For any business the primary goals is to satisfy its customers, generate more revenue and grow. The service sector in Dubai and all around the UAE is very concerned about the rapid changes in the market trends, market behavior and technology advancements. The customer experience and service quality are the most important factors for any business’s success. However, each business will have to find a balance between the resources they have and the quality of service they provide. Investing a lot of resources in service delivery processes can surely improve the service quality but this approach could jeopardize the growth. That is why each business has to maximize the efficiency, productivity and performance in order to achieve the high quality of work with whatever the resources they have in hand. For that businesses adopt different methods and bring innovative solutions to maximize the operational efficiency and the quality of the work. This enable businesses to utilize their resources at maximum potential and achieve higher performance efficiency.
When it comes to efficiency and quality of work, for the service based businesses the service centers are the main customer facing channels. Customers tend to visit the service centers to avail various different services, for that the business have multiple counters in a service center to ensure maximum customers get served with minimum wait time. Sometimes there are some exclusive counters for some exclusive services, sometimes there are stepped services which require customers to go to multiple counters to get the full service and so on. There could be different service methods and work flows as per the business model and their practices. However, one thing in customer service centers is universal and very common, which is long waiting lines. The queue management is one of the most critical business function. Different service based industries have different footfall patterns, but all have some peak hours or busy days than the others. The customer footfall will be higher in certain hours of the day which could cause slow moving queues, long waiting time, and even crowed formation is common. That is why a digital queue management system is used to deal with these sort of problems. In this blog we will discuss how a queue management system improves the efficiency of the branch and how it improves service quality.
What is a Digital Queue Management System?
A digital queue management system is a modern solution to manage queues at the large customer service centers. The queue management system is a digital tool, it consists of two parts, one is software and the other is hardware. The major hardware components are interactive kiosk or ticket dispensing machine, digital signage and audio announcements system. The software is designed with highly advance AI (artificial intelligence) based smart algorithms which makes queue management system capable to continuously reading analytical data and take decision in real-time to maximize the efficiency of the queuing process. The queue management system software is usually hosted at a server, or online or at cloud. The agents gets their agent dashboard which provide them features to perform their queuing related tasks and it can also help them improve the service delivery process. The customer UI (user interface) is designed for the interactive kiosk.
However, some modern queue management system allow customers to interact with the system through multiple channels such as smartphone apps, online portals, and other channels. The administrative dashboard is for the management and staff and it is the main command and control system of the queue management system. Furthermore there are different types of software and hardware accessories that can be added to the system on the bases of needs of the business. The virtual queuing is the most modern form of the queue management system it is capable of reducing the customer wait time to literally none. There are several hardware accessories that can be added to the queue management system such as Emirates ID card reader, passport scanners, RFID Job ID Card Reader, Barcode & QR Code reader and several others. The software is capable of integrating with several systems and databases which allow the queue management system to offer more innovative features to enhance customer experience and to maximize the service quality.
Key Advantages of a Queue Management System that Help Improving Service Quality
The queue management system is used to deal with day-to-day queuing problems. However, the queue management system doesn’t only regulate the customer flow but it is a very capable tool which can help improving each and every touch point of the customer journey. The service quality doesn’t only depends on the capabilities of the service agent, in fact there are a lot of other variables which help businesses gradually improve the service quality. If a business is failed to manage the customer flow and the queues effectively the customers will have to wait longer, their waiting experience would be average or mostly below average, they will get waiting stress and they could reach counter in a highly uncomfortable mental state. After a long waiting time most of the customers just want to get everything done as quickly as possible, hence they make the job of service agent more difficult. Moreover when the queues are poorly managed the service agents also have a lot more work to do, they will get distracted from additional tasks to manage the queues, communicating with the customers in the waiting lines, and much more. Which effect their performance. All this led to a poor service quality. Here are the key advantages of a queue management system that help businesses improving the service quality.
Reduced Wait Time
One of the most crucial part of customer journey is the wait time and it could have profound effect on service delivery as well. As per industry standards and several international studies the average acceptable wait time for a customer is 5 to 13 minutes, depend on the industry. In traditional and manual queuing environment an average wait time could reach somewhere from 20 to 100 minutes on an average, depends on the footfall and industry type. However a digital queue management system can reduce the customer wait time by 30% to 70% depends on the industry. Furthermore the virtual queuing is a highly efficient queue management system which can literally reduce the wait time to zero. That much of reduction in the customer waiting time can have significant impact on customer happiness and customer satisfaction. Traditionally the queue management is not an easy task, it requires a lot of manpower and even then it cause a lot of problems which result in customer unhappiness and dissatisfaction, such as line jumpers, long waiting lines, dispute among customers, customer complaints about favoritism or poor management and much more. All these issues not only make your customers unhappy and frustrated but also have a toll on the employee performance.
