with an efficient queue management system.

How Queue Management Systems are helping Businesses Grow in 2021

No matter what type of industry you operate in, almost all businesses want or have to keep their customers in lines and queues. It doesn’t matter how large or small your facility is, the important thing is to ensure a flawless customer journey and a satisfactory customer experience. Which is a key to success. Happy and satisfied customers tend to be the best advocate of the brand and help to promote a positive brand identity which improves the brand’s reputation and overall image in the market. This attracts more customers and it also helps to improve the conversion rates of the marketing activities.

Here are some key areas where queue management systems are helping business to ensure their steady growth in 2021:

Queue Management System Improves Customer Journey and Customer Experience

Queue Management System Improves Customer Journey and Customer Experience

A queue management system can completely transform the customer journey and enhances the customer experience. The main concern of all businesses is to improve customer journey and their experiences through their branch or offices. A queue management system can automatically manages the customer flow and route them according to the predefined company policies and protocols. Managing the lines manually required more staff and it also cause problems, most of the customers complains about line jumpers and mismanagement and got unhappy with the staff, this ruins their experience. The manual management of the queues also results in more workload on the staff and slowly moving queues. This not only increases the wait time, but it also results in crowd formation and more pressure on the staff as well as on the customers and visitors too. The customer experience is ruined and the customer journey is prolonged. The customers left unhappy and unsatisfied. However a digital queue management system can prevent all these problems.

A queue management system organizes each aspect of the customer journey and improve customer experience at each touch point. The customers and visitors can sign-up for the queue using an interactive interface which is mostly an interactive touch screen kiosks. The customer can select the service they want to avail and sign-up for the required queue. Once they signed-up they are directed to a waiting area. In the waiting area the businesses can further improve their waiting experience by utilizing the digital signage screens comes with any standard queue management system. Usually these digital signage are used to display live queuing information, but adverts and multimedia content can also be played to increase customer engagements. The queuing information are also very important for the customers. So these digital

Queue Management System Helps Improving Customer Retention

Queue Management System Helps Improving Customer Retention

The queue management systems are a great help to improve customer retention and customer loyalty. As the customer retention and customer loyalty both are linked with each other and both depends upon the customer journey and customer experience. A queue management system helps businesses and organizations to streamline their customer flow and to improve their waiting experience. This had a very positive impact on the customers and it also increase customer happiness rates. Customer happiness lead to improved customer loyalty, the loyal customers are the one who do repeated business with the brand and generate more revenue. According to several studies and market researches attaining a new customers could be 9 to 12 times more expensive than retaining an existing customer. This directly impact the profitability of the business.

Business always seek methods to retain their existing customers. As the customers who are happy with their brand are tend to be more loyal and only loyal customers are the one who promote a positive brand identity. The positive brand identity helps the brand to attract more customers easily. A positive brand reputation also improves the outcome of the marketing efforts and campaigns. Once a customer or visitors builds a positive image of the brand it is much easier and less costly to satisfy them for the business. Only by improving the customer journey and customer experiences a brand can significantly improve their customer retention rates with the help of a queue management system.

Virtual Queuing Boosts Customer Happiness and Productivity

Virtual Queuing Boosts Customer Happiness and Productivity

Virtual Queuing is not a new type of queue management system in fact this form of queuing was there since more than 5, 6 years. However, due to the situation in 2020 the virtual queuing suddenly got attentions and businesses immediately rushed toward adopting this technology. The main concept of virtual queuing is to enable the customers and visitors to sign-up remotely and let them wait in the virtual queues without being physically present in the physical queue. This means that the customers and visitors will only have to come at the very time of their turn and they don’t have to wait inside the premises. This means there will be absolutely no wait time. Wait time is extremely important in customer journey and customer happiness. Studies have shown that around only 13 minutes of wait time is acceptable by any customer or visitor, any time longer than that start impacting customer happiness and customer experience. Which is why the virtual queuing is a very advanced and modern form of customer flow management and it boosts customer happiness.

Another reason why virtual queuing enabled queue management systems are gaining popularity is because the management can easily control the entire customer flow, they can limit the number of customers to be allowed inside the premises which ensure social distancing and health and safety of the customers and visitors as well as of the staff. Apart from that when an option is given to the customers they prefer not to wait inside the premises, instead customers only arrive at the very exact time of their turn, which will prevent crowd formation and make it a lot easier for the staff to manage the customers and visitors inside the premises. This reduce the work load of the employees and make them more productive. As the agents and servers are relieved from extra work, their productivity automatically raised, they would be able to serve more customers in a single shift. This enables the businesses to reduce the number of employees and make rest of the employees more efficient which definitely reduce the cost and increases profitability. The balanced work load also improve the capabilities of the employees and make them able to serve customers better, which also improves customer experience and increase customer happiness.

Virtual Queuing Boosts Customer Happiness and Productivity

There are several methods and techniques used for virtual queuing, for example the customers can be allowed to sign-up from their smartphone applications, SMS, Email, Call, QR Code, etc. The queuing data and information can be provided on the customer portals, smartphone applications or temporary link which can be shared with the customers through SMS or Email or via Smartphone Apps. The customer calling and announcements can also be made through SMS, Smartphone Applications, Notifications, etc. This further enhances the customer experience and increase their satisfaction. It leaves a very good impression on customers and customers thinks that the brand really cares about them and is very serious in facilitating them and making everything convenient for them. This help business promoting positive brand identity and it improves brand reputation.

