The customer experience and customer satisfaction is crucial for any business’s success. If a business failed to deliver good customer experience and satisfactory service, they are most likely to fail. In Dubai and all around the UAE the businesses across all industries are very eager to improve just that. Business invest a lot of resources and efforts to enhance customer experience and to increase customer satisfaction. The customer satisfaction and happiness help businesses gain customer trust and let them build strong relationships with the customers.
The customer loyalty is one of the most important factor in the success. Loyal customers tend to stick with their favorite brand, they do repeated business, they have higher tolerance for negative interactions, and they spread good words about the business which also help attracting more customers. The customer retention is crucial to maximize the profitability and to ensure a steady growth. In the pursuit of customer happiness, business started adopting technology based solutions to improve both customer experience and internal work flows.
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The self-service technology is a great tool to enhance customer experience and to improve internal processes. Basically the self-service is method of delivering a service which doesn’t require any staff intervention. The customers are provided with a technology which enables them to avail the service without requiring any staff assistance. The marketplace have changed drastically in past few decades, in fact the past few years had profound impact on the market trends and customer behavior.
The self-service is not as that new, however, the rapid adaptation of self-service solutions are fairly new and we have witnessed in past few years that the self-service solutions are getting more common than ever before. Especially if you are living in Dubai or anywhere else in UAE you must have seen the very common mobile top up kiosks, which offer a variety of services through intuitive user interfaces and enable easy access to those payment services for millions of users on daily bases. In this blog we will discuss top 10 self-service technologies which can help businesses achieve their goals.
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1. Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)
The automated teller machines or ATMs are the most common interactive self-service technology and in fact it is the very first self-service technology that has been introduced in 1967 in United Kingdom. The ATMs are one of the best example of self-service technology and are commonly available all around the world. Without the ATMs the customers will have to visit the bank branch to withdraw and deposit money. The customers will have to take time to visit to the bank, they usually had to face long waiting lines, and then the process was manual too, which also take time.
All these factors was not only harming the customer experience but also putting pressure on the banks. Furthermore the each bank have limited resources, they only had limited number of branches which was also another reason for large footfall. This was also limiting the market reach of the banks. However, with the ATMs, bans can now reach out to much wider audience without bearing huge cost. The ATMs are very cost-efficient and can offer a number of services to the customers without any delay or interruption, they operate 24/7 and customers can always find an ATM closer to their home or work.
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2. Self-Service Food Ordering Kiosks
The self-service food ordering kiosks are also very common in the country. Many popular food chains and different small and medium size restaurants and food businesses are using self-service food ordering kiosks. The biggest advantage of the self-service food ordering kiosk is that it can provide instant service, it help reducing the workload of the employee during the peak hours and help improving the customer experience. Furthermore the self-service food ordering kiosks can greatly enhance the customer experience by providing them more freedom and control over their order. Traditionally when a customer arrives at a sales counter, they are pressured by the queue behind them, they sometime feel shy in asking too many questions, and sometimes they just don’t want to extend their interaction.
All such problems can be eliminated through the self-service food ordering kiosk. The self-ordering kiosk help customers by providing them more information and enable them to make the payment via their preferred payment method such as cash, debit/credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc. The self-ordering kiosk is also very beneficial for the business, it improve the branch efficiency, help businesses increasing per sale volume and enable them to effectively promote their latest offers and high value items which help generating more revenue.
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3. Interactive Hotel Self-Check In/Checkout Kiosk
The Dubai and in fact the entire UAE is a hotspot for tourist and business activities in the region. The hotels and hospitality industry is booming and showing steady growth. That is the reason the industry is also very competitive and the industry standards are slightly higher. In such circumstances it is crucial for a business to offer satisfactory experience. The check-ins and checkouts are the most crucial part of customer journey. It is important for the hotels to make sure the customers get a happy interaction at these points. The hotel self-service check-in and checkout kiosk help improving customer experience. As it offers instant service and let customers avoid the waiting time at the reception.
Furthermore the hotel self-check in and checkout kiosk can offer multiple services such as the customers can interact with the system via multi-lingual intuitive user interface (UI). The customers can make payment, confirm their bookings and make changes to their package and plan right at the self-service hotel kiosk. Furthermore it help reducing the traffic at the receptions and also help hotels to offer promotions, add-on services and much more at the kiosk which attract more customers and help increasing average transaction size. The hotels can also collect customer feedback and offer them a personalized experience via the intelligent self-service hotel kiosk software. It help them offer excellent experience, generate more revenue, collect business intelligence data and in resource planning processes.
