The self-service payment kiosks are ideal solution for modern service sector. Businesses are always eager to enhance and elevate transactional interactions. The self-service payment kiosks are the right solution to streamline your service delivery mechanisms. These are interactive self-service kiosks, which as name suggest deliver a user-friendly self-service experience. The customers in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and all around the AUE loves to interact with these touch-screen based devices. It is not just a few particular industries who are adopting to these modern technologies, but all different types of industries ranging from retail, healthcare, F&B businesses, hospitality, airports, government services, utilities, telecoms and various other industries are rapidly adopting to interactive self-service payment kiosks.
Every industry sector is different from others, and every business is different from other businesses who might even operate in a same niche. When it comes to self-service payment kiosks, these devices are very versatile, and comes with tons of features. Some of these features are industry specific and some are just to enhance and elevate the user experience. However, businesses should understand that a self-service payment kiosks is a very sophisticated piece of technology which can offer tons of customized features. It has two layers, one is the software part and the other is the physical, the hardware. Another most important thing to understand is that these systems tend to interact with your existing systems, tools, databases and core business application, etc.
These aspects make is difficult for business to choose the right self-service payment kiosk and cause them additional expenses. It is not only expense, but a bad choice could also have significant impact on operational efficiency and cost. A standard self-service payment kiosks is an excellent tool to drive digital transformation across various business functions. Therefore businesses need to carefully analyze and understand important aspects before selecting a self-service payment kiosk. In this blog we will discuss all these important factors to help our reader to choose the right payment kiosk system for their business.
How to Choose the Right Self-Service Payment Kiosk?
Important Factors to Consider While Choosing the Right Self-Service Payment Kiosk
Investing in an interactive self-service payment kiosk is a great strategic move. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and broader UAE started adopting interactive self-service kiosks to meet customer expectations and to streamline business processes. However, when businesses decide to implement these devices, they could get confused by tons of options available in the market. Here are some crucial factors that you should consider while choosing the right self-service payment kiosk for your organization:
- Critically Analyze and Understand Your Business Needs
- Choose the Right Kiosk Type and Form Factor
- Select the Right Kiosk Hardware Specifications
- Select the Right Payment Hardware and Payment Mode
- Carefully Evaluate the Kiosk Management Software
- Evaluate the Customization and Scalability
- Assess Maintenance and Support
- Consider the Initial and Operational Cost for Higher ROI
The self-service payment kiosk has potential to greatly improve customer experience, according to a study by Zebra, around 70% of the retail customers prefer using self-service payment kiosk to avoid long queues at the cash counters. This is due to the general behavior of consumers worldwide. Everyone wants to get served quickly, people all around the world and especially within UAE are becoming more tech savvy. Studies revealed that more consumers prefer to utilize a self-service channel instead of traditional service or support.
Critically Analyze and Understand Your Business Needs
It is crucial to understand that a self-service payment kiosk is not a one-size-fits-all solution. For example, for a government agency, they might be needing to take ID documents, maybe facial or biometrics identification before letting user to make the payment. Similarly for hotels they might be needing to scan a QR Code or Barcode to load up the booking details, and so on. Every industry and application is different hence the interactive self-service payment kiosk is customized for different industries as per their needs. That is why it is extremely important to critically analyze and understand your business needs before choosing the self-service payment kiosk.
Your business needs will heavily influence the hardware and software specifications of the self-service payment kiosk. There are many factors that you should consider, such as user group’s demographics, placement of the kiosk, number of expected transactions, etc. These all are your business needs and will help you choose the right fit for your needs. You should also consider the integration needs as well, as self-service payment kiosks are usually integrated solutions.
Critically Analyze and Understand Your Business Needs
Choose the Right Kiosk Type and Form Factor
When it comes to the kiosk types there are two main categories, one is indoor and the other is outdoor. As the name suggests the indoor kiosks are designed to be used in indoors, and the outdoor are fully weather proof which can withstand harsh UAE environment in summer, rain, dust and other weather elements. It is important to choose the right kiosk type as this can have big impact on the cost as well. Furthermore there are various kiosk types based on their applications, such as airport check-in kiosk, visitor management kiosk, information kiosk, registration kiosk, hotel-check-in kiosk, etc.
Businesses can also customize the kiosk type to align with their business needs. Furthermore there are three major form factors, the most common is floor standing or free standing, then we have wall mount which hang on a wall, and at last we have tabletop or desktop, which are placed on desks/tables. You should wisely choose the right type and form factor which you can easily install in your premises.
