interactive kiosk Archives - RSI Concepts - Top IT Solution Provider Company in Dubai, UAE

June 11, 2024

Revolutionizing Campus Services with Student Kiosks

The interactive self-service kiosk industry is rapidly expanding its scope in multiple industries. The educational institutes and establishments are eagerly seeking solutions to boost efficiency and efficacy. Similar to any other typical kiosk the student kiosks are also a computer terminal consisting of various devices and peripherals enabling students, teachers, parents, guests and new comers to perform various tasks conveniently and efficiently. The student kiosks or student information kiosks are not only offering quick access to various services but also improving the workflows and processes which greatly enhance student experience.

The student kiosks act as a mini administrative office offering a ton of services and easy access to information along with sing-ins, scanning, printing and in some cases payment services too. The student kiosk are typically installed on various places at the campuses, so more people can access them conveniently. The traditional campus services involve tedious processes majorly based on paper-pencil based systems, long queues and administrative bottlenecks which undermine the student experience.

Although universities, colleges and schools are proactively managing their front offices, receptions and administrative offices, but the large influx could be very frustrating for both the students and the staff as well. The student kiosks on the other hand offers instant access to various services with highly organized information structure and above all the digitalization brought automation and efficiency which enhances student experience. In this blog we will briefly discuss how student kiosks are completely revolutionizing user experience.

Revolutionizing Campus Services with Student Kiosks

What is a Student Kiosk?

The student kiosks are interactive self-service kiosks which hare widely used all across educational institutions in UAE. Schools, colleges, universities and libraries in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all across the country are proactively seeking technologies to improve educational system. There are various different types of informational and transactional student kiosks or campus kiosks are widely used to provide instant access to information or to deliver various services via self-service experience.

These interactive self-service student kiosks are not only facilitating students but also offering various services to teachers, faculty, administrative staff, and even guests which can greatly improve the overall business productivity and performance.

Student kiosks or Campus Kiosks offer simple and easy registration process, ability to access student portals, internet access, and easy access to university resources, well-organized information repository, and a multitude of features. Furthermore the student kiosks or campus kiosks are very helpful for the visitors, newcomers and guests, offering them required information, navigations and way finding, and various other services.

These kiosks are strategically placed in various places across the campus, such as at class rooms, near administrative offices, common areas, libraries, cafeterias, etc. The university administration can also utilize these kiosks for sharing information, making announcements, and for general communications. These features greatly enhance student experience and also help optimizing operational efficiency.

What are the Key Advantages of a Student Kiosk?

With the rise of technology businesses and customers have adopted modern ways to interact, same is applicable at universities, schools, colleges and other educational institutions. Traditionally these establishments have large facilities, sometime even navigating them could be difficult for visitors and guests. Similarly if a student has to visit an admin office which might located on the other side of the campus and he/she has to attend a class at the other coroner. This will disturb their schedules, and it is common for students to skip the classes or be late due to such matters. However, when all these services and information are provided at kiosk located at easily accessible spots within campus, the students can easily access it.

Here are some key advantages of student kiosks:

Streamlining Registration Process

The registration is one of the most crucial process, often student and parents find themselves stuck in these complex administrative processes. A student kiosk or campus kiosk offers various features such as ability to take student data, scan student documents, and integrate the data with other relevant systems. The student kiosks offers intuitive user interfaces with on-screen instructions, which take students, parents and any user through the required process. The students can easily scan their documents, IDs, and even QR Codes/Barcodes which ensures highest level of security and convenience.

Even the most modern campus kiosks also offer payment facility enabling student to pay for their enrollments or other dues. Furthermore for the students who are already enrolled, they can print their documents, schedules, timetables, assignments, and much more. Students can also update their information, apply for schedules, check available laboratory slots, and much more through these student kiosks. Furthermore the student kiosks or campus kiosks can be linked with the central information systems of the organization to offer more up-to-date information and data.

