Kiosks - Who Needs Them?

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For the uninitiated, Rich Germain attempts to provide a brief introduction to kiosks: what they are, where they came from and what they can do for your business.
 
What exactly is a kiosk?
 
When people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them I work for a magazine about kiosks, most look blankly and say “That’s nice. What’s a kiosk?” Or they think I’m talking about newspaper stands that sells candy bars and soft drinks. I then usually turn round and ask them if they have bought a car park ticket recently, or printed out an automated bank statement, or used the self-service check-in machine at the airport. Most have, and are using kiosks in their daily lives without ever even realising it.
 
So, after a long introduction a very short answer: kiosks are interactive self-service terminals that make our everyday lives easier and more convenient by serving us with a whole range of transactions. And doing their job so well we don’t even register that they’re there.
This already gives us some vital clues as to what the defining characteristics of kiosks are: a kiosk must be a useful point of interaction that is always open, easily accessible and easy to use for the end-users it is designed to benefit. This has important implications for the design of the kiosk solution, as well as for the reliability and quality of the technology used. We’ll get to that later.
 
Probably the most crucial aspect of the whole kiosk business model is their interactivity in a public environment. All competing technology (large screen advertising, information displays, paper displays, etc.) are a one-way street of communication, where customers are targeted to respond, but the response is typically separated in terms of time, place and communication from where they receive the message. With a kiosk the customer can respond, so to speak, in their own words, thus allowing the kiosk operator to gain individual feedback to a general proposition. This is almost unheard of in classic customer technology, and dovetails perfectly with the modern high demand for customised client communication.
 
Everything we aim at the public is becoming more and more targeted; but the ways of responding have remained the same - and as unspecific as the messages used to be. Before kiosks, the only way around this was a manned desk, which is extremely expensive and brings a lot of maintenance and misunderstandings with it. Just think of all the different languages in Europe - you would be very lucky to find a desk clerk that speaks 25 languages, but it’s no problem for a kiosk.
And finally, kiosks work as self-service agents. This, no rocket science required, does necessarily imply the ACTIVE involvement of the customer to make the kiosk work. Before looking at the implications of the self-service setting, it is important to point out that kiosks therefore require and create something very unusual in a public sphere, and also less and less in supply in typical client – supplier relationships: Confidentiality. To use a kiosk successfully it is required that the customer accepts the kiosk as a trustworthy partner (source of information, reliable transaction supplier, etc). This creates an enormous opportunity to communicate with your clients and get your message across to them in a situation where they are exceptionally open and trusting to information, since they themselves are in control of the communication process and have actively decided to use the kiosk’s facilities.
 
The Bigger Picture

At school we all learnt about the three main economic societies: we developed from a rural agricultural self production society to discover technology, specialisation and work share creating an industrial society, which is now leading us inexorably towards a service economy.
 
Just as industrial society has become ever more efficient by using more and more technology and by the automation of the manufacturing processes, what were are now experiencing is the beginning of a huge new movement resulting in the automation of the service processes – and kiosk technology is precisely the technology to deliver this.
 
The first big success story was the computer-controlled dispensal of cash through the automated teller machine (ATM), of which the first were installed in the UK in the mid-1960s. Installations of ATMs are still growing in every country in the world and usage hits record highs year after year. This huge success has helped ripen the fruit of kiosk technology, so that today we are seeing kiosks installed wherever client service is important. The first kiosk is said to have been installed in a North-American university in the mid-1970s, but it took until the mid-nineties before we saw kiosks being installed in appreciable numbers across Europe. Kiosk installations are now growing at a rate of at least 35% per annum in Europe, and are set to rise further and faster every year. Airports are installing check-in kiosks, supermarkets are adding terminals to more branches every day, banks offer their customers ever more sophisticated service by kiosk – even fast food has got faster by kiosk!
 
The Bottom Line
 
The main driving force behind this growth is, of course, higher profitability for the kiosk operators. At the simplest level, kiosks contribute directly to higher revenues by accepting cash and card payments for the services and transactions offered. But when you look at the overall picture it is quite often the less apparent benefits, such as better customer service, reduced staff costs and intensified communication, that add even more to the bottom line, increasing the operator’s productivity in a wide range of areas. The deployment of high-technology in high-visibility environments doesn’t do your branding any harm, either. Soft factors like these are invaluable assets in the battle for market supremacy, enhancing efficiency and clarifying customer awareness in a world full of competing messages.
 
Naturally, some industries have been quicker to realise these opportunities than others. Self check-in terminals in airports and internet access terminals in public places are now as common a sight as ATMs and statement printers in banks, but many more industries are only now starting to realise the huge range of benefits on offer. Among the recent converts, and current success stories, are the digital photography industry, lottery & gaming organisations, the petrol station trade and postal service suppliers, to name but a few.
 
Don’t get me wrong. Kiosks can’t do everything. But they can lighten the load for a lot of standard, and more and more specific, transactions. They make life more convenient and offer huge savings to those who install them. They will win the field of customer service in the coming years, just as the ATM did before them. The business opportunities for those that get on board early are almost limitless. So, sit back, have a good read of our magazine and maybe think about contacting a few of the people you’ll find within – I’m sure they’ll be able to make a better job of explaining all this than I have.
 
Selecting a Kiosk Solution
 
Choosing your first kiosk project may seem like a daunting task, but adhering to a few basic rules will go a long way towards maximising your return on investment and giving your customers the service they demand:
 
1) Definition
Define your business model and (ideally quantifiable) benefits from the use of kiosks in your organisation. Integrate this solution to your business case!
 
2) Technology
Make sure you get the right tools. Select the hardware and software solutions that will best provide the services you require. This is definitely not the place to skimp on investments; your kiosk will become the 24/7 automated business card of your company and often the first impression a customer will get of your organisation. As we all know, you only have one chance to leave a first impression.
 
3) Service
Whether indoors or outdoors, your kiosk is going to be operating in a harsh environment, subjected to constant abuse (normally innocent but sometimes malicious) from the public and the elements. Look for the supplier that offers long-term maintenance and hosting of the kiosks and you will be well rewarded in the long run.

4) Keep It Simple
This cannot be stressed enough. Kiosks overloaded with applications have been much less well received than the ones with ONE clear application or use that is easily apparent and understood by the customer.
 
Kiosk benefits include:

• Higher profitability
• Improved customer service
• Cost savings
• Interactive sales opportunities
• Customer profiling
• High visibility branding
• Public access
• 24/7 operation
• Remote management
• Multi-language support

 
Kiosk applications include:

• Payment
• Public information
• Confidential transactions
• Check-in / Check-out
• Internet access
• Statement printing
• Online applications
• Entertainment
• Digital photo printing
• Communications
• Vending
• Customer reward schemes
• Internal communications
• Building Management
• Access control
• Gift registry
• Advertising
• Lottery & Gaming