See Also: 5 Future Trends in Self-Check-in Kiosks: What to Expect
Choose the Right Kiosk Type and Form Factor
Select the Right Kiosk Hardware Specifications
When it comes to choose the right hardware, it is important to consider some crucial aspects of user experience, such as accessibility, usefulness, convenience and intuitiveness. Based on your audience’s needs, you should carefully chose the hardware which includes, touchscreen, peripherals, kiosk computer, and payment hardware. The structural durability and ability to work in the intended environment is also crucial. Sometime businesses also need additional anti-theft and anti-vandalism features as well. Here are most crucial aspects to consider:
- Touchscreen: The touchscreen is a most important component. The customers will interact through this screen, it is extremely important to use a good touch screen. The touch screen should also have at least basic protection even if there is no need such as 3M protective glass, this will make screen’s life longer and prevent scratches. Furthermore the touch should be sensitive, for outdoor kiosks, the touch should be very sensitive such as multi-point capacitive touch or IR touch.
- Peripherals: A self-service payment kiosk can have a wide variety of peripherals, each peripheral has its unique functions and can have significant impact on the workflow. So, it is better to only include necessary peripherals. A self-service kiosk can have Keyboard & Track Pad, Camera, IP Phone, Biometric Scanner, Barcode & QR Code Scanners, Emirates ID Reader, RFID, NFC, Passport Reader, Document Scanners, Printers, Visitor Badge Printer, Thermal Receipt Printer, etc.
- Kiosk Computer: The self-service payment kiosks are operated by a specialized software application, that software application is usually deployed on a centralized server and a client is installed at the kiosk. These kiosks comes with two computer types, Android and Windows. The hardware specs such as OS Compatibility, RAM, Storage and Processor power should be chosen carefully to ensure a smooth and seamless operation for users.
- Payment Hardware: The self-service payment kiosk is incomplete without the payment hardware. There are multiple payment hardware that can be installed on the kiosk. A cash authenticator, acceptor is the most common, but we can also have change return feature via cash recycler module. The cash storage capacity should also be considered as per the daily cash flow. Coins, credit/debit card, contactless payments, NFC and other digital payments can be added too.
- Structural Durability: If the self-service payment kiosk is intended to place in a high-traffic area, whether indoor or outdoor, the structure should be able to withstand with the environment conditions, such as strong and sturdy kiosk frame, heavy base, and in case of outdoor it should be able to withstand weather conditions. If the kiosk is intended to place at a remote area, then the kiosk should have necessary anti-theft and vandal-proof features as well.
Every business has unique business needs, but there are certain factors that businesses should consider while selecting the kiosk type and choosing the right hardware specification for their self-service payment kiosk. Once the kiosk is built it is very expensive and sometime not even passible to customize its physical structure. For example, if you built a very sleek and slim kiosk with only digital payment methods.
Later you want to include cash acceptor and authenticators which are fairly large modules, you might not be able to do that. Or even if you somehow built additional frame it will distort the design. That is why all the hardware specification should be chosen carefully to align with your conditions and needs.
See Also: What is a Self Service Kiosk? Here’s All You Need to Know
Select the Right Kiosk Hardware Specifications
Select the Right Payment Hardware and Payment Mode
Selecting the right hardware is a crucial aspect, however, selecting a payment hardware is a very tricky part. The cash acceptor and authenticator are very sophisticated devices, if you want to include them, you should carefully consider all your requirements. These devices and other payment hardware such as credit/debit card reader, integrated POS, or contactless payment methods, have very specific compatibility and integration needs. Make sure all these needs are met.
Some cash acceptor might not integrate with the numeric keyboard or smartcard readers, and in some cases the kiosk computer might not be able to interface between these peripherals. Hence all these payment hardware should be selected as per the specification and needs. The ideal solution with large-scale support is Windows OS, it offer hundreds of more possibilities comparing to Android. All payment hardware should be critically analyzed in terms or performance, technical specs, compatibility, cost and maintenance needs.
See Also: How Can Businesses Benefit From Self-Service Payment Kiosks?
Select the Right Payment Hardware and Payment Mode
Carefully Evaluate the Kiosk Management Software
The kiosk management software is the actual soul of the self-service payment kiosk. This is typically a server-side centralized application. This application and the technology and software stack used to build that application is crucial. As it will have huge impact on kiosk performance, integration with existing systems and overall cost. It is always ideal to go with a customized kiosk management software. With the customization you will have more room to choose the technology framework, integration would be cost-effective and simpler and you can have much more control and freedom with the customization.