Customer Feedback ModuleAids Progress and Development Process

Customer Feedback ModuleAids Progress and Development Process

The customer feedback is a very important indicator of the business progress and development. Business here in Dubai and all around the UAE often overlooked this tool and keep pouring huge amount of resources for development and improvement in various sectors. But the question arises how would a business know if their all efforts and investments are in the right direction? The most accurate and easier method is to ask your customers if they are happy with all what you are doing to please them or not? That is why the customer feedback plays a vital role in business’s growth and progress. Asking customers to opine on a certain aspect of the service delivery or customer experience is very simple and easy using a customer feedback module integrated with the queue management system. We have frequently witnessed small touch screens on the counters of banks, exchanges and retail stores. These are the simplest and easiest form of customer feedback. The businesses and organizations can also utilize these small touch screens or tablets to conduct small customer feedback surveys.

Linking the customer feedback system with a queue management system comes with several advantages. For example in such case the business don’t necessarily need to ask for identification information, as such information can be obtained from the queue management system itself, this enables the management to keep the customer feedback survey simple and easier which encourages more customers to share their opinion. As one of the most annoying thing for any customer is to fill in long forms or to fill in identification data before submitting their feedbacks. The identification of the customer is not always needed but most of the time it is very helpful. A simple NPS Score (Net Promoter Score), or CSAT Survey (Customer Satisfaction Survey) could provide enough information to let the business trace the discrepancies or I would rather say the areas of improvements in the customer journey.

Customer Feedback ModuleAids Progress and Development Process

Another advantage of the customer feedback module is that the management can conduct several campaigns to get a complete analysis of the entire customer journey including all touch points and business can also take reviews about their products and services. For example the business set a campaign to ask customer about the wait time only, the next campaign could be for the behavior of the server, another campaign could be to get NPS Score or to know the customers opinion about what is good or bad in a particular product or service and so on. These all campaigns’ data can be combined to produce comprehensive reports which can be included in the policy making and decision making process. This ensures the development and progress of the business will be in right direction in future and it also provide a very accurate analysis of all the efforts that are being done till date to improve customer journey and customer happiness.

Queue Management System’s KPIs Help Improving the Performance

Queue Management System’s KPIs Help Improving the Performance

Queue Management System comes with in-built KPIs monitoring tool. The KPIs are Key Performance Indicators, mainly referred to as the performance of the employees. Apart from the KPIs the queue management system can also measure and monitor other aspects of the customer journey. The employee performance management and their KPIs are very important for the management to ensure the ultimate efficiency of the entire branch. The employee performance in measured by several indicators some are generic and some depends upon the situation and work flow of the business. For example how much time is consumed by an employee to serve a single customer, this value is taken usually on average and it also records number of daily services. The queue management system also measure and records the work efficiency of an employee during the busiest hours and during the least busy hours and in between. Such information is very helpful in measuring and assessing the overall performance of an employee.

Queue Management System’s KPIs Help Improving the Performance

Moreover there are certain employees who perform well with certain services, means some agents are much better on certain services and when they are assigned the same they perform well comparing to other services, some employees perform well during the busiest hours and some perform better under medium work load. Such parameters are very important to manage human resource and the business can plan a setup to ensure the highest performance of all the employees all the time. The KPIs also include the customer feedback data associated with a particular employee, which also provide more details on the subject. The business can also record the idle time and operating time during the day and can track record of such details. The KPIs monitoring is also important for optimizing the cost per service delivery. When all the employees are provided the conditions where they can perform at their best the customer journey and customer experience automatically improved. Resulting in cost optimization and more customer retention.

Business Intelligence and Reports Help Making Profitable Policies

Business Intelligence and Reports Help Making Profitable Policies

Another remarkable feature of the queue management system is the in-built data analytical and statistical engine that captures extremely useful data and stats. The queue management system can capture the various parameters and aspects of the entire customer journey such as number of daily customers, busy hours, busy days, etc. It also captures average service time for each service, the customer journey duration for different categories of the customers, such as regular or ordinary customers, VIP customers, or the customers with special needs and so on. It can capture the system usage information as well. The employee performance and KPIs are also included in the business intelligence and reporting to make the data more accurate and comprehensive. The customer feedbacks and data from other systems and business tools can also be included in these reports. Collectively the data is processed through the in-built smart algorithms and then several reports are compiled.

The major category of the reports are comprehensive or detailed reports, summary reports, trend reports and corporate or executive reports. These reports are designed for different levels of the management and are very helpful in analyzing the entire operation. On the bases of these reports and data the management can make more informed decisions and set up strategies to improve operational capabilities and efficiency, which directly impact the profitability and growth.

Read this: Why Performance Management System is a Necessity for Companies in Dubai

Conclusion

The year 2021 come with completely new challenges and business in Dubai and all around the UAE are eagerly seeking methods and tools to deal with the situation. The very top priority is to maximize the customer journey and customer experience to increase the customer retention which is considered to be the guarantee for the steady growth and profitability. Studies have shown that it is almost 9 to 12 times more expensive to get a new customer than retaining an existing customer and generating repeated business from them. This means the loyal customers can act as a strong foundation at which a business can aim for the growth and progress. Businesses are investing a lot in customer satisfaction solution, a queue management system is a complete tool to manage and monitor the entire customer journey and all its relevant factors. A queue management system can completely transform the customer journey by automating the customer flow and improving a lot of business processes that further accelerate the customer journey and ensure least possible wait time.

