Article

The chances are remote

Remote management of kiosk networks has become an essential ingredient for owners. Technology advances allow managers to monitor all aspects of kiosk operations from one location.

June 26, 2003 by

In the good old days of kiosk deployment, about a year ago, things were much simpler. All an effective kiosk program required was an interactive, stand-alone machine and rich media.

Today's brave new world of deployment requires robust, remote management capability. System diagnostics, maintenance and detailed usage reporting are all becoming essentials for kiosk marketing programs.

RPM Inc.,a consumer products manufacturer, is branching into the retail hobbyist marketplace with an e-commerce initiative using a Web site and retail kiosks. RPM, a $2 billion company that makes Rust-Oleum, Bondo and other commercial products, launched its RPM-e/c subsidiary with a plan to put kiosks in retail hobby stores. The hobbyist initiative operates under its own Web site, Totalhobby.com.

"Totalhobby kiosks will allow retail hobby stores with limited shelf space to offer a huge range of product lines without having to carry all that inventory in their stores," says Libby Manthei, product manager for the venture.

To help set up its system, RPM hired Netkey Inc. to provide remote kiosk management capabilities. The Netkey Managersoftware provides customer relationship management reporting services and creates a touchscreen wrapper on the front end of the totalhobby Web site.

The Netkey product enables RPM-e/c to monitor its network, view the overall system or individual kiosks to verify that they're up and running, and check card readers or other peripherals.

Although some manual tasks, such as paper replacement, must be done on-site, other problems can be fixed remotely, according to NetKey communications manager Penny Crump. She said the system provides heartbeat monitoring that contacts IT personnel via email, cell phone or pager.

Manthei said she likes the flexibility it gives her. "I can go to a web site and look at which of my kiosks are up and running and which aren't. Remote management software that can tell us if a kiosk or any of its peripherals are down is critical to the success of our marketing program. A not-working kiosk cannot sell products. And if potential buyers keep seeing a `not in service' sign, it chips away at their confidence in the program."

RPM has installed the kiosks in four locations (Strongville, Ohio; Wheeling, Ill.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Lincoln, Neb.) as pilots, and plans to expand the program to major retailers where hobby supplies are sold.

End-to-End Solutions

TouchVision, a Cypress, Calif.-based interactive systems developer, offers its own patented product for kiosk owners. Its Eyepointand Guardianproducts give kiosk network owners the capability of controlling customer experience.

EyePoint provides an "operating platform" for the interactive appliance itself, while Guardian, running on a remote server, receives heartbeat and other data that comes from all of the units in field reporting back the health of the kiosks. Guardian manages the applications that are running, including EyePoint. If an application hangs, or a `fatal' error occurs, Guardian detects it and automatically reboots the system.

"It communicates the incident back to an Oracle database, and says `Hey I had to reboot the system and here's error messages.' The system can also generate live reports about these incidents," says Larry Mahar, the co-founder and executive vice president of marketing at TouchVision. "It lets them see whether individual kiosks are up or down and generates reports that show statistics for usage of various pages available on the kiosk."

Live, persistent connections to the Internet via broadband technologies like DSL and cable are becoming more common. That enables kiosk network owners to gather detailed customer information, provided they've got the right remote management products installed. Interfaces with peripherals, like credit card and bar code readers, cash acceptor, printers, cameras, etc. are all html based, not only for maintaining the kiosk, but also for managing the whole realm of transactions and content management. TouchVision operates an interactive network operations center that supports a 24-hour unattended operation of interactive appliances and wireless commerce systems.

TouchPoint Technologies of Ontario, Canada, offers a system that allows operators to see individual kiosks on a global network, while also monitoring all the components, from one central location.

"Monitoring and analyzing each kiosk is important because you're going to make the most of your investment by knowing how your kiosk or kiosk network is being used and by whom," says account manager, Anjalika Rampal. "In a retail location, customers can view the latest product, as well as custom order items that are not in the store."

TAP Computer Services, Inc. of New Brunswick, N.J., uses TouchPoint's Kudosproduct to develop server-based, remote management services for kiosks in malls, hospitality and healthcare environments.

"TAP is using the Kudos platform to provide remote management services through the Internet to these kiosks that give users access to email, a web cam to send and receive photos and voice over IP," says Mark Urso, a senior sales consultant.

Kiosks are demonstrating utility as tools for delivering information, enabling transactions, gathering customer input, supplementing sales staff and real, on-site inventory, and performing other marketing related tasks, Urso says.

"We've been talking to a lot of retailers that are either in the process of launching kiosk initiatives or they're thinking about it because they see their competitors' doing this. In the next 12 - 18 months you're going to see a major explosion on the retail side."

Contact the writer at:edwes@idisplay.com