Article

Getting in good with government

Cutting through bureaucracy can be rewarding for kiosk companies, provided they're not in a hurry.

April 8, 2004 by

Playing "hurry up and wait" is just one of the potential frustrations when kiosk developers take on the government as a client. Working on federal, state and local projects, progress is much slower than in the private sector. Cutting through the bureaucratic maze requires patience and dedication, but the rewards of government work can make it all worthwhile.

Governments can be steady customers, but the business of government moves slowly, from the awarding of contracts to the execution of concepts. Though they lack speed in completing projects, governmental organizations generally dot every "i" and cross every "t" before placing kiosks in public. That can be both a blessing and a curse, according to some kiosk providers and contractors who have completed government projects.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has had success with kiosks that tell users how to buy a home, apply for affordable rental housing or find the nearest homeless shelter. In 1997, HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo asked for an "ATM machine" to deliver information to people. So the agency designed "HUD Next Door" kiosks.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Managementhas used kiosks for the past decade to help people search for federal jobs.

"Within government, that's one of the killer applications," of kiosks, according to kiosk industry consultant Francie Mendelsohn.

"If you can manage to get a contract from (a government agency), it can be lucrative," said Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associatesin Rockville, Md. "But the sales cycle is very long and you do have to go through hoops."

Government agencies have paved the way for kiosks in the private sector. For example, federal and state agencies were the first to adopt kiosk technology giving access to the blind and disabled.

Shawn R. Proffitt, president CyberTotems LLCin Cooper City, Fla., helped design a kiosk for the U.S. Navy's recruiting efforts. He said the government has been willing to experiment with kiosks, while the private sector is more focused on applications with revenue-generating capability.

As a result, the government has pushed the American consumer to try kiosks for giving and receiving information. Government applications were the first to teach users to tap on touchscreens at kiosks. And Proffitt, who saw firsthand the controversial voting results in the 2000 Presidential election, believes kiosks will be part of the solution in future elections.

"Once the public acceptance of the kiosk and voting through a touchscreen takes off, there'll be more and more acceptance of it," Proffitt said.

Sam Gallagher, associate Web editor with HUD, said his agency's system is designed to provide good, basic information - a five-minute summary of HUD's services - in an easy-to-use form that people can reach easily.

HUD hired architects Gensler Associates, content developers Advanced Technology Systems, installers Eagle Collaborative Computing Systems, and two leaders in kiosk technology: North Communicationsand Summit Research.

For a government agency, HUD moved on its kiosk project with surprising speed. It had a prototype developed in July 1997, and the first unit was deployed four months later. Since then, the agency has placed 90 kiosks in 48 states. Now more than 25,000 people use the machines each month.

Music and video are used to attract users to the HUD kiosks. At the top, an LED ticker tape display announces community events. At the kiosk, users can learn how to file a housing discrimination complaint, how to make their homes safer and how to avoid scams. A single button prints a list of homes for sale. A mortgage calculator helps determine eligibility for loan amounts. HUD-approved lenders and lists of housing counseling agencies are available at the touch of a button.

HUD learned from experience the importance of location in motivating people to use the kiosks. The first was installed at the agency's Washington, D.C., storefront office, and the next six went in federal buildings, where simply getting to the machines required users to drive downtown, find a parking place and negotiate the corridors of the federal government. The usage rate wasn't nearly what the agency had expected. So the agency moved the machines to more accessible places -- libraries, malls and grocery stores.

"The more public the location, the better they're used. It's no different than any other kiosk," Gallagher said. "These are people who would never come to HUD's Web site, but because the kiosk is in a mall, they found out we had information for them."

Governmental kiosk applications aren't just being done on the federal level. States, counties and cities are trotting out their own kiosk projects.

HTS IMD, a Long Beach, Calif. kiosk firm, counts several California counties as clients. In Riverside County, for example, HTS installed 40 kiosks in libraries and shopping malls to provide information on education and career training, according to HTS marketing and sales director Theresa Laird.

The county kiosks provide Internet access for job searches, page scanners for submitting resumes, and even e-mail accounts for applications. And, the terminals are accessible to the blind and disabled, which will become a federal requirement in two years.

Humbolt County, Calif., deployed 15 kiosks in county agencies, Laird said. It was among the first to use HTS' proprietary TouchManager system, which allows the county to maintain its own network.

State governments in Utah and Arizona created kiosk networks a decade ago, when they weren't at all prevalent, Laird said. In New York, kiosks were used to ensure that forms and information were readily available to low and medium income residents involved in landlord-tenant disputes and divorces.

Although government work has its virtues, speed isn't one of them, Laird said. While a national retailer might deploy an entire network in 90 days, a similar project involving a government client might take two years.

"It's certainly not for the companies that want quick fixes and turnout," Laird said. "With the government, it's really more of a relationship."

Government clients are demanding, and require near-perfection because citizens don't expect their tax dollars to be spent on projects that don't work.

"Once you've done government work, you love it, or you hate it and you never do it again," Laird said. "We love our government clients."

CyberTotems deployed 15 Navy recruiting kiosks from Maine to Massachusetts. Portable terminals provided information and accepted personal data for recruiting in Spanish and English. Proffitt's prior service in the Army taught him how to work with the military's hierarchy.

Still, Proffitt ran into an unanticipated problem, when the Navy decided to transport one of its kiosks to a football game in the back of a Humvee. The trip was too much for the sensitive kiosk, and it didn't work at the game. So Proffitt worked with the Navy to create a larger, padded, metal box to protect the equipment on the road. And they found a more suitable vehicle for the ride.

There were other problems, though, including situations in which there was no available electrical outlet, or a phone jack for the kiosk's Internet connection. In one instance, Proffitt used a $50 cell phone to make the unit work, and kept his client happy.

With so many government agencies deploying kiosks, it might seem to make sense to combine multiple services at one kiosk site, Gallagher said.

The General Services Administrationrecently signed a vendor, NBG Solutions Inc., to maintain kiosks in federal buildings, malls, libraries and groceries. The GSA expects heavy traffic at the kiosks, which will provide federal, state, county and municipal services.

Bureaucrats from several agencies have discussed tying all the government's housing programs into one machine, according to Gallagher. Or, the agencies could collaborate on a kiosk network that will link all government kiosks, the same way that FirstGov.gov acts as a main page for all government Web sites.

"But," Gallagher concluded, "what would ultimately happen is all agencies would have to sit down in a room to accomplish their individual missions."