The wait time is the most influential factor in customer satisfaction and customer happiness, a queue management system can significantly reduce the wait time and it is also very capable of improving the wait time experience and maintain customer engagement. It also improves employee efficiency and other aspects of the customer journey which make customer experience better. Furthermore customer feedbacks, KPIs monitoring and business intelligence gathering makes a queue management system an ultimate tool to optimize the customer journey. The business can assess each and every aspect of the customer journey and then make informed decisions and strategies to improve them. The virtual queuing and smartphone applications further improve the customer experience, ensure social distancing and more control over the customer flow management and improve service delivery time and quality. A queue management system is the most cost-efficient and effective tool to transform customer journey and improve business growth rate. RSI Concepts is a leading queue management system provider in Dubai, we are providing a complete range of customer satisfaction solutions and monitoring tools. Feel free to reach us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this blog: 2021 Digital Branch Transformation Trends


2021 Digital Branch Transformation Trends

2021 Digital Branch Transformation Trends

The 2021 is the year of change and transformation in Dubai and all around the UAE, especially how the digital and online solutions got integrated within our daily lives, it have completely changed the expectations and behavior of the customers. Earlier people were not so adoptive towards the high-tech solutions, rather prefer more traditional approaches and methodologies. Now a days, everyone is familiar with the usefulness and convenience of the digital solutions. The marketers and the administrations are also embracing digital and high-tech solutions knowing that it could provide a great competitive edge in customer journey transformation and customer happiness. The COVID situation and the past experience in 2020 have given the rise to the contactless payment, self-service and social distancing. Especially the banks and other customer service sectors are already trying to keep up with this new trend. Apart from the contactless payment, the entire branch experience and customer’s expectations are driving the innovation and technological solutions to the next level.

Earlier businesses were afraid that the very advanced digital solutions might not gain popularity among the general consumers, however in 2021 the digital branch transformation have reached to a new level. The customer experience, customer behavior and operational efficiency are the most influential factors on the digital transformation. The businesses are seeking methods and ways to preserve precious customers and improve customer retention while also trying to reduce expenses to ensure higher profitability and revenue generation. Here are some of the 2021 trends for digital branch transformation in Dubai, UAE:

Digitalization and Automation of Customer Experience

Digitalization and Automation of Customer Experience

As the 2020 situation was totally unprecedented, which suddenly halted a lot of business operations. However, the banking sector and the customer service industry was quicker to adopt to the digital solutions to aid the social distancing and closure of the branches. The smartphone applications and the digital service through online gain popularity. Customer feel more comfortable using the digital platforms to avail a service. After that, now when the businesses have resumed all over the world, here in Dubai and all other emirates of UAE the customer behavior have completely changed, the customer experience and customer journey are setting up new trends. Business have to change their practices, processes and methods at a very higher pace in order to meet the demand and expectations of the customers. It doesn’t mean that all older queue management systems and other customer satisfactions solutions have become irrelevant or useless. But the point is that the customers are expecting and hoping to see a digital and automated kind of business processes and customer journey.

Minimizing the Gap between Customer’s Expectation and Your Capabilities

Minimizing the Gap between Customer’s Expectation and Your Capabilities

Since the customer’s expectation and market trends have been changed, the business need to focus on smart solutions and methods which can reduce the gap between the customer’s expectations and your capabilities. It is crucial to keep this gap at the lowest, else the customer will switch to another brand. The UAE is a very large market with too many businesses are operating and more are joining the market on the daily bases which raise the level of competition. Customers have too many options, and due to the impact of the pandemic and the new methods and processes to handle that impact the customers are already concerned, and it is an estimation that 8 out of 10 customers are willing to switch if their current service provider failed to meet their expectations and needs. Here are some of the well-renowned gaps between customer’s expectations and a business’s operational capabilities:

  1. Cultural Gap: This gap is common when the top level management is not customer centric, the organizational culture and tradition flows from top to bottom. In such scenarios the staff won’t be able to satisfy the customers.
  2. Value Gap: The gap between the actual quality and features of products and services and the expectations and needs of the customers is known as value gap. This gap is very common where the communication is not so strong and business is not getting customer feedbacks.
  3. Emotional Gap: When the communication gap is too much or the marketing and communication efforts are not in the right direction the, feedback is not taken the customer complaints are not solved the customers feel emotionally distant from the brand and think the business doesn’t care about them much.
  4. Marketing Gap: When a business markets and advertise its products and service with overpromising content and the actual products and services doesn’t meet the expectation the customers, the customer feel disappointment and eventually switch to the other brands.

These are just a few example, there are so many other things that can cause your customers to switch. The important thing is to understand what your customers think about your business, what their needs are and what their expectations are, then make plans and strategies to improve everything for your customers. It is important to understand your capabilities and limitations too, for example, if you want to compete and you must have to keep the cost to a certain level then the strategy should have to be made in a way that your products and services can offer at least the most anticipated features. This way any such gap can be reduced to improve the trust and brand impression. This will significantly improve the overall efficiency and operational capabilities of the branch.

Going Contactless and Rise of Virtual Queuing

Going Contactless and Rise of Virtual Queuing

Not only in Dubai, UAE but all over the world business have witnessed that the branches who are offering contactless and virtual queuing are attracting more customers than the regular branches. The customer behavior, market trends and the customer’s expectations have completely transformed the business practices, methodologies and in some cases the entire customer journey has completely changed. Going contactless, digitalization and automation have become the new norm. All sorts and types of businesses are preferring contactless operations, the eCommerce are emphasizing on contactless deliveries and the business are offering methods of contactless payments and all that. The QR Codes and digital interfaces are taking over the usual paperwork and much more. It is extremely crucial that a business tries to offer as many contactless services or service steps and processes as much possible. At least what touch points can be converted to contactless should be converted to contactless. Businesses should seriously think about offering less than least personal contact inside their branch.

