The public sector in Dubai and all around the UAE have been improved significantly in past decade, now a days the government and public offices want to deliver an excellent service with a delightful experience. The government and public offices receive huge footfall on daily bases, there are several services which makes then unavoidable. No matter what, one must have to visit the government office to avail the service. Here in UAE all local governments and the federal government itself is offering a wide range of online services or e-services which can be accessed via several online service portals or dedicated smartphone applications. However, even after all that digitalization, there will always remain some services that has to be done via a service center. That is why the Federal Government, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and all other governments are proactively implementing innovative features to improve the service quality, customer experience and operational efficiency of the government and public offices.
A queue management system might seem like a simple digital system that facilitates customer flow and manages queues in the government and public offices, but it is far much than that. A modern digital queue management system is not just a queuing solution but it is a very powerful tool that can help government and public offices to effectively implement their policies at the branches, manages customers flow, reduce manual queuing work, enhance customer experience, improve employee productivity, raise operational efficiency of the branch and help building a positive and healthy image of the department in public. The public always look up to the government to solve their problems and fulfill their needs. One of the major aspect of serving citizens is to ensure easy access and a better experience. But the question is how this can be done? In this blog we will discuss how a queue management system can help government and public offices to achieve their strategic objectives and long term goals.
Queue Management System for Government and Public Offices
A queue management system is a digital solution for the queuing needs of a business or organization. A typical digital queue management system consists of ticket dispensing devices or kiosk, digital signage to display queuing information, customer calling and announcement equipment and software solution. The software consists of a central command and control dashboard which is usually held in the head office, then there are branch management dashboards for branch managers and customer service agent’s dashboard. All these tools are specifically designed to maximize the efficiency of the queuing process. The queue management system for government and public offices is not different from any other ordinary queuing solutions however the administration and management features are slightly different to integrate into the workflow of the government and public offices. There are several innovative and modern features that can be included in the queue management system to maximize the customer experience and the efficacy of the system such as virtual queuing features and smartphone apps, etc.
Advantages of Queue Management System for Government and Public Offices
Each government and public office have different requirements hence their needs are different too. There are several queue management systems available in the market, however, the best approach is to develop a customized queue management system for the government and public offices to make the system more productive and effective. Here are some key advantages of a queue management system for the government and public offices:
Streamline Customer Flow
The government and public offices usually have larger footfall and it is harder to ensure a smoother customer flow. The queue management system sing-up customers for a virtual queue, which means the customers don’t have to stand in physical waiting lines, in fact they are free to sit in the waiting areas or anywhere, while they will move forward in the virtual queue. Another great advantage of the queue management system is that it can collect basic data or information about the required service. This information is utilized to direct the customers to the right service counter. In any government or public office the branch would be offering several services. Sometimes some service counters are exclusive for certain services, and sometimes due to other polices certain customers groups are diverted to certain counters, for example, for elderly people there are special counters which are more fast and the agents also have additional training to help such customers and so on. These all different scenarios can make manual queuing more complex, complicated and difficult to manage. However, a queue management system can manage all these variable situations automatically which help streamlining the customer flow.
Reduce the Wait Time
The customer wait time is one of the major reason of damaging the customer relationship with a business. Customers simply hate long wait times, each industry have different tolerance or threshold level for the wait time but on an average it is ranging from 9 to 13 minutes. That means the government or public office should be able to serve each customer within that time range, however, that is very difficult. Obviously when someone is coming for service which is offered by the government department or any public office, the chances are there would be no alternate to that and no matter how long the wait time is the customers would wait. But that is very damaging to the image of the government entity or the public office. Here in UAE all local government departments and ministries are continuously evaluated and rated according to their performance and public perception. So, it is crucial to reduce the customer wait time. The queue management system automates the customer sign-up process, eliminates common queuing problems, balance the workload of the employee which improve customer experience and raise their happiness and satisfaction.
Virtual Queuing Enables Instant Service Delivery
The virtual queue management systems are the most modern form of the queuing solutions. Traditionally the customers will have to visit a government or public office to secure a spot in the queues, but with virtual queuing they can sing-up remotely and don’t have to physically present at the government office. This allow them to arrive exactly at the time of their turn, hence they don’t have to wait at all. No wait time means instant service, which can have huge impact on customer experience and satisfaction. The virtual queue management system allow customers and visitors to sign-up using multiple channels, such as queue management system mobile apps, SMS, call, online portal, etc. All these channels are very convenient and easy to use, furthermore the customers can secure their spot before even arriving. There are several other benefits of the virtual queuing, such as it also help reducing the work load of the staff and it prevents crowed formation at the premises, etc. The wait time is the most influential factor in customer happiness and customer satisfaction. No wait time means excellent customer experience and higher customer satisfaction.
Improve Customer Engagements and Communication
The most common problem customers faces at government and public offices is less communication. Which can badly effect the customer experience, the queue management system keep customers engaged and provide them with frequent updates. When customers are waiting in the waiting areas, large digital signage keep displaying the updated information about the queues. These signage can also play multimedia content to provide more information or entertainment. Furthermore the audio announcements in multiple languages also keep users engaged and distracted from the waiting, which help reducing the waiting stress and enhance customer experience. The virtual queuing tools further increase the communication between the customers and the service agents. The queue management system mobile apps, SMS, WhatsApp and even calls can be used for communication. The auto-respondent and chat bots can also be integrated to provide quick information to the customers. This also help increasing customer engagement and raise their satisfaction. It is all about customer experience, if customer will have good experience the chances are their interaction with the service agent will also be good and vice versa.
