Article

Consumers driving new movement

Consumers have more self-service options including mobile devices.

July 2, 2007

Editor's Note:Bill Nuti, chief executive of NCR Corp., delivered the keynote address at the 2007 NCR Self-Service Universe in Washington, D.C. Shortly after the keynote, Nuti also sat down one-on-one with Self-Service World's Patrick Avery.

 

When Bill Nuti stepped in as chief executive of NCR Corp. two years ago, he had his sights set on moving NCR to the top of the self-service industry. NCR now stands as the largest supplier in self-checkout and travel kiosks, a notable accomplishment for Nuti after just two years captaining the ship.

 

Stock for NCR in July hit an all-time high of $54.44, marking a 72 percent increase from its year-long low of $31.64 last August, thanks, in part, to NCR's planned spin-off of its Teradata division.

 

 

story continues below... advertisement     This story and all of our great free content is supported by:     MEI Build superior kiosks with bill and coin acceptors from MEI.

Despite those accomplishments, Nuti says he won't stay satisfied. 

 

In fact, he wants to continue to join forces with companies and industries across the globe to accelerate a new self-service movement.

 

"Empowered individuals or consumers have more ways to serve themselves than ever before, thanks to the power of the Internet, mobile devices and self-service kiosks and ATMs," Nuti said during his keynote. "Self-service is well on its way to becoming the consumers' channel of choice."

 

In fact, Nuti argues that in order to maintain a competitive edge in the future, businesses, government agencies and healthcare providers will be pushed by consumers to adopt more self-service.

 

Consumers steering the ship

 

In late 2006, Time Magazine named "You" as The Person of the Year. That statement signaled the power of the consumer and the need for businesses to tailor their products to meet consumer needs, Nuti says.

 

Consumers have fueled the growth of self-service. In 2006, consumers throughout the world booked 560 million plane tickets, rented 600 million DVDs, printed 8.8 billion digital photographs, and purchased $300 billion in goods and services through self-service channels. In North America alone, consumers purchased $178 billion in goods through retail self-checkout systems.

 

The new self-service movement has been facilitated by technological advances and fueled by fundamental and lasting changes in human behavior, Nuti says. For consumers, self-service is all about convenience, control and saving time.

 

"All of these allow you to redefine the consumer experience," Nuti said.

 

Integration in action

 

Self-service automation in the form of kiosks has been spreading the globe in restaurants, supermarkets, airports, hospitals, hotels and businesses. Those same retailers and businesses are now beginning to use the Internet and mobile devices in conjunction with their kiosks.

 

Redbox is a company that is using the Internet as a self-service tool.  Redbox patrons can log in to Redbox's Web site and check inventory for any Redbox machine. Once a movie is located, the user can reserve that movie so it will be held at the kiosk until the user arrives to check it out.

 

The use of mobile devices also opens up future self-service possibilities, Nuti says. According to the International Data Corporation, a record-setting 1 billion mobile phones were sold in 2006. Worldwide, an estimated 2.6 billion people subscribe to mobile phones.

 

"Perhaps the biggest opportunity in the emerging mobile Internet is the ability for mobile phones and other handheld devices to communicate with ATMs and self-service," Nuti said.

 

He said that it is possible for businesses to work with a consumer's mobile device to allow monetary transactions or the topping up of cashless payment systems, such as an electronic wallet stored on a cell phone. Mobile devices can also provide maps, allow users to order tickets to baseball games and check in for flights.

 

Though mobile devices have limitations, including small display screens and short battery-life spans, aggregating multiple services together and integrating the mobile phone with kiosks and ATMs will bring convenience that drives customer loyalty, Nuti says.

 

"The increasing maturation of the self-service market, combined with the relative affordability of self-service solutions, makes implementation on a large scale possible and more feasible," he said.

 

Flying high with self-service

 

Northwest Airlines Inc. is an example of self-service success in action. The airline says self-service is increasingly preferred by its passengers for flight check-in. From 2003 to May 2007, the percentage of self-service check-ins at Northwest jumped from 57.6 percent to 84.5 percent.

 

That increase, said Al Lenza, vice president of distribution and e-commerce for Northwest, has presented Northwest with a golden opportunity.  

 

Northwest has been able to take advantage of the check-in process and use it to up-sell products like special seat assignments, same-day flight changes, first-class upgrades, trip insurance and airport parking. And all of those products and services are available during check-in, whether over the Internet, through a mobile device or at a kiosk.

 

Selling products at check-in has given Northwest an estimated $102 million in non-ticket revenue, Lenza said.

 

Northwest says it soon plans to offer other products, such as hotel reservations, rental cars and other ancillary services, at check-in kiosks.

 

Airlines, hotels and other businesses will continue to develop ways to meet consumers' changing needs, Nuti said.

 

"Consumers will continue to push us to deliver more in the way of new features and new applications," he said. "To use a baseball analogy, self-service is in the first-inning of a nine-inning game."

 

For more coverage of the NCR Self-Service Universe, click here.