Virtual queuing is an excellent technique to control the number of customers inside the branch. It help preventing crowd formation. The virtual queuing is also very helpful in implementing social distancing policies. The virtual queuing also enables the customers to sign-up remotely for the queue and then wait in virtual lines, without being physically present in the actual line inside the branch. The customers can sign-up from SMS, Calls, Email, Smartphone Apps, Online Portals, QR Codes and much more. This gives them a sense of trust and confidence. In addition the virtual queuing also prevent long wait time, in fact the customers can directly arrive at the counter when their ticket is called without any wait. Waiting is the most negative factor in customer experience. Less wait and quicker service delivery make customers happy and satisfied. Moreover the virtual queuing also have other benefits such as it empowers the staff and reduce their work load. It automates various process and enables a single agent/server to serve more customers in a single shift. This improve the operational capabilities and increase profitability of the entire branch.

Rise of Self-Service and Interactive Kiosks

Rise of Self-Service and Interactive Kiosks

Another excellent technique used by many businesses in Dubai and all across the UAE is offering self-service solutions and interactive kiosks. The self-service means that a customer is being provided with an automated digital system/interface which allow them to avail the service all by themselves and there is no need of any staff assistant throughout the process. The customers can reach at the self-service stations or portals and avail the service by themselves without any wait time. It enables instant service delivery with 24/7 availability. Each branch these days should have a dedicated section for the self-service customers which will not only improve the customer experience but it will also be very helpful for the staff and it will reduce their workload. Obviously not everyone is familiar or I would rather say ‘comfortable’ in operating at self-service interactive kiosk, so the regular counters will be there to serve them, this also help businesses to reduce the people in the waiting area and to implement the social distancing and other policies easily.

There are so many different types of the interactive self-service kiosks which are being used to offer a variety of services. We are using self-service kiosks since a long time and almost everyone living in Dubai or anywhere in UAE must have used one once or at least say them. For example the vending machine is a self-service kiosk, the ATM is a self-service cash counter and other such services which everyone uses on daily bases. These self-service interactive kiosks comes with a variety of hardware and software features and functionalities. Some interactive kiosks also allow customers and visitors to do the registration process from a medium size touch screen interface. Earlier the physical keyboard and track pad were used but now a days on-screen keyboard and touch panels are popular. Moreover the Emirates ID, Printer, Scanners, Passport Scanner, IRIS, Biometrics, Cash Deposit, RFID Scanner, QR Code reader, etc. and many more such devices can be integrated with the self-service interactive kiosks. All these technologies are very helpful and enables the businesses to innovate new and unique solutions for their customers.

Technologically Advanced Queue Management System

Technologically Advanced Queue Management System

A queue management system manages customer flow and is majorly responsible for the customer journey and customer experience in any branch. The queue management system is very important. As different businesses have different needs and different internal business processes and mechanisms so a queue management system must have to be efficient enough to improve all customer experiences throughout the entire customer journey. We always recommend a tailor-made solution that can efficiently boost overall productivity and profitability of the business. A queue management can have a variety of software and hardware components however we will discuss some key points that every business should consider while choosing a queuing solution for them. The very important factor that you need to consider is the type of your services. Whether a service can be delivered through a single counter or is your services or some of your services are stepped services that require your customers to get served through multiple counters for a single service deliver. These things will define the type of the queue management system.

Moreover other factors such as how many counter do you have or your policies such as priority customers, dedicated customers and such other details should be considered. The digital signage are an essential component of a queue management system however the size of the display screen and the placement should be decided strategically that at least one screen is visible from anywhere in the waiting room so that the customers don’t have to get up from their seats or get discomfort to get the view of the screen. The announcement system and the queuing information should be multi-lingual, at least Arabic and English is must to have. Then the counter plates and other signs should be included in the system as per the requirements. It is better to have remote management, virtual queuing and customer feedback modules in the queue management system. The centralized information center is must to have so the head office can manage and monitor all the connected branches. The queue management system should be able to offer flexible and easy sign-up methods such as interactive self-service kiosks, remote sign-up, virtual queuing and smartphone compatibility. Last but not least, a better queue management system should be able to collect and capture data from various touch points of the customer interaction to compile business intelligence data which can later be useful for decision making and policy making.

Collect Customer Feedback and Business Intelligence

Collect Customer Feedback and Business Intelligence

Business in Dubai and all around the UAE in fact all around the world often overlooked the importance of customer feedback and business intelligence. However, these two are essential for evaluation and improvements. Business often spend huge amounts in customer satisfaction solutions, products/services, operational improvements, infrastructure and other solutions but how a business will know if their all efforts and investments are going in the right direction? The customer feedback and business intelligence is the only way to know that. A customer feedback is direct measurement of the customer happiness and customer satisfaction. The customer satisfaction is considered to be the direct measurement of the overall progress and development of a business. That is why collecting customer feedback and gathering business intelligence data from various touch points and KPIs (key performance indicators)are crucial to understand the impact and effectiveness of all your efforts and investments.

Moreover collecting customer feedback, gathering data and getting the indicators can’t be beneficial unless actionable reports are compiled from this data. The reports are based on the in-built system analytical engine and statistical processing, which is mandatory to have. It is extremely important that the reports and data collected from various systems and KPIs is completely in-line with the internal evaluation processes. The data has to be compiled in various reporting formats. The corporate reports should be produced for the higher management to let them take decisions and upgrade their policies. The detailed and summary reports should be produced to pinpoint the areas of improvements. The KPIs and employee performance indicators should be collected to assess the employees. The business should have to think critically when planning the reporting and business intelligence modules. That is why we always recommend customized queue management systems which are dedicatedly designed for the very specific needs of the business and are tend to be more efficient.

