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Queue Analytics: Leveraging Data for Smoother Operations

In customer service sector the operational efficiency and performance is crucial for long-term business success. The customer satisfaction is the top priority of every business whether it is a bank, hospital, real-estate management firm, educational institute, public office or government agency. Therefore such businesses and organizations tend to implement digital queue management system to streamline their customer flow. A digital queue management system has become integral part of modern customer journey management practices. It streamlines customer flow, automate vital processes, reduce customer wait time and improve staff performance. All these factors contribute to customer satisfaction giving businesses great competitive advantage and helping them to build their brand reputation.

When it comes to queue management system, there are several different types of modern queue management solutions. Some businesses require virtual queuing, some need appointment booking or mobile app integration and so on. However, one thing is common among all types of digital queue management systems and that is their remarkable ability to collect valuable analytical data and insights. This insight is extremely effective in decision making and resource planning processes. And these two processes have direct impact on operational efficiency and performance which is deeply connected to customer satisfaction. In this blog we will discuss how businesses can leverage queue management system’s analytical data to enhance operations and drive performance.

See Also: What is Queue Management? Beginner’s Guide to Queuing Systems

Queue Analytics: Leveraging Data for Smoother Operations
Queue Analytics: Leveraging Data for Smoother Operations

What Type of Analytical Data a Queue Management System can Collect?

A queue management system is a very powerful tool, it consists of an AI-driven software solution and supportive hardware devices. The software collects and monitor analytical data from all touch points which is later converted into actionable insights. These insights help businesses improve customer flow, reduce customer wait time, boost staff performance and enhance overall operations. Here are some key analytical data types that can be collected by a digital queue management system:

See Also: Why do you need a queue management system?

Customer Flow Data

  1. Arrival Rate: The number of customers or footfall at a customer service center during a pre-defined time period. Usually it is on hourly, daily, weekly and in some cases monthly bases. This help planning resource and identifying peak hours. It also help forecast and predictive analysis.
  2. Service Time: The amount of time each customer had to spend to get the service is called service time. This information is very helpful in identifying the flaws in internal processes, workflows and various customer journey steps.
  3. Customer Wait Time: This is often confused with service time but the customer wait time is the time a customer spends in the queues form signing up to reaching to the service counter. This time is crucial in customer experience management.
  4. Queue Length: Whether physical or virtual queues, the queue length is crucial. It is the measurement of the number of customer in any queue at any given point of time. This help businesses improving customer flow and monitored in real-time.

See Also: The Concept of Queue Management and Crowd Control

What Type of Analytical Data a Queue Management System can Collect?
What Type of Analytical Data a Queue Management System can Collect?

Customer Demographic and Behavior

  1. Customer Profiling: The customer profiling is collecting demographic data about customer such as their age, gender, and location. This data is often collected during onboarding or through loyalty programs. The queue management system linked it to a customer interaction.
  2. Customer Journey: The customer journey starts from the point a customer enters in a queue and it last up till customer gets the service and left. The queue management system records customer interaction at all touch points and generate actionable insights form this data.
  3. Repeat Visits: This is very important data, it help businesses understand which customers are visiting service points more often, what were the nature and reasons of their visits and the relevant data about their interaction. It helps improving customer experience and journey.

See Also: What are the Basic Components of Queue Management System?

Customer Demographic and Behavior
Customer Demographic and Behavior

Service Performance Analysis

  1. SLA Compliance: The SLA or Service Level Agreement compliance indicates if the customers are served within the maximum allowed service time, wait time and time to resolution. This help understanding the compliance with the pre-defined SLA standards and it help businesses maintain optimum levels of customer experience and satisfaction.
  2. Resource Utilization: The resource utilization is a comprehensive analysis which includes multiple metrics and help businesses understand if the resources in hand were utilized with optimum efficiency. It also help identifying the overstaffing, understaffing and idle time. This data helps in strategic decision making and improving overall operational efficiency.
  3. Staff Performance: A queue management system can record several staff KPIs (key performance indicators) such as number of customer served, average service time for individual services, idle/off time or breaks and customer feedbacks. These metrics help businesses identify training needs and improve training and reward programs.

See Also: What are the Different Types of Queue Management System?

Service Performance Analysis
Service Performance Analysis

Predictive Analysis and Forecast

  1. Demand Forecasting: The queue management system can analyze historical data and identify patterns which help businesses accurately forecast customer flow at any day or time. This information is extremely crucial in resource planning.
  2. Wait Time Prediction: The queue management system can provide accurate measurement of expected wait time based on the current queue length, service delivery time, and available staff’s strength. The wait time prediction is important for customer experience and it can be provided to customer via signage, and other channels to set realistic expectations.
  3. Staff Performance Prediction: That is a bit complex metric, it consider the overall staff performance and their efficiency in individual service delivery along with historical data and demand forecast the queue management system can predict performance of available staff at any date or time which is important in human resource planning.

See Also: What Is Virtual Queuing? A Guide to Virtual Queues

Predictive Analysis and Forecast
Predictive Analysis and Forecast

Customer Feedback Data

  1. Post-Service Surveys: The queue management system can be integrated with customer feedback and survey system. Usually businesses use countertop interactive displays, QR Codes, and emails to collect customer feedback. The queue management system can link this feedback with a specific customer interaction which improves insights and analysis.
  2. Net Promoter Score (NPS): The Net Promoter Score or NPS is the single most effective metric to analyze the success of any business or organization. This is a simple and quick method to collect customer feedback. Queue management system can collect this feedback from interactive kiosk, countertop displays, SMS, emails, WhatsApp, etc.
  3. Customer Sentiment Analysis: The AI-powered queue management system can effectively analyze the tone, content, and context of the customer feedback or suggestion. It can also link it to a specific interaction which reflects in multiple reports, such as customer satisfaction and staff performance reports.

See Also: How to Set Up SMS based Queue Management System?