The kiosk management software must be a centralized application which should be linked with all self-service payment kiosks. It should be able to integrate with existing customer database, CRM, ERP, or any other core business application and payment gateways. Furthermore the kiosk management software should also be able to provide basic maintenance and remote access for quick problem resolution. The modern interactive self-service payment kiosk management software are integrated with AI to drive superior efficiency and elevated customer experience.
Carefully Evaluate the Kiosk Management Software
Evaluate the Customization and Scalability
For the success of any self-service payment kiosk system it is very important that the solution offer enough customization to fully align with your internal business processes and goals. Every business evolves differently, with different business needs and different challenges on hand. It is the customization which help businesses harmonize their solutions with their needs and existing IT infrastructure. Same is the case with the self-service payment kiosks, these kiosks should be able to offer convenient and cost-effective customization. That is why I always suggest customized self-service payment kiosk solutions.
Furthermore the scalability is also crucial, with the time the business needs grows, the self-service payment kiosks usually come with centralized software, which enable businesses to add more self-service payment kiosks at more locations without any additional cost or time for software setup and deployment. Therefore the level of customization and scalability is crucial for the success of self-service payment kiosk.
See Also: What is a Bill Payment Kiosk: Everything You Need to Know
Evaluate the Customization and Scalability
Assess Maintenance and Support
The maintenance and support is one of the most crucial part of the self-service payment kiosks. There are too many moving parts, a lot of hardware and software applications are running in a complete harmony to deliver the exceptional user experience you want. Therefore it is important to carefully analyze the maintenance and support plans of the vendor. Annual maintenance contracts are the most convenient and cost effective way to get excellent support and maintenance services from the vendor.
However, typically all customized solution provider have dedicated support team which can offer better support than traditional commercial off-the-shelf solution providers. You can also opt for extended warrantee to minimize the maintenance cost. However, if regular servicing and maintenance is carried out, a self-service payment kiosk can operate for many years without requiring any repair. Similarly you should carefully analyze the software SLA for uninterrupted operations.
See Also: Top 10 Self-Service Technologies for Business in UAE
Assess Maintenance and Support
Consider the Initial and Operational Cost for Higher ROI
The cost comparison is one of the most important yet poorly carried out step. Typically when businesses do cost comparison of different self-service payment kiosks, they heavily rely on upfront or initial cost without realizing the overall impact of the kiosk on their operational cost in long term. The primary objective of any self-service solution is to deliver convenient customer experience, drive operational efficiency and reduce per service delivery cost.
Similarly the self-service payment kiosk also has these objectives, however, the upfront cost can sometime overshadow the actual value added by the kiosk. It is important to perform critical analysis of the kiosk and its impact on overall operational efficiency, internal business processes, staff performance, customer satisfaction, scalability, customization, and maintenance. It is extremely important to consider both tangible and intangible benefits of the kiosk. Once you realize the actual value of a solution you can easily chose the right self-service payment kiosk.
Consider the Initial and Operational Cost for Higher ROI
Conclusion
The self-service payment kiosks are revolutionizing the way businesses are interacting with their customers. Every transactional interaction involves payments, and receiving payments could be time taking, which can increase service delivery time, consequently the overall wait time increases and it can greatly hinder the customer experience and satisfaction. Therefore businesses tend to adopt to modern technologies and digital solutions to enhance and elevate customer experience. The self-service payment kiosks are one of the most rapidly growing industry. This is due to the rapid adaptation among various industry sector. The self-service payment kiosks are also rapidly evolving and emerged as a very efficient and effective solution which not only streamline payment processes, but also help businesses optimizing internal business process, workflows, staff performance and increase their overall profitability.
However, when businesses need to choose the right self-service payment kiosks they can easily overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available in the market. Thus choosing a right self-service payment kiosk requires critical and thoughtful considerations of various important factors. In this blog we have enlisted all crucial aspects which you should consider while choosing the right self-service payment kiosk. The kiosk form factor, type, design, hardware features, software aspects and everything will determine the success of your kiosk. Therefore rather than relying only on a list of features and upfront cost, carefully analyze and understand the overall impact and value offered by the kiosk. Always consider long-term ROI and make sure your self-service payment kiosk not only meet your business needs but also capable of integrating with existing IT infrastructure seamlessly.
In this blog we have briefly discussed these crucial factors, if you based your analysis on these factors you will most likely choose the best solution for your business. I tried to keep explain everything in non-technical way for our broader audience. If you still have any question about the subject, or if you need our help to design and implement a highly cost-effective and bespoke self-service payment kiosk solution for your business or organization. Please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.