Conclusion

The year 2020 have completely changed the entire business landscape in the entire world. Business have recovered fairly quickly and are very eager to keep a hold on their existing customers and also attracting more customers to ensure a steady growth. In the new landscape the marketer are focusing more in communication and better customer experience. The customer journey transformation is absolutely necessary. The business will have to abide by the government policies, the regulation and social distancing laws and the safety and health of their customers and the staff is also top priority. Which is why business are seeking new methods and techniques for branch transformation. As suddenly we all went online and everyone has to interact with the digital services and business and organizations also have to switch to the digital platforms, the acceptance level of the digital and automation got very high among the general consumers. In fact people now expect some kind of digital and technology-backed interaction with their favorite brands and businesses.

The customer experience is extremely important, if your customers are satisfied they will be more loyal and if they are unhappy they will immediately switch without any second thought. The competition in the market is very high, the customers have too many options. But we also understand each business have their own limits, capabilities and a finite stream of precious resources. So we always recommend our customers and readers to think critically and try to minimize the gap between the customer’s expectations and your operational capabilities. The virtual queuing is another great tool to deal with today’s scenarios. It is absolutely necessary that you implement a queuing solution which resonate with your internal organizational structure and add value to both the customer experience and to the management and operational efficiency. The self-service counters and terminals are also a great strategy to boost customer experience. In order to evaluate all those efforts and investments and the overall efficiency and productivity of the branch the customer feedback collection and business intelligence is a mandatory feature for any branch transformation tool. Businesses are reporting huge gains from the policies and strategies made on the bases of business intelligence data. RSI Concepts is a leading name in Dubai, UAE in branch transformation solutions, queue management systems, customer feedback systems and other customer journey transformation tools, if you need any help feel free to reach us out through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: Why Performance Management System is a Necessity for Companies in Dubai


What to Consider When Choosing a Queue Management System

What to Consider When Choosing a Queue Management System

Embracing technology and innovation is not always easy. Especially when it comes to a queue management system that is responsible for managing the customer journey and customer experience. A queue management system is also very capable of improving employee efficiency and operational capabilities, which makes it very important for any business’s success. Here in Dubai and other parts of UAE, there are so many different vendors and suppliers with a long list of customized and off-the-shelf queue management solutions, which makes it furthermore difficult for a business to decide which brand or system could meet their requirements. When installing a new queue management system there are several factors that have to be taken into account else there could be very serious losses in terms of resources and customers. Businesses and organizations have to deal with too many customers on daily basis, which requires an efficient customer flow management platform. Moreover, businesses also need data and business intelligence to make informative decisions for the future. That is why a queue management system is installed. A queue management system can assist in all these areas.

If the queue management system doesn’t have the necessary features it might not be able to improve things much, or in fact, it can worsen the customer experience and cause great troubles for the management and staff too. Customer happiness and customer satisfaction are extremely important for businesses and organizations and efficient resource management and cost optimization is also crucial. There are several factors that a business should consider while choosing a queue management system. Some of the most important factors are listed below:

1. What Types of Services You are Offering?

What Types of Services You are Offering?

That is the first and most important factor to consider while choosing a queue management system. If you are offering a single service then only a few queues will be enough and you can have as many counters as you can. But if you are offering more services then more queues are required and customer journey management is required so each customer reaches the right agent/server. Usually in Dubai and all around the UAE when a business is offering multiple services, they are having multiple counters, some are dedicated for certain services, and so on. These all details are important. There are two types of service delivery methods, the first method is the single counter method, according to this method the full-service delivery is done through a single counter. The other method is for stepped services, which means a single service delivery requires the customers to get served in two or more steps, the customer will have to visit multiple counters as per the service type to get the full-service delivery.

That is why it is important to first understand your requirements by analyzing your services and services’ types. For a stepped service a different kind of customer journey management is required for a regular service type where a full service is delivered at a single counter a different kind of customer journey management is required and so on and so forth.

A Great Customer Experience is Must

A Great Customer Experience is Must

The primary reason for installing a queue management system is to improve the customer journey and customer satisfaction. A queue management system should be able to add value at all touchpoints of the customer journey. Here the important thing which most of the businesses in Dubai overlooked is to understand the importance of pre-queue and post-queue customer experiences. The customer interaction starts before even arriving at the branch. Even the traffic on the way, the difficulty in the parking and weather too can contribute to customer experience. Although the impact of such things is indirect it directly impacts the customer’s mood, which later reflects in their behavior and experience. There are certain things that can’t be controlled, however, the pre-queue experience can be improved with the help of an appointment booking module or a smartphone application, etc. Virtual queuing is a great example of improving the pre-queue customer experience.

The virtual queuing, remote sign-ups, and appointment booking modules all are designed to improve customer experience and customer journey. The post-queue customer experience is usually asking for customer feedback or conducting a survey. Customer feedback and surveys are important and provide extremely reliable business intelligence data. Moreover, the customer feedbacks and survey builds trust and give an impression of importance and priority to the customers. Now once a customer is inside the branch and is waiting for the queue, the waiting area, the digital signage, the counter displays, the audio-visual announcements, multi-lingual queuing information and announcements, customer routing signs and various markers, and everything else that is somehow contributing to the customer flow and routing the customers will impact on the customer experience. The agent/server, the service delivery time, and the waiting time are extremely important factors to improve customer experience. A queue management system should be able to provide all possible facilities for the customers and visitors to improve their experience. Which will determine customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

In-built Virtual Queuing and Social Distancing Features

In-built Virtual Queuing and Social Distancing Features

Due to the pandemic, customer behavior and requirements have changed. Each and every business in Dubai or anywhere else in UAE must have to comply with the government policies and social distancing laws to ensure the ultimate safety and hygiene inside the premises. These days’ businesses are eagerly seeking methods and ways to gain the trust of their customers and visitors. Virtual queuing is gaining popularity due to social distancing and COVID-related concerns. The virtual queuing allows the customers to sign-up for the queue remotely. It means a customer or visitor can sign-up for the queue without being physically arriving at the branch, and they can also virtually wait in the waiting lines. This way the customers and visitors are free to wait outside or in the parking lot or at home and only arrive when their number comes.