Customer Feedback Data
Customer Feedback Data

Queue System’s Operational Data

  1. System Utilization Data: This is a simple metric, it measures how effectively a queue management system is being sued such as up-time, down-time, usage patterns, and any other interruption.
  2. Transaction Logs: This includes detailed log of every interaction. The queue management system records entire transaction details such as customer arrival time, wait time, service start time, service end time, and all the actions taken by the customer service agents.
  3. System Access Logs: The queue management system keeps record of all user’s all actions. Such as who signed-in, when signed-in/signed-out, what user perform what action, and other system stats which are vital for audit and security improvements.
  4. Real-Time Monitoring: The queue management system provides live queuing data to the management. The live data indicates current queue status, active services, customer flow rate, live staff performance and it also indicates trends that help management take immediate actions or make adjustments to prevent crowd formation or congestion.

See Also: Paperless Queue Management System

Queue System’s Operational Data
Queue System’s Operational Data

Customer Engagement Data

  1. Queuing Policy Analysis: The queuing policy or queuing rules are the prioritization of different customer segmentation and impact of different channels on the overall queuing dynamics. For example, number of VIP or Customers with Special Priorities signed-up, their interaction details, number of virtual queue-based and appointment-based services and their impact, etc.
  2. Queue Type Analysis: The volume of customer inflow from various queuing channels such as physical, virtual or appointment-based service requests. The queue management system also help identifying the patterns and impact of all these different queue types on overall operations.
  3. Interactive Kiosk Interactions: The queue management system provides an intuitive UI for interactive ticket dispensing kiosks. It also records how customers are interacting with these devices, what they are choosing, what information they are providing or accessing through these screens and much more.
  4. Virtual Channel Interaction: A modern queue management system captures analytical data of customer engagement through various integrated virtual channels such as Mobile Apps, Customer Portals, Appointment Booking Portals, SMS, WhatsApp, etc.

See Also: 7 Features of Queue Management Software

Customer Engagement Data
Customer Engagement Data

These are some of the most common analytical data types a modern digital queue management system captures. Furthermore businesses can also customize a queue management system to capture more data types such as in some cases businesses also require biometric authentication or self-registration which involves payment, document scanning and much more. All these data types can also be stored in the central data repository where the AI-powered smart algorithms and advanced analytical tools can help businesses generate in-depth insights and reports.

How Businesses can Leverage the Queue Management System’s Analytical Data to Achieve Superior Operational Performance?

In today’s modern and highly competitive market landscape businesses tend to rely more on data for strategic decision making and policy building processes. The term data-driven and informed decision making is not a fancy phenomenon but an absolute essential for the business success. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and broader UAE are well aware of the importance of data and its impact on performance, resource planning, cost-optimization and growth.

See Also: How Queue Management System Helps Maximizing the Efficiency?

Therefore the queue management system’s analytical data plays a pivotal role in customer service and customer experience management practices. Businesses always strive to achieve highest possible operational performance because smoother operations means satisfied customers, lower operational cost and improved brand reputation. One of the primary goals of deploying a digital queue management system is to elevate customer experience and optimize operational performance.

How Businesses can Leverage the Queue Management System’s Analytical Data to Achieve Superior Operational Performance?
How Businesses can Leverage the Queue Management System’s Analytical Data to Achieve Superior Operational Performance?

A queue management system can produce a wealth of analytical and business intelligence data which can be used to understand the customer flow, queuing process, staff performance and effectiveness of the service delivery mechanisms. The analytical data also help businesses evaluate various internal processes, workflows and strategies which is crucial to identify the strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvements. Here are some key areas which businesses can greatly improve by leveraging the analytical data generated within a queue management system for operational excellence:

See Also: How Queue Management System can Boost Productivity and Profitability?

Improve Staff and Resource Allocation

For staff and resource allocation businesses need a comprehensive understanding and information of customer flow, peak hours, peak days, different service demand at different point of time and the impact of various factors on the operational efficiency. This information and understanding ensures your branch has required staff and enough resources at any given point of time and day as per the expected demand and customer flow.

This also ensures maximum level of queuing efficiency which is a key to minimize customer wait time and maximize customer satisfaction. The real-time queuing data helps businesses to allocation resources with higher efficiency and efficacy. For example, you can assign more experienced staff to the complex services and vice versa or you can adjust the number of available service counters in real-time to deal with the incoming footfall. The analytical data also help businesses to prepare for unprecedented scenarios and conditions and enhance queuing management.

See Also: Streamlining the Waiting Experience: How Queue Management Systems Improve Patient Flow

Improve Staff and Resource Allocation
Improve Staff and Resource Allocation

Enhance Customer Experience and Raise Customer Satisfactions

The customer experience and customer satisfaction are the two most crucial and interdependent factors that differentiate a business from others. Hence offering an elevated customer experience not only raise customer satisfaction but also help elevating customer loyalty and overall brand reputation. The queue management system inherently reduce the customer wait time. It improves the service delivery mechanisms and boost staff performance which resultantly elevate customer experience.

Furthermore the queue management system increase customer engagement and help simplifying customer journey which are important to raise customer satisfactions. The queuing data, historical data, predictive analysis and staff performance insights help businesses effectively allocate resource to keep the wait time at minimum all the time. Furthermore the queue management system also has ability to identify different customer segments and profiles which is essential for delivering a personalized customer experience and it also help implementing the queuing policy effectively.

See Also: Queue Management System for Trucks and Logistic Centers

Enhance Customer Experience and Raise Customer Satisfactions
Enhance Customer Experience and Raise Customer Satisfactions

Automation and Service Efficiency Optimization

The queue management system collect service time, customer wait time and service staff performance KPIs. These insights are vital in identifying the bottlenecks in service delivery processes. By identifying the bottlenecks such as services or queues that take more time, queuing policies and rules which are effecting other queues or causing delays can help businesses identify the root cause of any problem. This also help businesses revisit their polices, strategies rules, and even businesses can make adjustments in relevant processes, workflows and service delivery mechanisms to minimize the customer wait time.

On top of that the queue management system also provides comprehensive staff performance data which help management retrain staff to improve their efficiency for services, workflows or tasks for which they are taking more time to complete. The queue management system can also help automating various processes and workflows and it is capable of integrating with other third-party systems, customer databases, and central information system. This enables a queue management system to empower service agents too through dedicated service agent dashboards.

