News

Analyst: Kiosk projects need to be more well-defined

February 25, 2004

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Clearer customer understanding of standards defining the success of interactive kiosk projects is expected to attract further funding for such ventures.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, World Interactive Kiosks Market, foresees that revenue in this market will reach $801.5 million by 2010.

"The diverse parameters of different departments' success also have to be factored into the ROI analysis," said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Vineeta Kommineni, in a news release.

"Marketing departments usually demand an immediate ROI, while IT and Operations departments may define metrics as recoupment of their investment over medium to long term."

With most clients adopting a conservative approach to IT investments and funds being scarce, a distinct plan is vital for project commissioning. However, with well-orchestrated publicity of successful kiosk projects and redefinition of ROI by vendors, Frost & Sullivan predicts the impact of this restraint to decline.

The success of a kiosk project depends on the smooth interaction among enclosure manufacturers, software firms, hardware component vendors, integrators, and maintenance service providers. These individual suppliers often sell 'products' rather than complete solutions, the release stated.

Considering that clients have limited exposure to kiosk projects, they are unable to demarcate responsibilities among the several suppliers that usually play the 'blame game' when things go wrong. Often the burden of successfully concluding a project or its maintenance falls on the inexperienced client, discouraging further investments.

"This hurdle can be tackled by valid turnkey providers, which can guarantee successful completion of implementations and take care of maintenance issues by positioning themselves as the single point of contact between the client and the numerous suppliers," says Kommineni.

At the client's end, personnel take the decision to commission a kiosk project at different hierarchies in divisions such as IT, marketing, operations and top management.

Such dispersed decision-making leads to significant delay at the customers' end, effectively hindering sales cycle, which currently ranges from 3-4 months for a pilot and 14-18 months for a full rollout.

"The impact of this restraint is expected to subside when smooth and coordinated decision making at the client's end comes into effect," said Kommineni.

The World Interactive Kiosks Market, a part of Frost & Sullivan's IT coverage, evaluates the present state of the interactive kiosks market by application segments. It determines the market size, estimates revenue forecasts, and identifies new opportunities. Frost & Sullivan analyzes the key drivers and restraints by various sectors: retail, self-checkout, photo, government, banking, finance, tourism, transportation and entertainment, and telecommunications. The research service also dwells on challenges faced by this industry and strategies to overcome them.