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4. Self-Service Information Kiosk
The self-service information kiosks starts gaining the momentum since past few years, especially at public areas where larger footfalls are expected. The information kiosk help businesses to provide useful information to the customers and visitors without engaging the employees. Usually some businesses have dedicated information counters, or in some cases the customers and visitors ask the service agents to provide them with the required information which not only put extra workload on the employees but also cause inconvenience for both the customers and the employees. Sometimes businesses will have to hire additional staff to meet such needs.
However, a self-service interactive information kiosk not only provide information to the customers and visitors. The customers can check for the pre-requisites for the services such as the list of the attachments with the form/file, the information about registration process or the information about the service itself. While using an interactive self-service information kiosks the customers can interact in any preferred language they want, and they can also share the information to their smartphones or email, if they want. Similarly the information kiosks help businesses improving the customer experience and also help them reducing the resource and expenses.
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5. Self-Service Wayfinding Kiosk
The self-service wayfinding kiosks are common sighting at shopping malls and large facilities. These kiosks are very helpful for the customers and visitors at the shopping malls, restaurants, public offices, government facilities, educational institutes, healthcare facilities and for outdoor venues. The main reason to use the self-service wayfinding kiosks is to enhance the customer experience. It is always difficult to navigate through large facilities. That is why customers keep arriving at the information counters and keep asking employees for directions, etc.
However, an interactive self-service wayfinding kiosk can help customers and visitors to easily find their destination. The businesses can provide all the relevant information through the self-service wayfinding kiosk. There are two major navigation types, 2D and the 3D. Now a days the virtual tours are also gaining some momentum. Whatever the case is the self-service wayfinding kiosks are very helpful for the customers and visitors. The businesses can also provide the complete contact directory along with the other materials that improve customer experience. Businesses can also publish marketing content and communication at the self-service wayfinding kiosk. The interactive self-service wayfinding kiosks are a great tool to improve customer experience.
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6. Self-Registration Kiosk
The self-registration kiosk is a great tool to facilitate large footfall at exhibitions, events and other such activities. The self0registrastion kiosk is an integrated solution however, it can also work as a standalone system. The customers and visitors can reach to the self-registration kiosk and register for the event, exhibition, or any other purpose. As the name suggest the self-registration kiosk is used to facilitate the registration process. The kiosk is usually equipped with the required features that allow the customers to complete the sign up process. For example, the physical keyboard and track pads are common, however, the modern kiosks also utilize on-screen key-boards.
The self-registration kiosk can use multiple methods to validate the user data by integrating with the Emirates ID Card Reader, Passport Scanners, Barcode/QR Code scanners, etc. The self-registration kiosks are integrated with the customer data base or any other business tool. It can be integrated with the centralized information center to further improve the registration process. The self-registration kiosks are very good to help reducing the queues and the crowed formation at such events. It also help reducing the workload of the employees and improve their performance which enables businesses to reduce the cost and improve profitability.
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7. Self-Service Airport Kiosks
The airports and mass transit facilities are with the high footfall and the crowed formation is common in such places. The crowed formation at airports cause several problems for the management and also harm the customer experience. For airports the customer experience and performance are the most crucial aspects of their progress and growth. Another big problem the airport management face is the efficient resource management. Everyone knows the airports experience could be frustrating for an average traveler, there could be delays, crowded waiting areas, too many formalities and multiple queues. This all add up to the traveler’s frustration and ruin their experience.
The self-service airport kiosk can help both airport and travelers to expedite the processes and help improving the customer experience. The travelers can utilize a self-service airport kiosk for boarding process. The kiosk can also dispense the boarding passes and can be very helpful in immigration process and other steps. The self-service airport kiosk are also compatible with other hardware and software accessories such as passport and ID card verification and authentication tools and they can be integrated with airline systems, booking services, and airport systems to improve the functionality and customer experience.
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8. Self-Service Retail Checkout Kiosk
The retail industry is one of the most competitive industries in Dubai and in fact in the entire UAE the retail marketplace is very competitive, dynamic and evolving at a rapid pace. The purpose of self-service retail checkout kiosk is to provide customers instant service and improve their experience. The biggest cause of customer churn in the retail sector is the longer queues at the service counters which cause sales loss and also impact business reputation. The self-service retail checkout kiosk offer multi-lingual intuitive user interface which is also integrated with multiple payment methods and the reward programs. The retail kiosk comes with some basic hardware accessories such as barcode reader, QR Code scanner, RFID Scanner, weighing scale, etc.
The self-service retail kiosk allow customers to checkout without requiring any help from the cashiers. This can speed up the checkout process and it also gives customer more freedom and control. The self-service retail checkout kiosk is also linked with the inventory management system and POS system and automatically update the required databases. The self-service retail kiosks is a fully integrated solution which allow customers to print and scan the discount vouchers and access reward program easily. Furthermore the retail businesses can also run promotions and make announcements at the self-service kiosk to improve the communication with the customers.