There are different methods to enable remote sign-ups and virtual queuing such as calls, SMS, email, online customer portals, websites, smartphone applications, etc. The remote sign-up issues a digital token number. The customer can wait outside while being present in the virtual waiting line. When their call has been made they can directly reach to the counter and get the service done. The customers don’t have to wait in the waiting area neither they would have to stand in physical queues. Virtual queuing is very helpful for maintaining social distancing as well. The queue management system should be able to manage the number of customers as per the company policy and capacity. The QR Code is also utilized for virtual queuing and social distancing, the customers can scan a QR Code which is placed strategically either at the entrances or any such place, the customers can scan the QR Code and a digital token number has been issued. The customers can wait outside and when their turn came they can come inside and wait or get served immediately as per the company policy.

Customization, Scalability and System Integration

Customization, Scalability and System Integration

Any good quality queue management system must have the ability to scale easily in the future. As the customers’ demands, expectations, and market trends are ever-changing, it is wise to have a system that can evolve with the evolving needs. Most of the queuing solutions are customizable, however certain limitations are there which are either due to the technology used to build those systems or either could be due to the sales policies of the vendor. Whatever the reason is if any such limitation is there it will be harder and very expensive to update, modify or change any such queue management system. It is important that the queue management system supports and aids the relevant business processes and IT infrastructure. Customization and scalability are also very important as businesses are expanding and adding new branches all the time, so the queue management system should be able to be supportive for expansion. Sometimes such expansions also require certain changes in features or functionalities of the queue management system which could be very costly, so it is important that the queuing solution you are choosing is already ready to support the expansion, this will save you a lot of time, hustle and cost.

Another very useful feature of any IT solution is its capability and compatibility to other solutions and systems this is often referred to as ‘system integration’. Usually, the businesses are using multiple systems and want to integrate them with each other for certain reasons. Such system integration not only makes the management process simpler but it provides more room for innovation, automation and results in ultimate efficiency. Usually, businesses and organizations are interested in the system stats, reporting, customer feedback, loyalty program, KPIs (key performance indicators), reporting, and customer data integration. All these are not necessary but important. The important thing is that the queue management system you chose should be able to support such types of data sharing & synchronizations. System integration can boost the efficiency of the queue management system and the overall operations.

Reporting and Business Intelligence

Reporting and Business Intelligence

A queue management system is a customer journey transformation tool. It can capture data from various important touchpoints and also other relevant data. Which could be a great help for the businesses. The businesses can easily track records of the busy hours, days and weeks or any such detail. The queue management system can also track the record of wait time which is extremely important for customer experience and customer satisfaction. The time required by various steps of the customer journey can be measured. The queue management system can also measure various KPIs (key performance indicators) which are related to customer flow, agent/server’s performance, and much more. These details are very helpful for the business to understand the performance of their business practices and methods. The business can also easily evaluate and measure the performance of the employees and agents. These details are very helpful for businesses to make future strategies and help them easily identify the areas of improvement.

The queue management system can also collect customer feedback directly from the customers. The customer surveys, happiness meters, and NPS or net promoter score are a great measure of the overall performance of the entire queuing process. Businesses can also collect feedback about the behavior of the agents, facility, products, and services, and much more using the queue management system’s in-built customer feedback module. The reporting should be compiled in a dedicated administrative dashboard with the capabilities to link them to other systems and solutions to streamline the data. Moreover, a good queue management system must have in-built data analytical and statistical engine which should be able to process the raw data into well-prepared compiled reports. These reports should offer different formats such as detailed reports, summary reports or trend reports, and so on. These formats are very helpful for various levels of the management and the policymaker or strategy builder can utilize any convenient type of report while making decisions and making policies.

Real-time Updates and Remote Management

Real-time Updates and Remote Management

Mostly the business in Dubai and all around the UAE have various branches and the upper-level management resides in the head office or headquarter. This raises a need for real-time monitoring and remote management of the system. Any good queue management system must have remote management and real-time update capabilities. The real-time updates enable the head office to view all the connected branches live and they can access the queuing data in real-time. All the data is stored at a centralized database which is either residing inside the central database of the business or hosted on a cloud. This enables the higher management to monitor all the branches in real-time which makes the management very easy and convenient. Remote management enables the head office to push company policies instantly on all branches or selective branches and it also provides the ultimate control over all the connected branches.

The queue management system must have dedicated dashboards such as the customer interface, where the customers interact with the queue management system, the agent’s dashboard where the agents interacts with the system, and the administrative dashboard where the branch managers or top management interacts with the system. This requires a proper workflow and user authentication mechanism which authenticate each user and provide them with the level of control they are entitled to. The user authentication and access control also make the system more secure and error-proof.

Conclusion

A queue management system is a necessity these days for business. Especially in the service-based industries where the business is dealing with daily footfall. There are certain features of trait of a good queue management system that are must have when implementing a new queue management system. For example, the first and most important thing is that the queue management system should be able to improve the service delivery process and customer experience. We always recommend our customers a tailor-made queue management system as it provides more flexibility and control over the business processes and doesn’t require or push any change for the existing business processes and internal infrastructure. Moreover, a good queue management system should be able to scale and upgrade easily and should have support for future expansions.