See Also: How Queue Management System Helps to Provide Better Customer Service

Automation and Service Efficiency Optimization
Automation and Service Efficiency Optimization

Data-Driven Decision Making

Businesses can leverage the historical data and various in-built analytical tools to understand and forecast future demands. This help management make more informed and data-driven decisions for staff allocations, service delivery enhancements, service counter expansion or resource allocation and customer journey adjustments. This also increase business’s readiness to deal with unexpected scenarios and conditions and make their management more proactive and keeps them ahead of service demands customer needs and market trends.

Businesses can also leverage the analytical data for performance benchmarking. The management can easily compare the performance of different branches, locations or departments, which help management identify the most effective and efficient practices. It also help them identify the areas of improvements which is crucial for decision making. Businesses can also standardize the high-performing processes and identify under-performing or poorly performing practices and processes.

See Also: Importance of Queue Management System for Government and Public Offices

Data-Driven Decision Making
Data-Driven Decision Making

Proactive Management and Preventive Measures

Things are moving so fast at any customer service center, businesses needs a proactive management approach to deal with modern queuing challenges. Furthermore the management should have a strong and effective preventive strategy which help them prevent crowd formation, congestion, and help dealing with unexpected or disruptive situations. Businesses can utilize the predictive analysis data to identify the peak hours, expected footfall and staff performance challenges which help them prepare for the future.

For example if a surge is detected during lunch breaks or during closing hours, businesses can effectively prepare their resources to deal with both scenarios by simply extending service counters during that time. The AI-driven in-depth analysis help businesses predict and identify the disruptions, due to planned or unplanned maintenance or staff planning scenarios or any external factor. This readiness help management to take preventive approaches and neutralize any such event even before it happens.

See Also: Why Small and Local Businesses Need a Queue Management System?

Proactive Management and Preventive Measures
Proactive Management and Preventive Measures

Conclusion

Leveraging queue management system’s analytical data and business intelligence can help businesses streamline their customer flow and optimize their operational efficiency. A queue management system is a very capable and smart solution which captures tons of analytical data. This analytical data covers all ranging from customer wait time to complete interaction details and further extending to staff performance KPIs and much more.

With this crucial data in hand businesses can make informed decision which help them optimize customer journey, customer experience and staff performance. For any business analyzing their existing workflows, business processes, strategies, polices and management approach is crucial. It helps them identify the strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvement. The data-driven management approach empowered by the analytical data of a queue management system not only help businesses dealing with current challenges but it also help them anticipating future demand and condition. This is what makes queue management system more superior and impactful in raising customer satisfaction and boosting operational efficiency.

The insight generated from queue management system’s analytical data is invaluable for smoother operations. In this blog we have discussed various types of analytical data which can be collected form a digital queue management system and their impact on various operational processes, decision making and management practices. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design and implement a bespoke AI-driven cost-effective queue management system for your business or organization, please contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment section below and we will get in touch with you soon.

See Also: Pros and Cons of Queue Management System


The Role of Self-Service Kiosks in Enhancing Customer Experience

Businesses are eagerly seeking ways to enhance and elevate customer experience. The customer experience very much depends on the staff performance and operational efficiency. Therefore businesses rely on technology to achieve their goals. The interactive self-service kiosk is a cutting-edge technology which can streamline operational processes and help elevating customer experience. Within the past decade the interactive self-service kiosk has evolved and developed a lot. With adding a few simple technology devices businesses can deliver full services through intuitive self-service experience. One of the biggest advantage of interactive self-service kiosk is that it doesn’t require any staff assistance.

This not only eliminate friction from the customer journey, but the inherent automation and digitalization greatly improve internal business processes. The interactive self-service kiosks can be integrated in a wide spectrum of industries ranging from humble information kiosk to delivering sophisticated business transactions, scanning documents and making payments, etc. These advantages are making interactive self-service kiosk more appealing for businesses. The customers also appreciate getting served quickly. No one likes waiting in long queues to sing-in or to get served by the staff, instead they prefer getting self-service through these self-service kiosks. The interactive self-service kiosks are reshaping the ways businesses used to serve their customers.

As per a study published in Forbes around 73% of the customers wants to resolve their problems by themselves. This is what is fueling this trend and more businesses are opting for customized interactive self-service kiosks. In this blog we will discuss the role of interactive self-service kiosks in enhancing the customer experience.

The Role of Self-Service Kiosks in Enhancing Customer Experience
The Role of Self-Service Kiosks in Enhancing Customer Experience

What is an Interactive Self-Service Kiosk?

By definition an interactive self-service kiosk is a standalone computer terminal, equipped with specialized software and hardware features which allow customers to perform certain tasks independently without requiring any assistance from the staff. A standard interactive self-service kiosk consists of a touchscreen, computer, printer, QR Code/Barcode scanner, Emirate ID Card Reader, and several other peripherals depending on its application. Typically when you go to a bank or at a government office, you find a ticket dispensing kiosk which asks you for the service you are interested in and dispense a token for the queue. The commonly used bill payment kiosks used for mobile top-ups and utility bill payments are a basic type of payment kiosks. The modern day interactive self-service kiosks have much wider spectrum of applications ranging from visitor registration to booking ticket and airport check-ins, etc.

See Also: Designing User-Friendly Self-Service Kiosks [Guide]

There are several more industry specific applications such as for government services, for HR services, for education, hospitality and healthcare, etc. In conclusion one can safely say that these interactive self-service kiosks can be customized for any kind of customer facing environment for the service sector. Here are some key features of an interactive self-service kiosks:

  • Intuitive User-Friendly UIs: The UIs or user interfaces of an interactive self-service kiosk are intuitive, user-friendly and loaded with on-screen prompts guiding customers through various tasks and navigating them through available services and information.
  • Touch-Screen Enabled: Nearly all present day interactive self-service kiosks are touch-screen enabled. The touch screens make them more user-friendly. The touch-screen optimized UIs enable customers to quickly perform their tasks with simple taps on the screen.
  • Multi-lingual Support: In Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other regions of UAE a lot of expats are residing, serving them in their preferred language along with English and Arabic can elevate their experience and raise customer satisfaction.
  • Easy Accessibility Features: The interactive self-service kiosks offer easy accessibility features for users with disabilities or special needs such as screen readers, adjustable font-size, multiple UI color schemes, and rotatable screens are common features.
  • Security and Privacy: The interactive self-service kiosks offer better security and privacy. The data communication between the terminal and server is secure and encrypted. The customers never have to share any details with the staff or service agents.
  • Customization and Scaling: The interactive self-service kiosks are highly customizable. Businesses can have customized features, peripherals and even design to align with their needs. Businesses can easily scale them up and upgrade them which increase their lifecycle.
  • Durability and Maintenance: The interactive self-service kiosks usually comes with industrial grade electronic components. In both indoor and outdoor environments, these kiosks can be operated for 24/7 without requiring much maintenance and servicing.

