News

The ultimate interactive driving machine

December 2, 2004

The BMW VSC is a visually striking creation with sleek lines and contours. Prospective customers seated in the comfortable seats are treated to DVD-quality sound and video in a totally interactive setting. But the BMW VSC isn't a luxury car. It's a luxury kiosk.

BMW of North America has introduced the Virtual Sales Center - an immersive, interactive customer experience that entertains and thrills while helping sales staff educate customers and close the deal. BMW rolled out 10 VSC prototype models in July 2001. Earlier this year, the company rolled out the units to all 350 BMW locations nationwide.

"They were very focused on what the consumer would see, how the integration of high-resolution video, Web content and even the physical enclosure itself would positively communicate the power and essence of the BMW brand," said V. Miller Newton, CEO of Netkey, the Connecticut-based firm BMW enlisted to develop the software interface for the VSC.

The unit's software interface secures it from hackers or wayward point-and-clickers, ensuring that only the BMW application is visible. Users can't accidentally (or intentionally) access the computer's control panel, network or Internet connection.

"The application interface is specifically designed to help the BMW sales rep work with the consumer to quickly learn more about the unique features and capabilities of BMW products," Newton said. "This guided selling process helps accelerate the sales process, and lets BMW ultimately sell more cars."

A turnkey solution

VSC was built in large part on out-of-the-box software.

"What Netkey brings to retailers is a packaged software solution for something that in the past had to be custom-built - remote monitoring and management of retail devices, including kiosks, digital signs, PC terminals and other store technologies," Newton said. The Netkey platform gives users a beginning-to-end solution for developing, deploying and managing a network of kiosks and self-serve devices.

The VSC system also has built-in functionality for monitoring, security, content scheduling and delivery, reporting and management. "All 350-plus BMW kiosks are updated, managed and monitored remotely from a single computer screen using the standard Netkey software platform," Newton said.

And although the flash and sizzle of any self-serve device might attract eyes in the first place, what is most important is what happens next.

"Retailers face the same issues that BMW did - how do you improve the customer experience, how do you increase sales, and how do you do that with a technology solution that doesn't increase the burden on IT resources," Newton said.