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9. Self-Service HR Kiosk
The human resource (HR) is one of the most crucial business function. Its responsibility is to ensure the business have the right skills and technical workforce all the time. Their major tasks are hiring right talent, employee retention and better performance. The employee retention depends on the employee happiness and employee satisfaction. The HR offers a variety of services to the employees, for that the employees have to visit the HR office. Usually the footfall at HR offices is high, there is a lot of paper work involved in day-to-day tasks, and the employees have to wait a lot even for very basic services. That is why the HR departments utilize the interactive self-service HR kiosks to offer quick services to the employees and to make the service delivery mechanisms easy and convenient for employees.
In fact the self-service HR kiosk is equally beneficial for the HR staff as well. It help businesses digitalize most of the HR operations, reduce the footfall at HR offices, minimize the paper work and automate several services. The employees can print their salary slips, they can check their bonuses, over time, etc. Employees can update their documents, they can book appointment for the HR, they can apply for leaves, and they can manage their loans and much more. The self-service HR kiosk is the most efficient way to provide HR services to the employees who are working off campus and it also help employees who are visiting the HR office.
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10. Self-Service Kiosks for Government & Public Offices
The government and public offices in Dubai and all around the UAE have literally transformed the administration in the region with intensive integration of digital solutions and offerings of e-Services. However, the government and public offices are the organization who still have very high footfall. This means that during peak hours an average customer might have to wait for extended period of time which have very negative impact on customer experience and happiness. The Government of the UAE focus a lot on customer happiness and satisfaction. The government is offering a variety of e-Services through online channels since more than a decade now.
The existing IT infrastructure of the UAE governments enabled them to immediately implement a vast variety of online services during the 2020 pandemic. In a few recent years we have also noticed a huge increase in the self-service kiosks at government and public offices. The government organizations are offering a multitude of services which include document processing, online registrations, payment, printing and scanning of documents, and much more. All these services are available to the customers without any delay, the self-service kiosks at government and public offices are offering instant services through multi-lingual interactive self-service kiosks which is also helping in reducing the workload of the service teams, and improving their performance.
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Emerging Online Self-Service Technologies
We have already discussed the most important and effective self-service technologies but here are a few more emerging online self-service technologies that are also gaining momentum. The online self-service platforms and channels are gaining popularity due to their more convenient and easier access and more flexibility. Here are a few top online self-service technologies:
- Self-Service via Mobile Apps: The smartphone apps have proven to be the most successful channel in delivering customer services. The smartphone apps can offer a variety of features to the customers and help organizations and businesses offer a personalized experience to maximize the efficiency of the apps and customer satisfaction.
- Online Customer Portals: The online customer portals are designed to organize and improve the communication and customer experience. The customer portals are usually online web-pages or web-apps that allow customers to interact with the business. Businesses can offer a variety of services via online customer portals with ease of access and convenience.
- Chatbots and Auto-Answer: The chatbots and auto-answering call centers are a great self-service tools for modern customer service centers. Most of the time the customers have small enquiries and it is far more convenient for the customers to get support through these AI (artificial intelligence) based support tools and it also help improving the efficiency of the customer center.
- Websites and FAQs: Obviously the websites and FAQs are not a new thing, however in past few years these channels emerged as a very efficient self-service technology. The gen-z and the most of the customers are very familiar with websites and online channels, they prefer to look up to the internet to find a solution before reaching out to a customer support/service center.
There are a lot of other self-service technologies that are also gaining popularity around the world. No matter what technology or platform businesses use but one thing is for sure they must have to focus on the digital customer experience and especially the self-service channels in 2023 and for many more coming years.
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Conclusion
The markets are evolving rapidly not only in the UAE but around the globe. The customer behavior is changing, their demands are increasing, and the market trends are also rapidly changing. In such circumstances the continuous evolution and the growth puts extra pressure on the businesses. The competitive markets and the skyrocketing customer demands increase the importance of the customer satisfaction. Businesses adopt and implement several technologies to achieve their short term and long term goals. The self-service technology is one of the most rapidly growing industry in Dubai and all around the UAE. The self-service technologies offer easy access and more freedom to the customers which help improving their experience and raise their satisfaction.
The self-service technologies also improve internal processes with the help of digitalization and automation. The self-service technologies are inexpensive, easy to design and deploy, have longer lifecycle and are easy to operate and maintain. That is why more and more businesses are adopting self-service technologies. RSI Concepts is a leading self-service solution provider in Dubai, UAE. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design a customized self-service solution for you, 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.
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