Managing queues and crowd control is not only herding customers and visitors from the entrances and placing them in waiting lines, it is far complicated than that. The crowd and queue management is crucial to ensure a smooth customer flow which have huge impact on customer experience and customer journey. For businesses customer journey and satisfied customer experience is a key to success. However, there is no prefix or how-to-guide for effectively managing the queues and crowds. That is why we are writing this blog to provide our audience a better understanding of the matter. Various businesses need queue management and crowd control especially services based sectors and the event organizer companies require a proactive approach for queue management and crowd control. For every business the queue management and crowd management is slightly different however the basic principles are the same.
No matter what business sector you belongs to, the most important thing for any business to understand is that the slower customer flow and long waiting time just not only harm your service quality but it results in a huge loss in sales and revenue as well. In long term it have even more serious impact which is at the brand reputation and credibility. Once people start getting bad experience from a brand, they tend to talk about it, whether it is with coworkers or family or even social media platform, people tend to express their feelings and bad experiences which could be very dangerous for the brand reputation. A negative brand identity not only make new customer acquisition harder and expensive but it also repel your existing customers and reduce customer retention. That is why it is extremely important for businesses to manage their queues effectively and have a proper crowd management and prevention strategy in place to avoid such scenarios.
What is Queue Management and Crowd Control?
The queue management is managing the customer flow to ensure a smooth customer journey. The queue management helps improving the customer waiting experience by effectively optimizing the customer flow throughout the customer journey. The old manually managed waiting line methods are obsolete and replaced with more sophisticated digital queue management systems. A queue management system consists of different software and hardware components that help businesses effectively managing the customer flow and enable them to improve the customer experience and customer journey. The term crowd control is self-explanatory, it means management of the crowd at any waiting area or venue where the business needs to serve its customers in any way. If the queues are not managed properly the crowd formation is inevitable. When the queue management and customer flow is well-managed the chances of crowd formation are slim to none, however, in some cases due to some unexpected events or disruptions a businesses could still face situations where crowd is formed. In such scenarios a business must have a crowd control policy as well. Which can also be implemented by the digital queue management system now a days.
What is Queuing Theory?
The queuing theory is basically a mathematical presentation of how the queues and waiting lines are formed and how they naturally function and why and how they malfunction. As the queuing theory is a mathematical understanding of the queues, it measures and analyze all elements of the queue management and customer flow. Basically the theory was first developed for the purpose of learning about the computer systems and the data communication between those systems. However, later the theory was also applied to the actual customer queues instead of data packet. The queuing theory has a lot many other real-life applications. For the queue management systems and crowd control the queuing theory majorly measures and analyze the customer flow, waiting lines or queues, the method or mode of arrivals, the types and number of services, the service processes, number of counters/servers, and the number of customers. The primary objective of queuing theory is to understand and determine the causes of congestions, delays and the crowd formation at the waiting areas. Businesses implement queuing theory to achieve a balance between the queue management efficiency and cost.
What is Queue Management System?
A queue management system is a tool consists ofseveral software and hardware components which are used to improve customer flow, customer waiting experience and customer journey by optimizing efficiency and introducing automation to various internal business processes. The queue management system improve customer experience by managing customer journey and improving the operational performance. This is achieved with the help of various tools which automate various touch points and reduce human efforts to maximize the efficiency of the system and the staff which results in quicker and better service delivery. A queue management system is a very effective tool for crowd prevention and management as well. Basically the prime objective is to keep your customers happy, and a queue management system is a perfect solution to improve customer experience at all steps of customer journey. Another great ability of a digital queue management system is that it can collect valuable business intelligence data which help businesses in making informed decisions and do improvements in their current strategy and policy to further improve customer happiness and customer retention.
What are Different Types of a Queue Management System?
That is the most obvious question a business faces when they decide to acquire a queue management system. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE there are so many different service providers and vendors who are advertising a lot many different queue management systems and solutions. Which could get confusing for a lot of the businesses. You might find a variety of different types of queue management systems in the market such as:
- Queue Management System for Banks
- Bank Branch Transformation Tools
- Queue Management System for Hospitals, Pharmacies and Healthcare
- Queue Management System for Restaurants
- Queue Management System for Government Offices
- Queue Management System for Students/Collage/University
- HR Queue Management System
- Virtual Queue Management System
- Retail Queue Management System
And a bunch of more. That is why it become a very challenging tasks to decide which queue management system will be suitable for you. Regardless of industry or application, all queue management systems work on same basic principles. That is why you shouldn’t have to worry about different types. If you need a queue management system for your business the best solution is to acquire a customized solution from a well-reputed queue management system provider in Dubai, UAE such as RSI Concepts. The tailor-made queuing solution tends to perform many time better than ready-made/off-the-shelf solutions.