Enhancing Accessibility

The modern day educational system have completely transformed, now a day’s the accessibility and inclusivity are the two crucial aspects of any educational establishment. Now a days the educational culture is more inclusive and accommodating, especially in UAE where there are a lot of international students are studying, the need of an inclusive and diverse educational culture is even more. A campus kiosk or student kiosk is well-equipped with advanced features such as multi-lingual user interfaces, artificial intelligence (AI) and smart algorithms which ensures an excellent personalized user experience.

Furthermore these kiosks are also equipped with the features that caters to the needs of students and users with disability or special needs. Furthermore these kiosks can also offer voice-activated features, screen readers and various other such features which help users with special needs. By enabling enhanced accessibility and inclusivity features universities, colleges, schools and other educational establishments can foster a culture of inclusive and highly student-friendly educational environment.

Improved Campus Services

In a typical university, college or school environment the organization offers a multitude of services, which often are accessible through the administrative offices or dedicated service counters. One of the major drawback of traditional service mechanisms is that these channels are subjected to long waiting and several administrative hurdles which undermine student’s experience and also cause many problems. The student kiosks or campus kiosks or also known as student information kiosks are digital solutions, which digitalize various internal processes, it integrates with other IT infrastructure and synchronize various different system and databases.

These abilities coupled with various hardware features enable educational institutions to streamline their internal workflows and business processes, resulting in elevated student experience and simplified service deliver mechanisms. When campuses transitioned from manual to digital and automated management practices, their operational efficiency can greatly improve, resulting in improved campus services delivery and excellent user experience.

Flexible Customization and Integration

The student kiosks, campus kiosks or any other student information kiosks are all running on a backend application which is a kiosk management program that manages the data, information and everything at the kiosk. The kiosk management program is installed on a server and it manages all connected student kiosks automatically. It further provide a control panel or administrative dashboard providing control of various kiosk features, functionalities and information. This system is developed on cutting-edge technology platforms, which enable organizations to customize them as per their unique business needs and challenges.

Furthermore the student kiosks can be integrated with the third-party system, solutions and business tools. It can seamlessly be integrated with student information system, financial system, educational system, database and central information system. The integration allow student kiosks to communicate with other systems and cater up-to-date data and information. Furthermore the internet access, student portal and access to campus resources, or various other campus services can greatly elevate student experience.

Higher Operational Efficiency

Every university, college, school, library or educational institution have faced one of the most common challenge which is about operational efficiency. Especially when the new classes are starting, or during new enrollments, or during exams or any other such activity. The human resource is limited, the long waiting lines are evidence of the inefficiency and poor performance in the traditional management practices. From organizational point of view the student kiosks or campus kiosks are a great digital transformation tool which not only benefits students but also greatly benefits the educational institutions.

A student kiosk serves as a mini administrative office, offering a multitude of services via an excellent self-service experience. This not only improve service delivery practices but also enhance internal business processes and workflows. The digitalization of internal workflows and business process automation help boosting operational efficiency and also the staff performance. Where it offer convenience to students, parents, faculty and guests, the campus kiosks or student kiosks can offer great features to administrative and management staff as well, resulting in a significant increase in performance and efficiency.

Analytical Data Collection

The student information kiosks or campus kiosks comes with a specialized kiosk management software application which has in-built smart algorithms and data collection tools. The student kiosk management software collects valuable analytical data and system usage stats which can be processed and analyzed with in-built analytical and reporting tools. The data help management understand the system usage trends, student and other user’s behavior and analytical data from various touch points. This data is very helpful in personalizing the user experience as well.

For example, the student might be performing a certain set of tasks, and they might be interested in a certain type of information, hence these can be made more accessible and understandable to enhance student experience. Similarly the user experience for other user groups can be greatly enhanced by collecting analytical data. Furthermore the analytical data collection and customized reports help management take informed decisions. This data is also very helpful in improving and enhancing user experience and adding innovative features for better performance and higher efficiency.