Usually, the business has a main head office and several regional offices or branches a good queue management system should be able to provide the head office facility to get real-time updates from all the connected branches and also the remote management, which enables the businesses to push company policies instantly to all branches and make the management and control easier. The reporting and business intelligence collection are vital for doing improvements and identifying the areas of improvement. These features not only transform customer journey and customer experience but also help businesses to improve the overall operational efficiency and help increasing revenue and profitability. RSI Concepts is a leading queue management system provider in Dubai, UAE. If you want to install a new queue management system or want to upgrade your existing queuing solutions feel free to reach us out through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

Check out this: 5 Signs Your Business Requires a Queue Management System


Why Performance Management System is a Necessity for Companies in Dubai

Why Performance Management System is a Necessity for Companies in Dubai

The performance management system is absolutely necessary for businesses, enterprises and companies in Dubai, UAE. We all are aware that the economy is restoring from the pandemic, the market is getting competitive, the market trends and customer behavior got changed. Huge changes have to be made in business processes and practices to compete in the new environment. This is what makes employee performance more critically important for your growth. In Dubai and all around the UAE the economy is growing on a very fast pace, new competitors are popping up every day. The country is a major market in the entire MENA region and also in the Central Asia. Competition always raise the quality and standards. The customers and more aware and more demanding than anywhere else, which is why it is crucial for a business that their employees and the entire infrastructure works perfectly to sustain growth. The customer experience, customer satisfaction and customer retention all directly impacted by the employee performance. The quality of product and services doesn’t only rely on the infrastructure and high-tech machinery, in fact the employees who are operating and utilizing those should also have to perform good to ensure the ultimate quality of products and services.

Check Out: Why Organizations need Performance Appraisal System in UAE

A performance management system is a systematic framework for continuous performance measurement, which is achieved by allocating the manpower, resources and setting up priorities which are aligned with the goals and objectives of the company. It is a great help and support for the HR department as well. The HR department can easily track KPIs (key performance indicators) and carry out behavioral assessment for the employees to not only identify the areas of improvement but to also help employee development. A performance management system encourages the employees to perform well and increase their potential, work quality and competitiveness which results in good quality work and better performance. Mostly the business owner, higher management and the HR managers are heavily relying on the performance management system to increase and ensure profitability and growth.

Here are some reasons that why a performance management system is a necessity for companies in Dubai, UAE:

Performance Management System’s Benefits for the Company

Performance Management System’s Benefits for the Company

The companies and organizations can have so many competitive advantages by implementing an efficient performance management systems. The biggest advantage is that the companies and organizations can easily monitor and improve the performance of different departments. The overall performance of the department is dependent on the individual performance of all the entities that are making that particular department, now in some scenarios some entities may overlap other departments too in such case their overall performance and contribution to each department should be analyzed and then the decisions should be taken to improve the performance by keeping in mind the effects of those decisions on the other departments too. An effective performance management system helps companies and organizations to efficiently manage resources to maximize the output. This increase the profitability of the business and help in maintaining and attaining growth.

Companies and businesses can easily monitor and track the performance of various departments, teams and individual, this help them assessing various levels of the organization. This analysis is also very helpful in making decisions and planning to allocate resources and align key players with the organizational goals and objectives. The data captured through a performance management system can provide precise and very accurate analysis of gaps and deficiencies in the departments, teams and individual employees. The business/company can easily make policies and assign resources to fill these gaps to maximize the productivity and profitability. This is a great help for resource management and cost cut. Once the company evaluate all the resources in hand and knows their capabilities then it can easily assign appropriate and adequate resources for a particular task or objective, this way businesses can achieve more by investing less resources.

If the company is able to allocate and manage resources with maximum efficiency this will impact the overall performance and progress of the organizations. For example the production team can perform well and ensure highest quality of the products. The customer service department can promise higher customer happiness and satisfaction, which consequently leads to higher customer retention and loyalty. The loyal customers help business to grow further with less efforts by advocating the brand and by promoting a positive brand image. The brand identity plays an important role in growth and profitability. Collectively all these efforts will result in higher customer loyalty and higher conversion rates, which will definitely help sustaining a continuous growth. Effective resource management ensures efficiency which reduce the cost and increase the quality which results in higher profitability.

Performance Management System’s Benefits for the Management

Performance Management System’s Benefits for the Management

The biggest hurdle any executive level and lower level management reports is the communication barriers, poorly performing accountability methods, poor resource allocation and inefficiency costing management. A performance management system can help in tackling all these problems. It is always hard for the managers to communicate the assessment criteria and protocols to the employees and on the other hand the employee also report that they don’t understand the appraisals very well. However with a performance management system the employees can easily understand and view the criteria and methods for the assessment, which encourages them to work in the right directions to boost their performance. The employees can also track their own performance continuously and also on regular intervals, this is also very helpful in raising their morals and boosting their efficiency. As the performance management system capture data from various touch points and can have so many different types of indicators which are all automatically analyzed by the system so the accountability methods become more accurate and efficient.One of the primary task of any performance management system is to accurately assess and judge the employees to identify their weaknesses and strengths. If an employee is performing well when he was working on a particular work station or in a particular team or unit, then that means they are the right fit for that particular gig.

For example if an employee perform very well while assembling electrical panels for transformers when assigned within a particular team and the same employee perform poorly when assigned to assemble the electrical panels for the generators with the same team, that mean that particular employee’s strength is working at transformer’s electrical panels. That kind of comparisons are very helpful in evaluating the employees and improving their performance. This also highlight that the employee might require more training for the generator’s electrical panels. When an employee is assigned for a job they are good at, they will do more work and their work quality will be better. However, if an employee is assigned a tasks which they are not performing well whereas the same employee perform better on other assignments, that means if the employee will be assigned to the work they are not good at, the work quality will be decreased and the business might have to assign more personals to finish the job in timely manners. This is how a performance management system can be very helpful in reducing the cost and improving efficiency.