See Also: Self-Service Kiosks for Effective Queue Management

What is an Interactive Self-Service Kiosk?
What is an Interactive Self-Service Kiosk?

The interactive self-service kiosks are built on very flexible technology platform which enable businesses to customize them as per their needs. Upgrading and customizing them is crucial for growing businesses and the interactive self-service kiosks are excellent at it. It is due to their reliability, features and higher ROI these interactive self-service kiosks can offer a variety of benefits for both businesses and customers:

  • Elevated Customer Experience: The interactive self-service kiosks have ability to significantly raise customer satisfaction with enhanced and elevated customer experience. The multi-lingual support, customized and innovative features and easy-of-use make them ideal for customers.
  • Boost Operational Efficiency: With interactive self-service kiosks the customer footfall can be divided between the kiosks and the service agents which boost staff performance. The interactive self-service kiosks also automate and optimize internal process to boost operational efficiency.
  • Operational Cost Reduction: The interactive self-service kiosks divide the workload of the staff, and minimize the human errors from the process which effectively reduce operational cost. It also help management in making informed decisions for better resource management.
  • Business Intelligence Data: When it comes to informed decisions, the business intelligence data plays a crucial role in data-driven decision making. The interactive self-service kiosks can collect a wealth of behavioral, statistical and analytical data which empowers decision making.
  • AI-Powered Smart Solution: The interactive self-service kiosks are good at integrating AI-powered smart solutions such as AI Chatbots, Virtual Assistants, Voice Commands, smart algorithms, personalized customer experience, management and security, and advanced data collection.
  • Competitive Advantage: The early adopter of customized interactive self-service kiosks can gain a great competitive advantage by offering easy access to information and services through intuitive and easy-to-access 24/7 available channel.

These are some of the key features and benefits of interactive self-service kiosks. Businesses can customize them to offer innovative features. Moreover the IoT and third-party system integration enable these kiosks to seamlessly integrate within existing information infrastructure of the business.

See Also: How Interactive Kiosks are Enhancing In-Store Engagement and Sales

The interactive self-service kiosks are built on very flexible technology platform which enable businesses to customize them as per their needs.
The interactive self-service kiosks are built on very flexible technology platform which enable businesses to customize them as per their needs.

How Interactive Self-Service Kiosk Enhance Customer Experience?

The digital touch-points are playing a crucial role in reshaping customer experience management practices. Businesses are realizing that the customers are more inclined towards digital interaction. The smartphones, websites, online knowledgebase, online customer portals and such technologies are completely transforming customer experience management. The interactive self-service kiosks can be a game-changer for businesses because these technology marvels has ability to deliver some of the most complex services with excellent efficiency and convenience. Which is making them popular among customers and consumers in general. Here are some key factors to understand the role of interactive self-service kiosk in enhancing customer experience:

  • Personalized Customer Experience: The interactive self-service kiosks can tailor customer experience based on their preference, past interaction, demographics, and other aspects. Which enable them to deliver highly personalized customer experience making customer feel valued.
  • Faster Service Delivery: The interactive self-service kiosks are customized as per business needs and their internal process. By leveraging the power of automation and utilizing the intuitive multi-lingual UIs businesses can enable faster service delivery and gain higher customer satisfaction.
  • Increased Accessibility: Businesses can deploy customized interactive self-service kiosks at their service centers and at multiple other places, which raise accessibility. Further options can be included to support users with special needs and for a certain customer base.
  • Accuracy and Consistency: The interactive self-service kiosks always deliver a consistent customer experience, with superior accuracy. As there is no human staff involved in the process so the accuracy and privacy of the customers is raised significantly.
  • Increased Customer Engagements: Businesses can effectively increase customer engagements by providing personalized experience, recommendations, instructions and even multi-media content which raise customer engagements and help delivering satisfactory customer experience.
  • Integration with Loyalty Programs: Businesses can easily integrate loyalty programs and customer portals within these kiosks. Offering secure and quicker sing-in such as via Emirates ID, 2FA-OTP, Biometric, QR Code or via mobile phones can greatly improve customer experience.
  • Real-Time Customer Feedback: The interactive self-service kiosks can collect customer feedback through general and customized surveys and feedback campaigns. Customers can also be provided features to submit their suggestions right through the interactive self-service kiosk.
  • Cash and Digital Payments: In some cases the customers also have to make some payments for the service they need or for their subscriptions. The interactive self-service kiosks support multiple payment options such as cash deposit, credit/debit cards, and digital payments modes.
  • Analytical Data Collection: An interactive self-service kiosk is a very power tool which can collect valuable analytical data. The customer behavioral and system usage data along with other analytical data help businesses analyze and improve customer experience.
  • Access to Customer Support: The interactive self-service kiosks offer various supports such as FAQs, knowledgebase, well-structured information and even direct access to customer support via call center, Chatbots, and virtual assistants.

The interactive self-service kiosks are rapidly transforming the service sector. Businesses are leveraging these smart technologies to enhance and elevate customer experience and to optimize their operational efficiency. These interactive self-service kiosks tend to deliver higher ROI over a longer period of time and on top of that due to their ability to customize and upgrade, an interactive self-service kiosk can remain relevant for many years.

See Also: 8 Benefits of Using Digital Kiosks for Your Business

How Interactive Self-Service Kiosk Enhance Customer Experience?
How Interactive Self-Service Kiosk Enhance Customer Experience?

Conclusion

For a long term and sustainable growth every business knows the importance of customer satisfaction is paramount. Businesses and organizations operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and other regions of UAE are always seeking innovative and creative ways to elevate their customer experience. The market landscape is highly competitive and the customer demands and trends are always changing. Therefore businesses eagerly seek technology-oriented solutions which not only serve the purpose but are also capable of evolving alongside business needs. The interactive self-service kiosks are a game-changing technology which can not only deliver excellent customer experience but are capable of boosting operational efficiency, effectively cutting cost and raising a business’s profitability.