Cost-Effective Solutions

The student kiosks, campus kiosks or student information kiosks or any other educational kiosk is a great tool to optimize and minimize the cost. These solutions offer higher returns over a long term usage. Usually these kiosks can last for many years without requiring any upgrade or modifications. However, the longevity and flexibility are the two main trait of any customized kiosk solution. The student kiosks might have slightly higher initial cost, however, in the long run these kiosk can significantly reduce operational cost. Offering alternative service channels, reduce the workload of the staff hence offering better human resource management.

Reducing human resource cost without compromising service quality is a great advantage. In fact the customized interactive self-service kiosks offer even better service quality and elevated user experience. These kiosks require very less maintenance and could operate 24/7 without requiring any rest time. Furthermore the student kiosks can be customized and upgraded in order to support emerging needs down the road which make them relevant for many years. The operational cost of student kiosks is also very low which make them ideal for educational institutions.

Future Trends of Student Kiosks

The rapid adaptation of the student kiosks all around the globe shows a promising future for the student kiosks. Furthermore the technological platforms are also developing rapidly which is evident of more innovation, modernization and effectiveness of the student kiosks in coming days. The information management platforms are revolutionizing with the unprecedented advancements in AI (artificial intelligence) and mobile technologies. Similar will going to enhance student experience along with a wide spectrum of business advantages. The wireless communication has completely revolutionized various aspects of digital experience.

In the coming future the personalized experience will be dominating the digital interaction, hence advanced data collection methods, analytical tools and IoTs would be dominating the student kiosks, enabling students to get instant access to the required information, simplifying registration and enrollment processes, enhancing payment process, enabling new methods to conveniently access campus resources and much more. All these features will not only revolutionize the student kiosk but such features will make them essential for modern educational institutions.

See Also: Why smart kiosks are the future?

Conclusion

A student kiosk is a digital computer terminal equipped with various software and hardware tools that enable students, parents, guests, and faculties to perform certain tasks via self-service experience which are traditionally done through admin office or relevant service desks. The modern student kiosks also offer printing, scanning and payment facilities supporting various tasks and enhancing user experience.

The student kiosks, student information kiosks or campus kiosks all are the same thing, these are customized solutions designed to enable convenient and easy access to information and services. These kiosks digitalize various internal processes and work flows, which reduce the dependency on the traditional and paper-based slow administrative processes, adding value to student experience and overall operational efficiency.

The student kiosk are placed strategically all across the campus premises, enabling easy reach and quick access to information and services. Furthermore the campus kiosks are a great tool to welcome guests, newcomers, parents and visitors, offering them vital information and access to various services and resources. Furthermore the integration of advanced payment features enable easy enrollment, payment for various services and even for tuition fees, etc. All such features are great at enhancing user experience. The student kiosks are also great at offering personalized experience to various user groups, catering them with the services and information according to their needs and behavioral patterns.

A customized interactive self-service kiosk is a very cost-effective solution, the operational cost and maintenance requirements are also very low and the student kiosks can operate 24/7 non-stop offering more flexibility and easy access. The scalability, customization and upgrades are also very inexpensive which makes them relevant for many years and even afterwards these kiosks can be repurposed too which ensures excellent ROIs.

In this blog we have discussed what a student kiosk is and what key advantages it can offer for students and the organization. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to develop a customized student kiosk for your university, school, college, library or educational institution, 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.

June 3, 2024

Designing User-Friendly Self-Service Kiosks [Guide]

The interactive self-service kiosks have been deeply integrated in modern service sector, helping both businesses and customers. In some industries the self-service kiosks has become essential part of customer services. For example, the ATM machines are the most widely used interactive self-service kiosk, and they have become an essential part of the customer service. Similarly we also see self-check-in kiosks at the airports, although they offer excellent experience but are not considered mandatory.

