subject: Business Technology : Multi-purpose Kiosks Are A Wise Investment [print this page] The chances that you have come across an interactive kiosk in your daily life are quite high. They are basically computer terminals that can offer the public information or a financial transaction process system and are commonly found in either areas with a large number of people passing through or places in which having a human employee deal with transactions is not necessary.
They are not a new invention, but it is only relatively recently that they have begun to become very popular. Kiosks may be found in a growing number of industries, including retail, transportation, education, and banking. Why? Because they allow organizations to provide a better service. The more employees a business has, the higher ability it has of offering a better service to customers, and technically, an interactive kiosk is doing the work of an extra employee. Though they are a great long term investment, they are not inexpensive.
You will be hard pushed to find a system such as this that will be better at minimizing human resource expenses and improving efficiency in general routine tasks seeing as potentially, one kiosk can do the work of a few employees. There is no training involved, no breaks to give and no salaries to pay. Obviously, a kiosk cannot do everything than an employee can, but they are made to be supplementary, and not a like for like replacement.
You may think that people would rather deal with an employee than a kiosk, but that is not often the case. What is most important to people is to be able to do or find out what they want and then to get on with their day. They do not care how they are served so long as they are served effectively. For general inquiries / transactions, a kiosk is the quickest solution for them and most people, according to studies that have been carried out, have given them their approval to them.
A large element of the recent success of payment kiosks and self service kiosks has been the vastly increased number of features and abilities they offer compared to a few years ago. They often come with touch screens, keyboards, internet connectivity, card readers, scanners, printers, etc. they can do pretty much everything that the best computers can do, and more. They now look better too; they are no long just unsightly lumps of metal or plastic.
Due to their purpose, interactive kiosks must be developed to be much more robust than personal computers, with much more reliable software and hardware. In the past they were known for needing regular repair repair work, though due to technological advancements and design, that is a thing of the past. Not only are the kiosks of today more feature packed and robust, they are also more customizable. There are more standard models to choose from, which can be tailored to your organization's specific needs, and there is the opportunity to have a totally unique kiosk made totally to your specifications.