Moreover if the employee perform well they will not only reduce the cost by their increased efficiency but in fact they will also produce quality work, your customer service will get better and much more. These things directly impact the customer experience and customer satisfaction. Happy and satisfied customers are tend to be more loyal towards the brand, and they also help promoting a positive brand identity. A positive image in the market attracts more customers and help business grow exponentially. Similarly the happy and satisfied employees tend to stick with their employer for long, the company can have a very skilled staff and employees who have sufficient experience and mastery of their respective fields. Which further empowers the business and let the company build a stable platform with higher employee retention and higher customer retention the growth could be very sustainable and long term.

Performance Management System’s Benefits for the Employees

Performance Management System’s Benefits for the Employees

 

A performance management system is very helpful and beneficial for the employee. It reduce the uncertainty and ambiguities. The communication got better with the employer, the employees can easily and clearly understand their capabilities and can also do self-assessment. The businesses can easily convey their expectations to the employees and the employee can easily compare themselves with those expectations and start trying to improve themselves to meet those expectations. The self-assessment and a clear goal has a very positive influence on the employees and it encourages them to do self-improvements and it also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the employees which is again very beneficial for the personal development of the employees. The employee can request for certain trainings or in fact the management can also arrange adequate trainings for the employees, which eventually also improve the skills and capabilities of the employees and provide them an environment where they can grow too.

Another great advantage of the performance management system is that it can very accurately measure the employee performance under different scenarios. For example if an employee is more productive under tough conditions or is not hardened enough. If the employee perform better with one team and perform not so good when assigned with another team and so on and so forth. Such data is very beneficial for the employees and the management too. The management can rely on this data and then they can assign the employee to the teams or environments where they perform well or they can also dig deep to understand the cause of poor performance under certain circumstances and then take actions to rectify this. The self-assessment and such details can also define a clear career path for the employees which is very beneficial for both the employees and the company too. The company can have a set of experts and qualified employees and employee will get the benefits of the training and experience which will groom them to be able to progress and grow personally.

The employee performance system also very helpful in reducing the conflicts, issues and other management related problems, for example if an employee is performing well but his team or the overall department is not doing so good, in that case that employee will have more confidence that they will be applauded for their good work and their efforts will still be recognized and acknowledged. This boosts the morale of an employee and encourage them to consistently showing good performance. As all the evaluation and judgment is done through a systematic approach so no employee will think about favoritism or discrimination and the overall work environment will get better.

Performance Management System’s Benefits for the HR Department

Performance Management System’s Benefits for the HR Department

 

The HR department can take many advantages from using a performance management system. One of the biggest advantage is that it provides very accurate and precise measurement of any employee’s capabilities and weaknesses. It motivates employees and encourage them for innovation and improvements. Most of the time the employee always have concerns about the evaluation process but with the help of a performance management system and it also enables a better communication channel as well. The HR department also got a better platform to accurately evaluate employees and on the bases of evaluation they can easily make decisions related to employee promotion, demotion, dismissal or transfer and such. This also help HR to support employees who are facing problems and improve employee trust and happiness. The HR department also have to ensure that all skilled staff and required human resource is available whenever needed. By evaluating the employees and their capabilities the HR department can easily make decisions for new recruitments and hiring.

Most of the long-term strategy planning required performance management data and inputs. The performance management system is very helpful for HR strategic planning for long-term human resource and workforce. Another great advantage to the HR is that the employee performance management system significantly enhances the employee experience, facilitate them and increase the level of their satisfaction. Once an employee is happy and satisfied with the company they will most likely remain working with the business. The employee retention will be improved. A well-trained employees and experienced workforce is a very precious asset of a business, a company can’t grow without having a reliable and efficient workforce. Employee retention also attract more talent and secure the investments of the company that the business made in regard to training and compensations for the employees.

The performance management system also help in reducing common evaluation errors. Sometimes the managers are reluctant to judge someone or hesitant while passing any negative feedback amid the consequences of their feedback on the employee. In most cases the managers do not remember the old ratings or history and their rating is based on the very recent events. There are certain scenarios where the managers or supervisors rate an employee either very good or very bad on the bases of only their high competency or incompetency in only a particular area whereas the employee is very balanced and good on so many other tasks as well. Sometimes there is negligence at the manager’s side and they failed to collect required information to rate an employee, sometimes the managers are biased and show favoritism which also reduce the accuracy of their feedback. With the help of the performance management system the HR department can easily identify such problems and take actions or plan training for the raters to improve their overall appraisal capabilities.

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Conclusion

A performance management system is a necessity for companies in Dubai and all across the UAE. It is extremely important for a business to utilize their resources at maximum potential either human resource or otherwise. The performance management system not only measure the KPIs and performances of the individual employees, but it can evaluate and assess the individuals, teams, departments, business units and multiple level of hierarches. The business can gain a huge competitive advantage by simply utilizing the resources in hand with efficiency. There are certain factors that results in under-utilization or mismanagement of the resources. All such factors can easily be identified and rectified using a performance management system. The performance management system help business and management in improving communication, building trust and accurately evaluating the capabilities of the employees. The HR department can easily identify the strengths and weaknesses of the employees and take actions to make sure the company always have a skilled and professional workforce.

The performance management system also help the employees to communicate better with the employer, they can also evaluate themselves and there are so many other factors that encourages the employees to do self-assessments and improve themselves to support the organizational goals and objectives. The employee can set their personal goals which synchronize with the organizational goals and the management can evaluate each resource to determine whether it is in-line with the organizational goals or not. This way businesses can improve their profitability and efficiency. RSI Concepts is a leading Performance Management System providers in Dubai, UAE. If you need a performance management system or seeking a customized performance management system for your specific needs, feel free to get in touch with us. You can reach us through our Contact Us page.

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