A digital queue management system let customers sign-up for the virtual queues, hence they don’t have to physically wait in the lines. It offer customers freedom to wait comfortably in the designated waiting areas and help improving their experience. Furthermore the queue management system is a digital tool, hence the customers and visitors knows that the queues are managed by a computer operated program. This assure them there would be no line jumping, no favoritism and no mismanagement. Hence the customer complaints reduced to literally none. The queue management system automates the customer sign-up processes with the help of self-service solutions. Furthermore the self-service interactive ticket dispensing kiosk can be used to acquire some basic information about the customer’s needs. Which help queue management system to put them in the right queue. Furthermore the queue management system can divert customers from one counter to another in real time to ensure maximum efficiency. This entire process is automated, hence the wait time is significantly reduced. Since there is no human involvement the entire process is automated, the efficiency is high which improve customer flow and reduce wait time.
Improve Customer’s Waiting Experience
Reducing the customer wait time is a great advantage however, the improving the customer waiting experience could double their satisfaction. There are certain features that a queue management system offers which help businesses improve the customer waiting experience. The wait become more difficult if we don’t know how long we would have to wait. A queue management system captures analytical and system usage data, it also monitor several employee performance KPIs. The AI based smart algorithms can easily determine the expected wait time. Publishing the expected wait time help reducing the stress of the customers. Furthermore the digital signage keep displaying the live queuing information which also keep customers engaged and distracted from the waiting. The queue management system also allow businesses to publish multimedia content for information and entertainment to keep user busy. The multi-lingual audio announcement system keep announcing the next ticket number. These all things keep user distracted from the boredom of the waiting and keep them engaged which reduced the stress of the waiting and improve customer’s waiting experience.
Improve Customer Flow
The customer flow is of the major aspect of queue management. Usually in each service center there are several counters, there are several services and each service is different from the other. There are so many factors that can affect the customer flow. For example, some services take more time than the others, there are certain services which can be only offered by the exclusive counters, different service agents work on different pace, etc. All these factors can impact the customer wait time. The queue management system take account of all these aspects and it is capable of taking fully autonomous decisions in real time, which enable it to utilize the full potential of the service agents and maximize the productivity. For example, if a particular service is offered at 3 out 10 counters, two of the service agents are working at a good pace, one is relatively slower and takes more time to serve a customer than the peers. In such case the queue management system can sense the customer flow pace, and it can move more customers from the fast moving queues than the slow moving queues to maintain the balance which also increase the overall performance of the team.
Furthermore there are several services which are exclusive and there are customer groups which require different treatment as per the business policy. In such scenarios the queue management system can completely understand the customer route and ensures a smooth customer flow. The queue management system can automatically direct the premium or VIP customers to exclusive counters, it can direct the customers to the designated counters based on their service requirements. If a counter stopped, it can automatically divert and distribute the load at the other counters. These features are fully autonomous, the businesses can configure their policies as an instruction set for the system and the queue management system takes all the decisions in real-time based on the data it is capturing from different sources and touch points. The queue management system can also effectively improve the customer flow for the stepped services. A stepped service is a service that is distributed among more than one counters, the queue management system can not only ensures smooth customer flow but it also direct customers to the next steps. Basically the automation plays a vital role in maximizing the customer flow.
Offer Virtual Queuing
The virtual queuing is the most modern and advanced type of queue management system. The virtual queuing allow customers to utilize remote channels and mediums to sing-up remotely for the queues. It means that the customers are not required to be physically present at the branch. The virtual queue management systems are integrated with multiple channels, such as queue management system mobile apps, online customer portals, company website, SMS, QR Code, WhatsApp, etc. All these channels improve customer experience by providing them freedom and control over their interaction and facilitate each customer journey step. Since the customers are signing up remotely, hence they can plan their visit to arrive only when their turn comes. They don’t have to sit in the waiting areas anymore. They can do whatever they want to do, this offer a great relief to the customers and doesn’t put any waiting pressure on them. Furthermore the remote channels also allow businesses to enable communication with the customers and send them alerts and notifications to keep them updated with the queuing status. Less wait time means no stress or frustration, the customers get served as they arrived. This has a great impact on customer interaction and make it easier for the service agent to deliver a satisfactory experience.