A queue management system majorly consists of two distinct types of components one is software and the second is hardware. The queue management system software have further more components or modules and similarly the hardware also have more modules. All different types of the queue management systems can be classified on the bases of components they are using or their application for a specific industry. However, the best is to utilize as many components as you can to facilitate each and every step of the customer journey. Here are some examples of different modules of queue management systems:
Queue Management System Software
Basic QMS Software Modules
- Server Software Application
- Back-office or Administrative Control Panel
- Agent Dashboard
- Customer UI (For signup or ticket dispensing kiosk)
- Reporting Module
Advanced QMS Software Modules
- Virtual Queuing
- Online Appointment Booking Module
- Queue Management System Smartphone Application
- Integrated Notification and Alerts Module
- Separate Head Office and Branch Manager Dashboards
- WhatsApp Enabled Queuing
- QR Code based Queuing
- Customer Feedback and Survey Collection Module
- Performance Monitoring and KPIs
- Business Intelligence Collection Module
- Comprehensive Reporting and In-built Analytical Tools
- Report and Alerts Automation Module
- Mobile Sign-up Function
- Third-party System Integration
Queue Management System Hardware
Basic QMS Hardware Modules
- Interactive Self-Service Ticket Dispensing Kiosk
- Digital Signage Displays
- Counter Displays
- Smart Media Players & Drivers
- Audio Announcement System
- Customer Calling Unit (These days agent dashboard is used more often for this function)
Advanced QMS Hardware Modules
- Emirates ID (EID) Reader
- Passport Scanner
- Boarding Pass Scanner
- Barcode/QR Code Scanner
- RFID Reader
- Biometrics Scanner
- Document Scanner
- Payment Gateway and POS Integration
- Cash Deposit and Coin Acceptors
- Customer Feedback Touch Screens/Tablets Integration
- IP Camera and Intercom Integration
These all are most widely used components and modules. Obviously everyone doesn’t require all of them but businesses should offer as many features as necessary to make process simpler and convenient for the customers. These components also help optimizing various customer journey steps and reduce the overall service delivery time. Which not only help improving customer experience but also reduce the workload of the staff and service agents and results in a significant improvement in employee performance.
How Queue Management System Helps in Crowd Control and Crowd Prevention?
A queue management system enables businesses to automate queuing process and various other business processes. This expedite the customer flow and reduce customer wait time. The sign-up for the queue is completely automatic either by the interactive self-service ticket dispensing kiosk or by several other regular and remote channels. Furthermore there is no problem that staff usually faced with manual queuing, which reduce the workload of the staff as well. The queue management system is capable of automatic customer flow management as well. Usually at any service center or business there are several counters, some could be exclusive for some services, some could be for VIP or Premium customers, and some could be for other priority needs and so on. A queue management system can automatically understand all these different customer routes on the bases of customer needs and customer priorities. Hence the customer flow is fully automatic.
This not only eliminates confusion but it also frees the staff to focus more on their primary tasks.Which in result improves staff performance and further speed up the service delivery process. The queue management system helps reducing the average wait time and average service delivery time which means a single service agent can serve more customers in a shift. Hence the chances of crowd formation can be further reduced. With a good quality queue management system the chances of crowd formation are very less even then if any situation arises where a crowd is formed the queue management system can be very helpful in controlling the crowd and expediting the service delivery by automatically managing customer flow and customer routing. The queue management system also have ability to monitor the queuing process in real-time and it can also record analytical and monitoring data in its server which enables it to take decisions in real-time and increase its crowd management and control efficiency.
The smart algorithms of the queue management system can do heavy lifting in the crowd management. However, businesses can also install extra measures to get more control over customer flow during the crowded situation. For example, the stanchions, floor stickers, wall-mount and floor-standing signs, belt barriers, chain posts, rope barriers, etc. The queue management system can be used to automatically route customers through these paths and direct them to the right service counter without any delay. This helps management to reduce crowd quickly and provide them more control and visibility during such events.
Key Benefits of a Queue Management System
A queue management system is a great tool to improve customer experience and customer journey. These days in Dubai and all around the UAE the queue management system have become an essential for the service based industries. A queue management system not only help improving customer satisfaction but it is also very capable of monitoring each and every touch point throughout the customer journey along with ability to gather employee performance data and various KPIs. A good queuing system such as RSI Queue Management System offers in-built data collection and analysis tools. Which can provide you a great competitive edge. Businesses can also monitor the branch performance remotely from the head-office in real-time. A customized queue management system can be customized to meet the needs of the business and it can help them improving the entire customer journey and also the employee performance which assures higher productivity, performance and profitability.
Here are some key benefits of using a good quality queue management system:
- Reduce Customer Wait Time
- Improve Customer Waiting Experience
- Automate Various Customer Journey Processes
- Integrate Queue Management System with Third-Party Systems
- The Real-time Data Synchronization and Integration Improve Management and Control
- Collect valuable Business Intelligence Data
- Monitor and Measure Employee Performance with High Accuracy
- Automatically Feed Statistical and Analytical Data to Relevant Departments/Personals
- Comprehensive Reporting Module
- Simpler Third-party System Integration
- Easy to Commission, Low Operational and Maintenance Cost
- Long Lifecycle with Ability to Scale and Evolve over the Time
- Widely Available Hardware and Software Modules
These are some of the key benefits of a queue management system. A business can leverage queue management system to improve its various internal processes. The business intelligence data and ability to collect customer feedback further provide a highly accurate and valuable insight to the customers’ mindset and help businesses understand them more effectively. Which help businesses to keep improving their internal processes to enhance customer experience which help businesses in gaining customer trust and loyalty.
Conclusion
For any business in Dubai or anywhere else in UAE the queue management system has become an essential. The UAE is a very rapidly growing economy, the markets are very vibrant, the competition is high and the customers are savvy. In such scenarios the customer satisfaction has become fairly difficult. However, businesses should realize that these days’ the customers not only evaluate a brand on the bases of their products/services but they weight experience almost equal to the quality of the products and services. That is why the queue management is used to improve customers’ experience and customer journey. The biggest challenge for any business is to reduce the customer wait time and quickly deliver the service. That is why it is crucial for businesses to have adequate understanding of the concept of queue management and crowd control. The purpose of this blog was to provide our audience and customers a brief overview of the subject. If you want to learn more or if you want us to help you with your queuing needs, please feel free to 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.
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