Remote management improves kiosk up-time, customer experience

It's no surprise that improving the customer service experience is top of mind for all retailers and imperative for any company's success. Therefore, many retailers have turned to self-service kiosks (photo finishing, DVD rentals, banking, self check-outs, etc.) which have allowed them to significantly reduce wait times, increase the speed of services and further engage their customers.

In addition to providing a smoother shopping experience for the customer, using such devices can offer tremendous benefits to the retailer as well, ultimately boosting a company's bottom line. Self-service devices allow companies to lower per transaction costs, expand purchase options and increase the amount of impulse sales of their products. Furthermore, retailers are able to extend service beyond standard business hours and expand product offerings to locations where it does not make economic sense to staff retail outlets.

While implementing kiosks into retail locations seems like the perfect customer service solution, these devices can quickly become counterproductive if they are not properly monitored, managed and serviced. If the kiosks run out of stock or go down for prolonged periods of time, the time and staff needed to get them up and running again can become quite expensive and time consuming for the staff that should be helping out customers. More importantly, malfunctioning machines significantly diminish customer service, preventing consumers from efficiently accessing the products and/or services they are looking for.

One main reason why retailers experience malfunctions and frustrations related to self-service kiosks is because they have gaps in their ability to manage and monitor kiosks remotely from one central location. This form of device management decreases a company's visibility in relation to the maintenance of kiosks and the control that they have over a consistent user experience. Simple service issues that can be fixed within minutes could go days without being reported, causing the retailer to lose revenue and marketing opportunities.

By turning to remote monitoring and management, retailers can tremendously increase operational efficiencies using a single-source management platform. Remote management plays a critical role in helping companies to establish a highly scalable, measurable, reliable and cost-effective self-service solution. By fully integrating a remote management system, retailers are able to accomplish a number of highly desirable goals:

• Increase customer satisfaction by offering value-added services and customized standard offerings, resulting in increased sales and revenue
• Minimize errors, which reduces downtime and operational costs
• Detect and diagnose complex device issues before they occur, ensuring that technicians are provided the proper tools and reducing the cost of servicing kiosks on-site
• Garner intelligent information through customized reporters which can be shared with appropriate stakeholders
• Remotely and efficiently update content and software
• Schedule kiosk downtime during holidays and when the retail outlet is closed

By implementing a remote management solution, retailers are given the control and visibility needed to identify potential service issues, allowing them to be immediately addressed and corrected before devices break down. Having a clear view of the functionality of these devices gives retailers the opportunity to notify retail staff about possible issues, implement automatic reboot and self-healing options and inform a retailer's helpdesk of any application errors.

Overall, remote management allows retailers to maximize operational efficiencies and capture relevant marketing data, both of which significantly help to improve the experience of customers using these self-service kiosks.

Asad Jobanputra has been involved in the self-service industry since 1999. As the Director of Application Solutions for Esprida Corporation, Asad's primary responsibility is to foster innovation and to manage Esprida's Fortune 1000 technical delivery teams. (Photo by saaby.)