Article
TAP taps into kiosk maintenance
Field techs see kiosk-makers making mistakes. TAP's president Thomas Pappalardo wishes the industry would define some standards, already.
March 25, 2002
Here's the perfect formula for putting an auto maker out of business: Make it hard for
TAP on Tap Name: TAP Computer Services Inc. |
Seem far-fetched? Maybe for your car.
Thomas Pappalardo, president of New Brunswick, N.J.-based TAP Computer Services Inc. said that unfortunately it's common for kiosk designers to overlook maintenance and service when they're putting together a plan for a kiosk. TAP specializes in maintaining and servicing kiosks.
"Maintenance should be at the forefront of the planning cycle," Pappalardo said. "Instead, they often never account for maintenance until after the kiosk is deployed."
The solution, he said, is to encourage the kiosk industry to establish standards for design, production, performance and maintenance. Until then, organizations that use kiosks risk getting far less from their kiosks than they paid for.
Leave repairs to sales staff?
Often, a business will rely on the sales associates that sold them the kiosk to maintain it, Pappalardo said. Besides not being qualified to maintain a kiosk, it also takes sales associates away from their sales responsibilities.
"It's really the downfall for this industry. I can't tell you how many kiosks I've had to take over personally because of things like this," he said.
If they don't look to sales associates, businesses will often seek in-house help. Mark Urso, TAP's senior sales consultant, likened that approach to trusting a neighborhood teenager to service your car instead of taking it to the dealership.
"We've been installing and maintaining kiosks for over nine years now," Urso said. "We're specialists at it."
As kiosks have become more complex, the skills required to repair and maintain them has also needed to keep pace. Pete Snyder, vice president of kiosk builder Kiosk Information Systems (KIS), shares Pappalardo's concerns about maintenance. Broomfield, Colo.-based KIS uses TAP to maintain the kiosks it builds.
"If someone is going to make an investment on a kiosk and they're looking to gain some advantage from using the kiosk, there's a reason to give it as much uptime as possible. For every second that it's down, you're losing money or whatever gain you're trying to get," Snyder said.
TAP's workforce of about 6,500 contractors service approximately 22,000 kiosks nationwide. About 35 sales, administration and dispatch employees work out of the company's offices in New Jersey.
Jeanne Gray, a TAP vice president, said that TAP's technicians have A+, MCSE, MCP and other computer hardware and software certifications as well as certifications based on the kiosks they service.
TAP also details its kiosk projects on its Web site. If technicians have questions about servicing a kiosk, they can go to the password-protected site and access a schematic of the kiosk and details of the service contract for the client, Urso said.
Because so many of the kiosks that its services are Web-enabled, TAP offers remote monitoring services that can give clients information about uptime, usage, and servicing.
Common problems
One of the most common problems found with kiosks occur with the printer, according to Pappalardo. In an office when a printer stops working, it's almost certain that the problem will be noticed and addressed rather quickly. With a kiosk, a malfunctioning printer can take days to fix.
While it won't necessarily keep the kiosk from working, vandalism-such as markings or paintings-can detract from the kiosk's aesthetics. Other times, a user might leave a soft drink on the kiosk that causes a sticky stain on the kiosk surface or touchscreen.
In high traffic-areas, dust buildup on the keyboard or the printer can affect the kiosk's performance.
Although hardware and other equipment have improved since TAP began servicing kiosks, preventative maintenance is one method to ensure that clients and users can get the greatest benefit from the kiosk.
It's common, Gray said, for technicians on a routine service run to clean the unit, for example, to find a more serious technical problem.
"Even though it's custodial, you often turn up technical issues that for whatever reason, is undiagnosed," she said.
From DOS to service
Pappalardo started TAP in 1986, after leaving AT&T as an accountant and project manager. The company's first venture was as a computer manufacturer. As the market for DOS-based systems expanded, so did TAP. But when prices for computers fell, Pappalardo shifted the business, setting up local- and wide-area networks for brokerage firms.
As TAP's business expanded, servicing networks it had established became a priority. The company began signing on contract workers in the cities where its computer networks were located.
What's up, Doc?
With a system for servicing its computer networks in place, the company began to see the need to maintain the kiosks that businesses were beginning to use. Pappalardo said that the turning point occurred nine years ago, when he received a call from a Warner Bros. retail store in New Jersey.
The in-store kiosk allowed users to color in Looney Toons characters by pressing pointing devices that looked like paint can lids. But the lids that allowed users to turn Bugs Bunny's hair orange or other colors were supported by loose plungers. Eventually, the plungers fell into the kiosk, making it impossible for users to paint the characters.
Pappalardo might as well have been in a cartoon episode when he arrived at the store to fix the kiosk. He found it almost impossible to get to the machine, as it was surrounded by wooden crates mounted to the machine.
"No one in their right mind is going to want to do this," he thought at the time.
Shortly afterward, TAP began servicing kiosks at Warner Brothers retail stores and McDonald's restaurants. Pappalardo said that the McDonald's kiosks, designed like a rocket ship, also allowed users to paint images onto screens. The diminutive kiosks complicated repairs.
"We needed small people to work on them," Pappalardo said.
Needed: standards
Despite the proliferation of kiosks throughout the U.S., Pappalardo said it's still common to find the same problems that existed when his company first began servicing kiosks. Solving them will require industry-wide cooperation and standardization.
"This is such a fragmented industry. We need standards for connectivity, standards for hardware, standards for appropriate drivers, APIs (application programming interfaces)," he said. "We need to come together and set standards for all of this."
TAP's services
Besides offering routine maintenance for kiosks, TAP also has a project management service that helps businesses put kiosks in place. The company also does site preparation, making sure, for example, that a kiosk has a dedicated Internet connection, and installation.
Pappalardo said that the cost for each service depends on the scope of the client's project, how many kiosks they plan to deploy, what kind of foundation they've laid for their kiosk initiative, and other factors.
TAPping into the future
Urso said that TAP is targeting New Jersey's Fortune 1000 companies that have begun kiosk projects.
"We have a couple of Fortune 500 companies already," he said. "We're actually working toward marketing directly to them and acting as consultants to help develop a kiosk initiative for them."
Though TAP's efforts have largely been concentrated on servicing and maintaining kiosks in the United States, the company also services some kiosks in Europe, Australia and South Asia.
Gray said that the company will continue to expand its services as the number of kiosks continues to grow.
"Wherever people are, we think that there will eventually be a kiosk," she said.
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