Unlike any other digital solution, the interactive self-service kiosks represent an historic shift in ways and practices businesses were used to of delivering customer service. The customer service plays crucial role in customer satisfaction. Similar to any other digital solution its success based on the customer experience it can deliver, the interactive self-service kiosks have proven to be most effective tool to elevate the customer service by delivering exceptional customer experience via self-service. One of the biggest advantage of interactive self-service kiosk is that businesses can customize them as per their needs and industry. Which make them ideal for any customer facing service center. Businesses and organizations have witnessed significant rise in customer satisfaction and loyalty after deploying interactive self-service kiosks.

In this blog we have explored key features and benefits of interactive self-service kiosks and how these kiosks are playing a crucial role in transforming customer experience management. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want us to design and deploy a bespoke interactive self-service kiosk for your business or organization, 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.

See Also: Security Challenges and Solutions in Payment Kiosk Systems


5 Signs Your Business Requires a Queue Management System

 

5 Signs Your Business Requires a Queue Management System

Every business has its own set of challenges, needs, and ways to handle problems. This sets them apart from others. Businesses in Dubai and all across the UAE invest heavily in improving their products, services, communication, brand promotion, and infrastructure, but often overlook the importance of queue management. This is why most of the customers and visitors end up unhappy or unsatisfied after having an interaction with their brand. When a customer or visitor arrives at the business they want to get served instantly, only a few customers are willing to wait, the majority of them get annoyed if they have to wait for a long time. People usually don’t like being stuck in busy and crowded places. People don’t like to wait which impacts the customer experience. A bad customer experience will harm the business reputation and identity. If people are getting bad experiences more often they will start talking about it with their friends, family and colleagues, even some customers also post on social medias. Which is very bad for a business’s reputation and it could completely ruin a brand.

The queue management and customer flow management and customer journey management problems are not new neither these problems are associated with only certain types of businesses. All types and size of business and organizations are facing queue management and customer flow management problems and having difficulties with managing customer journey. Businesses often assume that their sales are going up, the growth rates are good, so everything is perfect, but in reality that is not the case, there could be hundreds of factors that could give a pump to your sales for the time being, but in longer run if you are oblivion to the problems your customers and visitors are facing, eventually you will end up with a very bad reputation and your revenue and sales will decline.

How a business will know if they need a queue management system? Here are the 5 signs that your business requires a queue management system:

Sign No. 1: Crowded Waiting Areas and Long Queues

Crowded Waiting Areas and Long Queues

That is the very first and most visible sign. If your service centers or offices are reporting crowded waiting areas and long queues you must need a queue management system. When a large number of customers and visitors are waiting to get served by the agent/server, then that means there is some problem. People who have to wait for long time get frustrated and sometimes leave without getting the service. Customer and visitors who have to wait for long time are most likely to have a bad experience with the service agent as well. If you are having long queues in the customer service center that means your customers and visitors will have to wait for a long time and they will also face all problems related to waiting in long line such as line jumpers, customer getting lost, customer ending up at wrong counter, etc. All such problems are causing negative impact on customer experience and customer journey which will eventually ruin your brand reputation as well.

Sign No. 2: Customers Complaints

Customers Complaints

Some business and organizations in Dubai and all around the UAE thinks that the queues and customer waiting in long lines is a natural mode of customer flow, however there is a threshold between acceptable and unacceptable waiting conditions and wait time. And it gets unacceptable when your staff getting complaints and start noticing unhappy customers who are talking about long wait time or complaining about mismanagement and such things. The customers and visitors will also express their opinion with the service agents. But such customers will be less in number, and in fact there will be only a very few who will ever bother to go through filling a complaint by due process. Mostly the customer will either verbally complaint to the staff who are managing the queues or to the service agents. Only a very few of those verbal complaints will make up to the top management and mostly the staff and employees will try to deal with them by themselves or either discuss with their supervisors and that is it. This is another reason why business often failed to understand the severity of the problem.

Sign No. 3: Increased Customer Churn Rate and Lower Customer Retention

Increased Customer Churn Rate and Lower Customer Retention

The long queues and crowded waiting areas always increase customer churn rate. The customer churn rate is the measurement of the customers who made their mind to purchase or acquire a service and arrived at the branch but leave without doing so. There could be several reasons but almost 90% of the time the customer churn is caused by the long waiting lines and crowded waiting areas. There are studies suggesting that acquiring a new customer could be 8 to 22 percent more costly than retaining an existing customer. If you start noticing lower customer retention rates, or if you are not getting repeated business from your existing customers, you should have to worry. Because the lower customer retention will impact your profitability it will increase the cost of new conversions. Increased customer churn rate and lower customer retention also earn negative brand reputation. The customers who have already reached to the business but leave without purchase or getting served are the most annoyed customers, the customer who don’t do repeated business are also unhappy and unsatisfied.

Sign No. 4: Poor Employee Performance and Unbalanced Workload

Poor Employee Performance and Unbalanced Workload

If you start noticing that your employees are performing poorly or serving less customers than anticipated. Or if you employees are serving less customers than before, or if your employees are also complaining about the work load and the management is also noticing unbalanced work load, some employees are busier than the others and other such issues, then you should seriously consider a queue management system. Mostly business in Dubai and all around the UAE invest heavily in employee training and employee performance management solutions, however very few business take steps to improve employee performance. It is a general believe that if an employee is performing bad then they must need more training, however this is not applicable all the times. Sometimes the employees are skilled enough but they are lagging support they need. That is why sometime the employee too complaint about the unbalanced workload or request for assistance from other employees and so on. It is extremely important that your all employee work at their full potential and are happy and satisfied as this will directly impact on customer experience and service quality.