It means different industries and service sectors have different needs. However, one thing is common among all which is that every industry is adopting these modern technology marvels to enhance and elevate customer experience and to raise customer satisfaction.

The interactive self-service kiosks are also great at achieving higher operational efficiency which makes them more valuable. If you are living in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or any other region of UAE, you would have seen these flashy screens everywhere, these interactive kiosks have gained huge popularity and this trend is getting stronger every year.

As the software and hardware technologies keep improving the adoptability of the interactive self-service kiosks is also increasing. Now a days, these kiosks can offer most complex services involving, customer identification, documents printing/scanning, making payments and much more. In this blog we will discuss some crucial aspects of designing user-friendly self-service kiosks to ensure satisfactory customer experience and to boost operational efficiency.

Designing User-Friendly Self-Service Kiosks

User-Friendly Self-Service Kiosk Designing Process

The designing process of an interactive self-service kiosk is very simple. It starts with requirement analysis and once the objectives are clear you can move toward the actual designing process. Usually businesses acquire services of a reputed interactive self-service kiosk provider in Dubai and they built the kiosk as per their needs. However, it is also crucial to understand the nitty-gritty of the designing process to build a user-friendly kiosk. Businesses often overlooked this part and in order to save time and cost they prefer selecting any ready-made design with a little bit of customization in the software and hardware.

This could work sometimes but if you want to leverage the true potential of an interactive self-service kiosk you should be able to customize both the software and the hardware as per your unique business needs. The design of the kiosk and the UIs depends on the purpose of the kiosk. In order to design a user-friendly self-service kiosk you must also understand different types or categories of these kiosk machines as well. Here are a few major categories of the kiosks based on their purpose and design:

Information Kiosk
Payment Kiosk
Registration Kiosk
Self-Checkout/Check-in Kiosk
Retail Kiosk
Queue Management Kiosk
Wayfinding Kiosks
Document Processing Kiosks
Government Services Kiosk
Outdoor Kiosks

The list goes on and on, there are a lot more which can be categorized as unique but most of the time all interactive self-service kiosks are just a combination of features borrowed from above listed categories.

User-Friendly Self-Service Kiosk Designing Process

Furthermore all interactive self-service kiosks are available in both indoor and outdoor versions. The outdoor kiosks are equipped with special weather proof features which make them able to withstand the harsh environment and natural elements. Moreover the self-service kiosks also have certain features which are associated with their application. For example, if you are building an ATM, then you must have to add CCTV cameras and other security features in it. If you are designing an airport check-in kiosk then it must be able to print boarding pass or scan passports and other relevant features.

See Also: Why smart kiosks are the future?

Here are the steps of designing a self-service kiosk:

Set Objectives: Clearly define goals and purpose of the self-service kiosk
Self-Service Kiosk UIs: Start building the UIs of the kiosk (it is crucial to determine the screen size)
Determine Peripherals: It is important to shortlist all hardware peripherals and components
Kiosk Drawing and 3D: Design the Kiosk using 3D tools and prepare engineering diagram with all dimensions and details along with a 3D model
Chose Vendor: Chose a reputed vendor to produce the required kiosk – the software and hardware both should be developed by a single vendor for better performance
Produce PoC: Start with a PoC or limited quantity at the beginning
UAT: Deploy the full system both hardware and software and perform a through UAT
Full Production: Once the UAT is done, make changes if required and go for full-on production

Furthermore all interactive self-service kiosks are available in both indoor and outdoor versions.

Designing a self-service kiosk and designing a user-friendly self-service kiosk are not as that different. However, designing a user-friendly self-service kiosk involves considering various factors that elevates the user experience and enhance the operational efficiency.

Here are some crucial factors that you should consider during the designing process to build a highly user-friendly self-service kiosk:

Designing the UIs (User Interfaces)

The UI or user interface is the soul of a self-service kiosk, no matter who good the physical design is, what tools and gadgets are added to it, if the UI is not user-friendly then everything else is pointless. So the UI (user interface) is the most crucial component to work on while designing user-friendly self-service kiosk. The UI (user interface) must have simple and easy navigational structure, minimum steps to perform a task and it should have on-screen prompts and instructions to guide the customers through the process.

