Article

More than just a pretty face Part II of III

KIS says buying a whole kiosk package from one vendor is the way to build attractive and appealing kiosks.

April 9, 2002 by

Rick Malone has some advice for anyone considering a new kiosk program. The president of Kiosk Information Systems (KIS)says to compare the buying process to the way ATMs are purchased.

"Would you go out and buy an enclosure and then go buy the money dispensing machine?" asked Malone, whose company markets and manufactures complete kiosk systems. "It's ludicrous, that's not how it is. Why would it be any different in the kiosk business?"

Malone said the kiosk industry is going through a transition from a piece-by-piece approach to turnkey solution providers. He said about 90 percent of the kiosks manufactured at his Broomfield, Colo. headquarters are complete systems, from the enclosure to the interior components.

When the decision is made to proceed with a kiosk rollout, projects are often pushed through production quickly, Malone said. Last year, KIS delivered on a project for the Borders book chain in which 1,100 Title Sleuth kiosks were shipped in 90 days.

For KIS, which focuses on telecommunications, government, human resources and retail applications, demand for kiosks has resulted in unprecedented growth. The company's earnings nearly doubled from 1999 to 2000, booming from $6.9 million to about $13 million, Malone said. About 60 employees work for the eight-year-old firm.

The design process

"We really build machines as opposed to building just enclosures and there's a difference in terms of your approach." Malone said in describing the development process. That process begins with an assessment of five guidelines - budget, usage, location, applicable safety codes and the business objective as defined by the customer.

From there, KIS staff identify the components that will be required, including software, computer, viewing screen, keyboard, trackball, credit card reader, currency collector, printer, camera, etc.

Once the components are selected, testing must be done to ensure the components and software chosen for the project are compatible. KIS builds a three-dimensional model, which shows how the components are positioned in the kiosk. The model's enclosure is built after the interior components are finalized.

KIS produces artist renderings and gains approval of the design from the client. Once the client approves, KIS builds a prototype.

"We never do software or just the machine," Malone said. "Even if we don't purchase everything, we put it all together, so it goes out of the factory as a shrink-wrapped, completed product."

Software may be subcontracted or provided by the client.

Appearance

"If you look at the ATM machine, or you look at a vending machine, and kiosks are somewhere in between there, there's much more pressure in the kiosk market to make it look more unique," Malone said. "It almost has an advertisement-by-design element to most projects that we're dealing with. If you look at the various applications, it's pretty obvious."

Malone recalled a KIS project to design kiosks to be placed in showrooms for Mercedes Benz dealers. The design resembled one of the manufacturer's luxury cars.

"You have, you know, $100,000 cars sitting next to it. It better look pretty good."

Using the Mercedes kiosks, customer could assemble a car with the amenities of their choice, and see the result on an LCD screen. A sloping monolith, clad in polished stainless steel and bearing the famous three-point Mercedes logo, backed the screen. "At that time it was pretty neat because LCDs weren't used a lot in projects like that," Malone said..

KIS has provided kiosks in two new sporting venues, Enron Field in Houston and the Pepsi Center in Denver. Both projects required architectural units, defined by Malone as sculptures with an electronic side intended for permanent display. At the Pepsi Center, home to the NBA's Nuggets and the NHL's Avalanche, three Conoco "Play at the Pump" electronic gaming kiosks invite fans to win prizes.The kiosks look like Conoco gas pump designs from the 1940s, 1960s and 1990s and feature touchscreen displays, printers, scanners and credit card readers.

At Houston's Enron Field, which opened as the Astros' new home last year, a kiosk shaped like a 1930s Conoco pump is mounted on a special outfield perch and stands 14 feet high. .

"It's a very unique location and it counts each home run hit out of Enron Field, which there are quite a few," Malone said. "In that case, we took real special care in making sure we emphasized the industrial design. Not that we didn't do the electronics, but the main emphasis is `Hey, this has got to look really good because that's what people are going to see.' "

Malone said kiosks can vary widely in terms of cost, from a fully functional $1,200 unit to one that cost $200,000. He says the average cost per unit is $7,000.

"It's not just building a pretty box, let's call it, or a pretty statue, it's making a functional machine that has real uses because essentially that's what a kiosk is, is a self-service terminal," Malone said. "If it doesn't function as one, it's not worth much, not the second time."

Impact

In addition to the architectural kiosks, Denver's Pepsi Center houses 14 interactive KIS kiosks.

A dozen of the kiosks are used for a fan appreciation program for the Nuggets and Avalanche. The others provide free Internet access.

Brian Kitts, director of public relations for the Pepsi Center, estimates 2.5 million people visit the Pepsi Center annually for sporting events and concerts, and about 10 percent of the 18,000 nightly visitors use the kiosks. He says the level of participation shows the kiosk program is paying off.

"The idea behind it is the fan swipes a membership card and the player's video comes on and tells the fan if they have won something," Kitts says. "It's a good way to support the fans that continue to support the teams."

The value of the kiosks in Denver is to provide information and entertainment, Kitts says.

"Any time that you can add anything at all to the game experience, you're making points with the fans," Kitts says. "Whether it's upon entering the arena, exiting the arena or during period breaks, they're all happy to have a unique way to entertain them. I think that's what the kiosk provides."

Not a do-it-yourself proposition

Malone said it's easy to make mistakes or underestimate the difficulty of an effective kiosk rollout, and he's seen lots of poorly designed machines reach the field. Finding the right kiosk company, he said, is essential to success.

"We see things go out and go, `Gosh, these guys are nuts, this will never work in the field," he said. "It would be almost like somebody saying, "Well, I'm not going to buy from NCR, I'm going to make my own ATM machine.' How insane is that?"

He said the temptation to put together a simple and inexpensive kiosk may seem tempting, but can end up a costly proposition.

"Â…when people get into kiosk projects, they say, `I can build this thing, I'll just have some guy make me a cabinet, I'll stick a PC and a monitor in it and it will be fine.' Well, if that's simple, you might be fine, but usually it isn't and then they fail and people wonder why there's so many failures in the industry."