Sign No. 5: Lack of Business Intelligence Data

Lack of Business Intelligence Data

Business intelligence data is a broad term used for a variety of different data types which are relevant to the businesses and are very helpful in decision making and future planning. In Dubai and all around the UAE the markets are very competitive and the customers are very up-to-date. It means the market trends and customer’s expectations are also continuously evolving. In order to deal with such scenarios business often require to update their policies, strategies and business processes. When it comes to customer journey and customer satisfaction related policies and strategy the business require very precise and accurate data to understand and evaluate their current business processes and current strategy. Which is not possible without having a system in place. It is very hard to track customer churn without having a record of the customers and visitors who have signed up for the queue. It is impossible to track the service delivery time accurately without any system in place. The employee KPIs (key performance indicators) can’t be measured manually with optimum precision and accuracy. There are so many different variables that impact customer satisfaction and customer happiness, which all are required when making a decision or making policies and planning for future.

How a Queue Management System can Help?

How a Queue Management System can Help?

A queue management system can streamline customer flow and help the employee in managing queues. The automatic queue management and customer flow eliminate the human intervention which rectify all major problems and significantly reduce the wait time. The queue management system facilitates various business processesand automate customer journey which reduce the workload of the staff and employees. The employees can easily focus on their primary tasks and all their efforts which was consumed in managing customers and queue will be preserved. This way the employee can provide better quality service and their capacity to serve customers in a single shift also increased. Which help the business in reducing the staff and improving branch profitability.

As the customer flow and the entire customer journey can be managed through the queue management system it is easier for business and organizations to implement new rules and policies. The queue management system manage and route customers and visitors as per these policies and pre-set configurations, which further improve customer experience and reduce the customer journey. This increase customer happiness and customer satisfaction and reduce customer complaints. A better environment and good management reduce the customer churn rate. Once customer start getting good and happy customer experience they become more loyal to the business. Loyal customers are easy to retain and business can easily get repeated business from their existing customers. The loyal and happy customers are tend to be good brand advocate and they promote the business which improve brand reputation and help business in promoting a positive brand identity.

A positive brand identity, loyal customers and efficient operation attracts more customers and also improve conversion rate form marketing efforts. Altogether these all factors increase the profitability and revenue. Another great advantage of a queue management system is that it provide intensive business intelligence data. It can capture data from all touch points, KPIs and system stats also provide great business intelligence data. These days most of the modern queue management system also collect customer feedbacks through an in-built customer feedback and survey module which also provide great insight on customer journey, customer experience and their needs and expectations. The business intelligence is extremely crucial for policy making, strategy building and identifying the areas of improvements. The management can easily take good decision on the bases of such data.

Read More: Importance of Display Devices in Queue Management System

Conclusion

Business and organizations in Dubai and all across the UAE are very keen to improve their products, services, quality, communication and what not, but unfortunately mostly the queue management is over looked. In fact most business believe that having long queues and crowded waiting areas is a normal way of the customer flow. However, the long wait time, poorly managed queues could have the most devastated impact on customer experience. A bad customer experience results in lower customer retention and lower customer satisfaction. Unsatisfied customers results in negative brand reputation and distrust among the targeted audience which also results in poor conversion rates of the marketing efforts. Whereas the positive brand identity and good brand reputation build trust, help businesses in improving customer retention and higher conversion rates.

If you are witnessing long queues and crowd in your waiting area, which means the customer flow is not good. If you are getting more complaints from the customers and visitors and your customer churn rate is increasing and customer retention and repeated business is decreasing that means your valuable customers are going to the competitor. If employees are showing signs of unbalanced workload and performing less than expectations, it means they are not satisfied and/or having too much workload. If you are finding it difficult to understand your queuing situation and business processes or if you are finding it difficult to identify the areas of improvements, it means you are lacking sufficient business intelligence data. For all those problems there is only one solution and that is a queue management system. RSI Concepts is a leading name in providing most efficient queue management systems in Dubai and all around the UAE. 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: Qualities of Top Queue Management System


What are the Benefits of Improving Customer Journey?

What are the Benefits of Improving Customer Journey

What are the benefits of improving the customer journey? Well, in short, it can significantly change the public or general perception of your business which build your brand reputation and in a broader perspective, it has a huge impact on your business growth. The customer journey includes the sum of experiences that a customer has while going through your purchase cycle or service delivery. Now as the digital became an indistinguishable part of our daily lives. The customer journey could be either virtual/digital or physical or a combination of both. Obviously, the B2B and B2C have different scenarios, completely different purchase cycles, a different set of customer touchpoints and interactions with the organization and a lot more, on the other hand, there are so many similarities too. The mapping of the customer journey is done using the same techniques and methods, and the anticipations and expectations could also be derived in a similar fashion to improve your customer journey. The customer journey is extremely important for both business models if they want to sustain their existing customers and also want to grow further.

See More: 10 Reasons to Choose RSI Queue Management System over Other Similar Products

Here are some of the benefits of improving the customer journey:

Build a unique brand Identity and Improve Brand Reputation

Build a unique brand Identity and Improve Brand Reputation

With constant analysis of the statistical data, feedbacks and the monitoring of the existing processes, an organization can do constant improvements in their customer journey and customer experience. The very collective form of customer experience is basically fragmented into tiny touchpoints, where a customer directly interacts with the organization or its staff or its any level of interface. These touchpoints or interactions have their own behavioural responses from the customers. These responses either could be positive or negative. There is nothing neutral or in-between state. It is a kind of binary system. It involves human psychology, and believe it or not the human interaction with a given set of problems under a controlled environment is very predictive, yet so complex to comprehend or measure by digits or linear scales.

However, these all interaction points or touchpoints can be sorted out in a list of positive or supportive and fluent customer journey checkpoints and the roadblocks or negative or unhappy customer experiences and touchpoints. Once you start rectifying those issues, you will start noticing the improvements in the customer journey and customer experience. This requires an investment of resources, time and labour. It will surely pay off. The improvements in the customer journey will create a unique customer experience that will be memorable for the customers and it will later help to build a strong and unique brand identity. Which will boost the brand’s reputation among the customers and targeted audiences.

See More: The Leading Queue Management System Provider in UAE

Improved Customer Journey Improves Customer Loyalty

Improved Customer Journey Improves Customer Loyalty

Once you start improving your customer journey and their interaction with your brand. You will surely notice a rise in customer loyalty. The business can improve customer sustainability and loyalty if they succeed in providing an excellent customer journey and a great customer experience. Each happy experience with your brand will increase the customer’s loyalty. Here it is also very important to understand the importance of bad customer experience and bad customer journey because for only one bad customer interaction you must have to provide three to five good experiences and interaction to negate the negative impact of the bad experience or bad customer journey. Which makes it even more important to have a better customer journey.