As in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE there is a large population of expats is residing so adding multiple languages is important. It also depends on your services too, most of the time Arabic and English suffice but sometimes as per your targeted audience more languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Bengali or other regional languages can be added too.

One of the most important factor to consider while designing a user-friendly UI is to understand your targeted audience. Consider following factors while studying your audience:

Age Group: One of the most important factor is the age of your targeted audience, whether you are targeting teenagers, adults, or senior citizens. Different age groups interact differently and have different preferences, considering these aspects is crucial.
Language: Language is one of the most important aspect in user experience. If you offer your customer’s native language or multiple language and let them chose the language which they understand the most, it will simplify everything for them.
Technology Proficiency: Furthermore it is crucial to understand if you targeted audience is comfortable in interacting with smart technologies? This will help you to prepare appropriate designs and prompts which aligns with customers’ needs.

Once you acquire adequate understanding of your audience and targeted groups, the next important aspect is to design the UI screens for all workflows. Considering the following UI features will help you building the user-friendly self-service kiosk:

Clean and Clear Design: It is extremely important to use the white spaces wisely and keep the screen uncluttered to make all buttons and information more visible. Always use high-contrast colors and adequate font size and font typography.
Simple Navigational Structure: The navigational structure should be simple, avoid building complex information structure. The on-screen prompts and tips should be logical, short, simple and in easy-to-understand language.
Use Visual Cues: Chose words and visuals carefully, sometime the words could be a barrier, however, the visuals are universally understood. Use a blend of words and visual iconography to represent different functions and ensure consistency throughout the entire UI.
Touch-Friendly Structure: The UI must be properly optimized for the touch screens. This means tha the placement of the icons, the distance and gaps between different design elements should be logically set to support touch screen interaction.
Multilingual UIs: The multilingual UIs have great potential to elevating customer experience. However, when a multilingual UI is designed the UI should be able to adjust as per the language structure to keep it simple and easy-to-understand.
UI Feedback: The UI feedback is when a user tap on the screen or give an instruction the interface provides feedback, which acknowledges user’s command. The UI feedback should be visual such as changing the color of the button or auditory such as a beep.
Audio Instructions: A good UI must have audio instructions for people with special needs. Both text-to-speech and audio instructions are a great way to improve accessibility. The voice commands or audio instructions can greatly elevate customer experience.
Clear Messaging: Whenever a task is completed the UI should display a proper and clear message such as the ID card is scanned, or the payment is received, etc. Same is for the error messages, the error message should be descriptive with instructions to fix it or an appropriate solution.
Review and Confirmation Steps: For every crucial step a review and confirmation screen should be added. For example, after a multi-step data inputs, the final review and edit features should be provided or upon making payment the confirmation screen should be added.

The user-friendly UI is one of the most important and impactful aspect of self-service kiosks. It is the gateway to access all features, hence the UI should be carefully crafted and designed keeping the audience and best industry practices in mind.

Once you acquire adequate understanding of your audience and targeted groups, the next important aspect is to design the UI screens for all workflows.

Designing the Self-Service Kiosk Body

The self-service kiosk body is also important as the users must have to interact with the kiosk and depending on the features and peripherals installed on it. One of the most common mistake is the placement and size of the touch screen. The touchscreen size and placement could empower the UI or it could completely undermine the effectiveness of the UI causing frustration among the users. The UI should be optimized as per the screen, but if you have more features to display in the UI then the screen size should be capable of properly rendering the UI.