Real-time Queuing Updates
The queue management system comes with a centralized software core application which is usually hosted at a server and all the connected branches and touch points act as the client to that server. All the source code, AI based smart algorithms and queue management system software is deployed at a server. The queue management system can work in both internet and intranet networks and can be hosted in traditional online hosting or at cloud platforms. This enables all branches and touch points to communicate directly with the central server. The queue management system offer dedicated UIs for the customers and dedicated dashboard for the agents along with an administrative dashboard. The administrative dashboard allow the branch managers and the head office to get the live queuing information at their respective dashboards. The branch manager can get the live data feeds and several performance matrices which help them understand the situation at the branch along with customer flow and behavioral data which help them take quick and informed decisions to improve queuing process. The head office can view the same information along with several additional matrices at their dashboard. Which help them take decisions in real-time and effectively implement their policies.
Improve Staff Performance
The queue management system is a very capable tool it can efficiently manages several customer journey steps automatically. The AI (artificial intelligence) based smart software engine can process live data and take decisions instantly to maximize the efficiency of the queuing process. It completely automates the customer sign-up process and improve customer flow. This means that the contribution of the staff is lessened. When the customers are managed manually, there might be complaints, the staff gets more engaged with the customers who are in the queues, which could keep distracting them from their primary tasks. This results in poor employee performance and more dissatisfaction among the employees. However, with the queue management system the employees are no longer required to interfere in other affairs, in fact they can easily focus on their primary tasks. Furthermore the queue management system balance the workload of the staff which help improving the staff performance. The queue management system also captures several KPIs and employee performance data which help the management in resource planning and management to maximize the productivity. The management can easily identify the areas of improvement and take actions to maximize the staff performance.
Improve Public Prospective
Here in UAE the government and public offices are working very hard to build a great image of their department or entity among the citizens. When a government or public office serves the citizens it also bear the responsibility to up lift the brand image and the overall public prospective about the organization. The customer experience have huge influence over customer opinion. Good experience, good public perception and bad experience means bad public perception of the organization, it is that simple. The queue management system not only improve customer flow but it is capable of improving the entire customer journey. It can improve several steps of the customer journey and it help improving the employee performance which also result in better experience and high-quality service. When a customer don’t have to wait much or if they used virtual queuing, they reached to the counter in a stress free mindset. The staff on the other hand works under balanced workload and is also happy. This help delivering excellent customer experience and satisfactory customer service which results in higher customer satisfaction and happiness. Satisfied customers tend to be loyal and loyal customers help spreading good words about the organization and add value to the entire brand image and its public perception.
Reduce Operational Cost
A digital queue management system is far more effective than just improving the customer flow. The digitalization brings automation and the automation drives productivity and efficiency. Better efficiency means better resource utilization and efficient resource management strategies help reducing the operational cost without compromising operation efficiency and productivity. In government and public offices the major chunk of expense went in employee retention. Since the footfall is high, the branch also have to hold larger teams which is very expensive. But with the help of a digital queue management system the branch can literally automate several major parts of the customer journey, hence no need to deploy employees or additional resources for these steps. Furthermore the queue management system help improving the employee efficiency and productivity of the branch. It means the same branch can serve more customers in a day with less resources without compromising customer experience and customer satisfaction. This automatically raise the productivity of the branch and reduce the operational cost. The queue management system itself have very low deployment cost and it also doesn’t require much maintenance which means results in higher ROIs and help reducing the operational cost.
Conclusion
The government and public offices have fairly larger footfall. Hence their queuing processes are sophisticated and require a lot of resources too. It not only make the management more complex but it also raise the operational cost of the branch. However, with the help of a digital queue management system the government or public office can significantly reduce the operational cost without compromising the service quality or customer experience. In fact a queue management system is a great tool to enhance the customer experience and to raise the customer satisfaction. For any government or public office the top priority is to provide easy access to high quality services. A queue management system help them achieving their goals. It can significantly reduce customer wait time and with virtual queuing the customer wait time can be reduced to none. The queue management system automates several customer journey steps which drives productivity, efficiency and also help reducing the workload of the staff and enable them to perform better.
The queue management system can provide a wealth of valuable business intelligence data which help management understand the customer flow, customer behavior, staff performance and provide them several analytical matrices. The queue management systems are built using widely available technological platforms which significantly reduce the deployment and maintenance cost and help reducing the overall operational cost of the branch. The central information center allow the head offices and the branches to collect and view the real-time queuing data and several performance matrices at the administrative dashboard. Which help them take quick and informed decision to improve the queuing process. RSI Concepts is a leading queue management system provider in Dubai, UAE. We are serving our customers since more than a decade now with our standard and customized queuing solutions. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want us to help you improve your department’s performance, customer happiness and public perception, feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.
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