Once your customers start getting a good experience because of your improved customer journey strategy. A time comes when those happy customers will start advocating for your brand. Words of mouth are a very powerful and impactful real-world phenomenon. People tend to act on the suggestions of their family, friends, colleagues and people who they follow or trust upon. When your customers will start spreading good words about your brand either verbally or in social media enforcements it will immediately boost your customers’ loyalty. The customers who are already loyal to your brand will influence your other customers also to be more loyal to your brand. This works like a chain reaction, sometimes the results are slow and sometimes the results are like viral content or wildfire. The word could spread easily, good feedback from customers and other community members will improve their loyalty as well as it will improve other customer’s loyalty as well. Loyal customers are always a very strong base for any business’s growth.

See More: Queue System working in Government Departments

Improve Service Delivery and Communication

Improve Service Delivery and Communication

The improved customer journey will help organizations in improving service delivery mechanisms. This will make the service delivery fast, efficient and more convenient for the customers. The wait time will be reduced, the customer flow will be improved and the staff at the branch will be satisfied too. This will lead to a very productive and customer-friendly environment which will improve the customer experience and satisfaction. Service delivery is a very important part of the customer experience. If your customer is not satisfied with the service they have received or how did they receive it, it could seriously harm your brand reputation and it would have a very bad impact on your growth.

A well-placed customer journey strategy also helps to improve the communication between the organization and the customers. There is no limit to communication channels that can be well utilized at different places during the customer journey and the organizations can benefit from them a lot. Communication is always a very strong and powerful factor contributing to sales and revenue generation. A better customer journey not only ensures an excellent customer experience but also enables the most effective communication channels.

See More: Benefits of Queue Management using Mobile Apps

Improved Sales and Higher Conversion Rate

Improved Sales and Higher Conversion Rate

No matter what channels you are using for marketing at the end of the day all the efforts would be measured on the scale of conversions. A better customer journey not only improves the customer experience but also improves brand reputation, brand image and brand trust among its customers and audiences. When a brand is commonly perceived as a trustworthy or a good quality business, their conversion rates start increasing in fact accelerating. The endorsements by customers, prospects and even social media play a great role in a brand’s success. This not only improve the conversion rate but it also increases the effectiveness of the marketing as well. As multiple organic sources are already adding up to the brand reputation then the efforts required for marketing and brand awareness would be less. In such cases, fewer efforts would return more.

If a prospect is already familiar with your brand and knows what you do and what you do is good, it will require fewer efforts to convince them to convert compared to the prospect who doesn’t know about your brand or in the worst case if a prospect had a bad brand image in his mind. In all different scenarios, a good brand reputation which results in a better customer journey could be very helpful in the increased sales and conversions rate whatsoever.

See More : 3 dimensions of Queue Management System for Hospitals

Better Crisis Management

Better Crisis Management

This might sound unrelated but it isn’t. A better customer journey ensures a superior customer experience which improves customer loyalty, boost trust and add to the brand reputation. These factors collectively could be very helpful in crisis management. There are hundreds of examples of companies and businesses who had to face some kind of crises or interruption in the operations but still managed to retain their customers. That was all because their customers were happy and loyal and that was possible only because of their excellent customer journey management techniques and methodologies.

This kind of incidents could be due to a human error, a disaster, a crisis or any kind of scenario which has a huge impact on the business. It could cause a temporary halt in the operations, a marketing stunt going bad, a scandal or any of such sort. Anything which could literally tremble the ground beneath the brand. Whenever such an incident occurs only your loyal customers will going to save you. The customer who is loyal to the brands will not only stick with the brand but will also be willing to give another chance to the brand. This is what usually businesses and organizations never plan, but we know any such thing could happen. In any such incident or scenario, your loyal customer base will be Noah’s arch. This all relies on only a better customer journey management and strategy.

See More: How Queue Management System Helps to Provide Better Customer Service

Conclusion

Customer journey is the most important part of any business. This is where, when and how a customer or prospect will interact with a business. The customer journey will determine what impression a customer or prospect will receive from the brand. It could be good or bad. Obviously, a good impression will help increase sales, revenue and more importantly portraying a good brand image and it will also help improving brand reputation. A bad impression will have a bad impact on everything, the customers will be unhappy the staff will be overloaded the sales will decline the new conversions will also decline and in long term, it could have a very devastating impact on the business.

Improving the customer journey is not a one time job or it is not something that you did once in a year or in a decade, it is not a product that you revise or service that you upgrade it is a continuous process and requires constant improvements, monitoring and feedback. The activities involved in improving the customer journey will help the business to understand their customers’ expectations, needs and demands. Which will further help them improving their products/services and everything else. It will ensure a good brand reputation, improved customer loyalty, improved service delivery methods and much more. Customer loyalty and trust are very important in customer retention which is necessary for constant business growth. In its totality, the customer journey will directly impact your revenue, sales, conversions, brand reputation and of course overall business growth.

Any idea you want to share? The below comment box is for you!

If you are a business or business representative who want to improve their customers’ journey, do reach us out through our Contact Us page. We will help you achieve your business goals.

Check out this: Benefits of Virtual Queue Management System


Paperless Queue Management System

Paperless Queue Management Systems are not only a new concept for Dubai and UAE but also for the world. Most of the present-day queuing systems all over the world are running on a paper-based ticket number mechanism. The ticket numbers are announced on a big screen and also called in on an audio device, the specific customer can check for the assigned counter and go there to get the service. This is the very basis of almost 90% of the queue management systems installed in the government sectors, ministries, private and public sectors.

Paperless-Queue-Management-System

Due to the current scenario, the Queue Management System providers like RSI Concepts are thinking of ways to eliminate the use of paper and also enhancing the customer journey and customer flow. There are a few most practical solution to achieve the paperless queue management system and we will discuss them all one by one here. As smartphones have become an integral part of our daily life, and people always stay online on their smartphone while waiting for their queue and sometimes some people even miss their queue despite the audio announcements due to their smartphones, so the smartphone can be used more effectively in the queue management systems.