Furthermore various hardware devices such as Emirates ID card scanner, POS machine, cash acceptor, receipt printer or dispensers all should be placed at appropriate height and should be easily accessible. The visual aesthetic and branding should also be presentable as the kiosk shape and colors help building a good first impression. Moreover the screen should be adjustable, and special features should be added to make the kiosk more accessible. Security features such as CCTV security cameras and strong body frame also help improving customer experience.

Bridging the Gap for Human-touch

Typically the self-service kiosk lacks human-touch. The automated instructions on screen, the navigational structure and all user-friendly elements can greatly elevate customer experience, but there could be some customers who might not be as that comfortable with self-service experience. Sometimes customer could stuck on a particular step, and sometimes some workflows are complex in nature which might make it difficult for some customers to perform certain tasks at the self-service kiosk. This could seriously hinder the performance and will undermine your efforts to deliver a satisfactory customer experience.

The modern day interactive self-service kiosks comes with specialized features which provide direct access to customer support and service teams. For that IP phones, intercoms or even onscreen chat assistants are added to provide instant support. The customer support team is usually linked with the kiosk management system which enables them to perform certain tasks for the customer from a remote location. This bridges the gap for human-touch while ensuring excellent and satisfactory customer service through the self-service kiosks.

Leveraging the Advanced Hardware Devices

An interactive self-service kiosk is a combination of software and hardware components. These hardware devices, peripherals and various components plays crucial role in customer experience. Using older or sub-standard devices will definitely undermine user experience however, using modern and advanced devices with latest features will not only improve user experience but it will also help you develop innovative features in the self-service kiosk. Here are some commonly used devices:

Touchscreen: There are tons of different types and qualities of touch screens. Instead of using older single touch screen you can use multi-point touch with IR or capacitive touch with adjustable screen position for better user experience.
Receipt Printers: There are tons of different types of printers that are used in different self-service kiosk applications. Instead of using a low-cost printer, which are slower and the customers has to rip the receipt you can use a modern receipt printer which automatically cut the receipt and prints faster.
Document Printer: Instead of using a typical monochrome printer you can use a colored printer and even in color printers you can use a high-quality printer which prints faster and has high quality color prints.
Document Scanners: Instead of using a traditional document scanner you can provide facility to plug-in a USB stick to copy documents to the kiosk, which will save time and it will also make the job easier for the customers.
Payment Options: Instead of providing only cash payments, you can add credit/debit card based POS. You can also include multiple payment methods such as online gateway, digital payment, mobile payment and contactless payment for better customer experience.
Card-based Sign-ins: If customer sign-in is required, instead of asking them to input their username and password or OTP you can enable Emirates ID card based sign-ins. You can include QR Code scanners, RFID scanners and more intuitive methods to simplify the sign-in process.

These are just a few most commonly used hardware devices, peripherals and components in self-service kiosk based solutions. Similarly whenever you are choosing a hardware component you should explore better options and alternates which can help you enhancing the customer experience.

Leveraging the Advanced Hardware Devices

Conclusion

Designing a self-service kiosk is a fairly simple and straightforward process however, if you really want to design a user-friendly self-service kiosk which can deliver exceptional experience, you should carefully consider various important aspects of both software and hardware during the designing process. The advancement in the technology played a crucial role in the wider adaptation of these interactive self-service kiosks. Most of the businesses are overlooking these crucial aspects of designing process which ultimately result in undermined customer experience. The UI is one of the most fundamental and impactful component, therefore it is important to ensure your UI is equipped with all advanced features that not only simplify user journey but also elevate their interaction.

Similarly the backend software and the hardware is also important. Businesses often overlook the importance of hardware components and focus more on the UIs and kiosk design. However, it is also important to choose the right hardware device which not only get the work done but also do it in a user-friendly manner. In this blog we have discussed the designing process of self-service kiosk and enlist all crucial elements that a business should consider in order to design a user-friendly self-service kiosk. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design a bespoke user-friendly self-service kiosk for your 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.

May 22, 2024

Revolutionizing Campus Services with Student Kiosks

What is a Student Kiosk?