Reduce Employee Workload and Improve Efficiency
With the traditional queuing the employee works under high pressure and they have to deal with a lot of unwanted tasks such as managing the queues, answering to people’s queries, solving their disputes, and such activities. This can have a serious impact on employee efficiency and on top of that the business will require a lot of additional staff to ensure a smooth customer flow during the peak hours. However, with the queue management system the employee doesn’t have to deal with any of such task, the entire customer flow is managed by the queue management system. This reduce the work load of the employee, furthermore the queue management system automatically manages the customer flow which is also very helpful in evenly distributing the customer among all available counters. When employee work under balanced workload their performance automatically got improved and they tend to be more satisfied. Moreover the queue management system can also be integrated with internal systems and other business tools which enables it to help service agents with their pre-service and post-service tasks, and reduce the delay. Happy and satisfied employees tend to deliver better service and on top of that since the customers also arrive with a calm and stress-free mind, it is easier to satisfy them.
Collect Business Intelligence Data and Improve Decision Making Processes
As the queue management system is a digital tool it has capability to collect and record analytical and performance data. The queue management system can collect information about the footfall, the peak hours/days, different patterns, the data about the service usage, the employee performance data and even the customer feedback data which help management to take informed decisions and based their policies and strategies upon the analytical, historic and feedback data to maximize the customer satisfaction and service quality. For example the understanding of the peak hours, will let the management effectively utilize resources, the understanding of the wait time can help understanding the strength and weaknesses of the queuing strategies. The employee performance data will help the management and the HR to design effective training programs and improve employee performance and technical competencies. Furthermore the customer feedback data help the management to understand the customer’s needs, expectations and desires. It also help identifying the areas of improvement and enable the businesses to gradually improve the services and service quality.
Integration with Third Party Tools and Databases
The queue management system is designed on a highly adoptive and technologically advanced platforms. Which enables businesses to easily integrate in the internal IT infrastructure and the central information center. This enables the queue management system to send and receive data to and from all integrated systems, databases and the central information center. The integration also allow queue management system to offer more innovative features. For example the integration with the customer database allow queue management system to identify the customers at the self-service ticket dispensing kiosk via the customer ID, barcode/QR code, or even with the Emirates ID Card and so on. Integrating biometrics identification is also very common among the HR departments. The integration also allow the queue management system to facilitate the agent’s tasks. For example each agent have to prepare for the next service, this preparation require accessing certain information that are required for the service delivery, which can be automatically pushed to the agent dashboard if the queue management system is integrated with the relevant systems and databases and so on. All these features are possible because of the integration capabilities of the queue management system and directly or indirectly help improving the service quality and customer experience.
Conclusion
The service quality for any service based business is the crucial and extremely important. If a business failed to deliver the high-quality service they can’t retain customers for long. The customer retention depends on the service quality and customer experience. If the customers are happy and satisfied they tend to become more loyal with the brand. The loyal customers are a great asset for any business and are considered to be the key to success. Furthermore several studies and market researches shows that it is 5 to 25 times more expensive acquiring a new customer than selling to an existing customer. That is why the customer happiness, satisfaction and loyalty is crucial for the businesses. When it comes to customer service quality and satisfaction the queuing plays a crucial role. The traditional and manual queuing methods have completely failed the businesses that is why the businesses are actively seeking digital solutions to improve their queuing process. A digital queue management system is one of the most effective tool to manage the queuing process and it also have several other benefits too. The queue management system help businesses streamline the customer flow and automates several internal process which further help businesses reducing the customer wait time.
The wait time is one of the most crucial aspect of customer experience. The reduction in wait time have great effects on the customer experience, furthermore the queue management system also help improving customer’s waiting experience and the virtual queuing is capable of completely eliminate the wait time. Furthermore the queue management system help improving the employee performance and it can also support them with their primary tasks. The queue management system can significantly reduce the employee workload, which also help increasing the employee service quality. The queue management system also collect and provide highly valuable business intelligence data. The business intelligence data help businesses evaluate their ongoing strategies and policies and provide them valuable information which enable them to gradually improve the strategies and help them making informed and fruitful decisions. RSI Concepts is a leading queue management system provider in Dubai, UAE. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to deploy a highly effective, cost-efficient and customized queue management system, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.
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