Virtual Queuing

Virtual-Queuing

Virtual Queuing as the name suggests is completely virtual, the customer won’t necessarily have to come to the branch to sign-up for the queue, but it can be done remotely with various means of technology. Another advance methods can be implemented to make the process more customer-friendly and let the agents control the queue with more efficiency.

Read More: How queue management system used in social distancing? 

QR Code Based Queuing

QR-Code-Based-Queuing

QR Code-based queuing is another very advance yet simple to use technology. All the customer needs is to visit the branch or any kiosk and scan the code, the code could be used in many ways, one very simple and effective way is to open up a web-based app in the mobile phone browser and assign a queue to the customer/visitor. The customer/visitor can find additional information on the same page and also live updates about the queue along with the announcements for their queue. Mostly Paperless queue management systems are using this approach.

Smartphone App Based Queue Management Systems

Smartphone-App-Based-Queue-Management-Systems

As more than 90% of the UAE, the population is using some kind of smartphone these days, so the smartphone app-based queue management systems are gaining popularity. Especially the Government sector, Public Offices, and the organizations are adopting this method for their customer service e centres and the HR department. The smartphone-based queue management systems are based on three main sections:

  1. Customer Portal Smartphone Apps
  2. Agent Portal Smartphone or Web-based Apps
  3. Administration/Management Portal Smartphone App and Web-based App

Read More: Queue Management System to aid Social Distancing

Customer Portal Smartphone Apps

Customer-Portal-Smartphone-Apps

The Customer Portal Smartphone Apps can be provided to the customers via Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Customers can use the applications to sign-up for the queue from their smartphone and can get the real-time queue information, find the nearest location, and much more. Furthermore, the users can also initiate the service from the smartphone application by filling in the required information to reduce the service delivery time. The possibilities are endless.

Agent Portal Smartphone or Web-based Apps

Agent-Portal-Smartphone-or-Web-based-Apps

The agent portal can be based on a smartphone application which is usually used on a tablet device (android tablets and iPad/apple tablets) or it can be a more traditional web-based application for the agents sitting at the counters. It depends upon the services and the arrangements for the service delivery.

Administration/Management Portal Smartphone App and Web-based App

Administration-Management-Portal-Smartphone-App-and-Web-based-App

For the administration or the management, there are multi-access level portals available in our Paperless Queue Management System. The management portal can be accessed through smartphone applications as well as from the web-based user interface. The portal basically provides real-time updates to the branch manager, area or regional managers and to the head office. The portal also provides a detailed reporting and statistical analysis in order to measure the efficiency of the system, agents and the service delivery approach. That kind of insight is very critical in taking future decisions to improve the overall performance of the organization.

Bluetooth Beacon Based Paperless Queuing

Bluetooth-Beacon-Based-Paperless-Queuing

The Bluetooth beacon-based paperless queuing is another excellent example of adopting the latest technologies in the queue management system industry. As the statistical data shows that most of the people who miss their announcement and queue were engaged with their mobile phones. So, the Bluetooth beacon-based paperless queuing is been introduced, this is another way to utilize the smartphones to aid the customer flow management systems and it also improves the customer journey. The hardware is a bit complex though but the system is very useful for different types of queues.

Linear Queuing

Linear-Queuing

Linear Queuing based solutions are the best example of paperless queue management systems. The complete system is built on the single principle, Simplicity! The customer flow in the linear queuing is based on first come first serve bases. Such systems are specific to a certain waiting area design and the needs of an organization. The cost is very low comparing to any other Queue Management System, but the efficiency is great.

Read More: Linear Queuing Queue Management System

Conclusion

Paperless Queue Management System can have either of the above-mentioned approach or even a combination of some of them or maybe all of them. As the requirements vary case to case so does the solution. That is the reason we are providing completely customized solutions for Queue Management Systems and other solutions. The customization can increase the efficiency and reduce the cost hence results in better ROI on any QMS system implementation. Want to know more about our products and services or have an enquiry? Please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page.

Checkout: Queue Management System and Social Distancing


Features of an efficient Queue Management System

Features-of-efficient-Queue-Management-System

Any professional environment which faces customers needs to have a good Queue Management System in place. An effective Queuing System has quite a few obvious benefits and qualities. Let us have a look at what makes a successful Q management system

The wait times are properly managed – A waiting line involves just that – ‘waiting”. Customers are most of the time willing to wait for certain things. While for other things they are not. A good queue management system has proper built-in management. Whether you use a manual counting process or whether you use an analytics technology related to footfall that monitors the customer wait and arrival times; a good queuing system would very rarely let a wait time go out of the acceptable range.

How the Queue Management System improves customer experience?

Customer experience is always most important – We all hate waiting even though it is very much part and parcel of our lives. Though come to think of it, more than the waiting, it is the experience while you wait that makes for a positive or negative experience. Hence a good queue management design is one which puts the customer’s experience first. It plays a very important part in the psychological workings of queuing. A good system in place would have the quality to address whatever issue matters to customers while they are taking time out and waiting.

Being fair – It is quite obvious and natural that long waits can cause a person to be irritated and annoyed. Hence, a good queue management system will follow the golden rule of fairness. This being said, there could be exceptions. Like in a doctor’s clinic, depending on emergencies or different treatment conditions, a particular patient might be seen while others have been waiting already. However, the reason for serving another customer needs to be communicated to the others clearly. In some places, where multiple lines are meant for same kind of services; a single queue might solve client frustrations as they know it is a purely first come and first serve policy in place.

Strong foundation – In a good Q management system the formation and structure of the queue in itself is well structured and planned and thus can hold the flow and ebb of customers. This means that the Queue management system design considers every little detail – like how wide should the line be so that shopping carts can be accommodated, how short or long are the lines during various times of the day, is the entrance and exit convenient, is it an easy system to follow and so on.

Transparent information – Whether it is for customers, or for the staff, the wait time is informative and transparent. When the customers are already aware of how long they would be required to wait, they would be less irritated or anxious about it. In the similar manner when the staff and management are aware of the wait times, they are able to meet the problem ahead of time and can solve it before the long wait spoils the customer’s experience.

Hence it can be said that it is waiting lines that can make a business successful or break it. A good queue management system pays attention to this problem and is designed in such a way that it keeps the timing to a minimum.

Checkout: Can a Queue Management System Improve Customer Experience?