How to Choose the Best Queue Management Software?

A queue management software have become a necessity these days, especially for all service based sectors. Managing queues manually is very difficult, it ruin customer experience and it put extra burden on the staff. The rapid advancements in the digital technology all around us has led to several new trends, one of these trend is a digital queue management system. Whenever we go to a bank or a customer service center, or any such businesses we expect a proper digital queue management system there, the very first thing anyone do is to look up for the sign-up or ticket dispensing kiosk. A business must have to meet the expectations of its customers. The very reason of deploying a digital queue management system is to achieve highest level of customer satisfaction and customer happiness. If a business provide services as per its customer’s needs and expectation, it will make the customers happy.

The queue management system is extremely important for a business as the customer journey and customer happiness relies on it. The ultimate goal of any service based business is to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction. A happy and satisfied customer is tend to be more loyal to the brand. The customer loyalty improves customer retention. Loyal customers are more likely to promote the business and are very less likely to switch based on a bad experience, they can tolerate the business more and always give their favorite brand a second chance. However, the customer who left unhappy, are most likely to never return, on top of that the unhappy customers can also repel other prospects and cause harm to the brand reputation and brand identity. That is why having a perfect queue management system is very important. The queue management system based on two components, the hardware and the software. No matter how advance the hardware is, if the software is not capable the business can’t get desired results. So it is very important that each business knows how to choose a best queue management system software.

Here are some key points that a business should consider while selecting a queue management software:

1. Queue Management Software Features

The most important thing that a business should consider about the queue management software is its features and functionalities. Rest of everything comes later. If a queue management software is offering all the features that you need and you can use to improve the customer experience and customer journey, then move ahead for further evaluation. Here are some key features that a queue management software must have:

Interactive self-service sign-up terminal/kiosk
Capabilities to manage separate virtual queues for all available services
Features to improve customer waiting experience
- Live queuing information updates on digital displays/signage
- Multimedia content for customer engagements
- Information about the estimated time remaining
Audio-visual customer calling
- Multi-lingual queuing information on display
- Multi-lingual audio customer calling
Dynamic Counter Plates and Digital Signs
Automatic Customer Journey Management
Ability to Detect Customer Types (ordinary, VIP, Premium, Customer with Special Needs, etc.)
Automatic Single Step and Multi-step Service Delivery and Customer Routing
Dedicated Agent Dashboard
Ability to Facilitate Service Delivery Process
Statistical and Analytical Data Collection & KPIs Monitoring
Customer Feedback Collection
Integrated Alerts for Customers and Management
Online Appointment Booking Module or Integration
Smartphone and Mobile Apps Interfaces
Virtual Queuing and Mobile Queuing Support
Easy Administration and Management

These are some of the basic and most common features of a queue management software. Any good queue management software must have at least these all features. These features will allow a business to effectively and efficiently manage their queues to ensure the ultimate customer satisfaction and customer experience. Some businesses might have certain needs hence required customized features, so a good quality queue management software must be able to accommodate such needs by third-party integration and customization.

Read More: Queue & Waiting Time Management

2. Queue Management Software Types and Cost

The term ‘software type’ is a pretty vague terminology, it could mean a lot of things, however in case of queue management software the type usually refers to the ownership type. The queue management system manufacturers in Dubai and all around the UAE offers certain types of queue management software, such as cloud based solution which is usually a SAAS type software, SAAS means software as a service. For that type the businesses will have to subscribe for the software, whether it is annual subscription or monthly the businesses subscribe for it. Here are some most common queue management software types:

Cloud Based Queue Management Software or SAAS
Purchasable Queue Management Software
Off-the-shelf Queue Management Software Solution
Customizable Queue Management Software

The cloud based queue management software solution (SAAS) is completely managed by the service provider. The service provider owns the actual queue management software and the business is only renting it out or subscribing for a limited time period. In such scenarios the queue management software customization is very limited and expensive too. In fact the service itself is very expensive.

The purchasable queue management software is fully-owned by the business. The vendor offer the software and the entire source code to the business. Usually that kind of queue management software are based on an open-source technology. It doesn’t require any regular subscription fee or renewal charges. The business had to purchase it once and then there is no renewal or any such cost.

The off-the-shelf queue management software are the software that came as a standalone package. The software is a one-time-purchase and there is no annual or monthly or any other rental or renewal fee. The business will have to purchase a software once and it will be a lifetime license. The only limitation is that the business wouldn’t be able to customize it. In case if they want to customize such queue management software they will have to revert back to the original vendor/manufacturer.

The customizable queue management software is a tailor-made queue management software and solution. Here in Dubai and in other parts of UAE the queue management system vendors usually charge once for the solution. The business owns the queue management software and it’s all source code as well. Such software are usually built on an open-source technology platform. The business who owns the customized queue management software can have full ownership rights and they can hire in-house programmer to do any further customization or they can hire any vendor who is well versed with the technology to do the customization or modifications for the business. This is the most convenient plan for long term use and is also the best choice for usability and cost-efficiency.

3.Administrative Management and Monitoring Mechanisms

For a queue management software the primary objective is to improve customer journey and customer satisfaction, however, the administrative management and monitoring is also equally important. Eventually the management will have to configure the system and use the data collected from the system for business intelligence feeds. Usually when a business or organization is purchasing a new queue management software and solution they often overlooked the administrative management and monitoring aspects of the system. Later when they start using it, they face difficulties. It is very important that a queue management software provide a professional level of administrative management and controlling features. Because in every business there are certain levels of management with a predefined hierarchical structure. The queue management software should allow such management functionalities and any other work flow which is vital for the business and its operations.

Usually businesses have multiple branches along with a head office or main branch, the head office always have access and control over all connected branches, then comes the branch managers who have full control over the queue management of their designated branch and then comes assistants, supervisors, agents/servers, etc. This is a basic management structure that almost every business follows, however, businesses could have multiple intermediary stages as well. Most of the time the queue management software offer a pre-defined management structure, which can cause a lot of issue for the business so, it is important that the queue management software offers a flexible control over administrative access and job role assignment mechanisms. The branch manager and top level management, whether from the branch or from the head office will have real-time monitoring capabilities as per their respective authority and administrative control and job role. So, it is critically important that the queue management software allow the businesses to configure the job role and authority for admin users as per their convenience.

4. Third-Party System Integration Compatibility

Third party integration by definition means interfacing or connecting a database from another system to a system via APIs (Application Program Interface) or secure web services. The web-apps and digital software such as queue management software have revolutionized the businesses and their practices. Businesses can integrate advanced systems and solutions to work together to provide ultimate user experience and to get administrative and management related advantages. The third-party system integration not only allow two digital solutions or systems to share and synchronize data but it also allow them to share functionalities/resources. For example if a queue management software need to recognize a customer through their mobile number or customer ID, instead of managing a separate customer database it can linked to a system which is already managing that data, so the identification process can be done through the existing system which will save a lot of resources and cost. This is how a third party system integration works.

In queue management software the third party system integration is used for various purposes and at various levels. The customer interface where the customers can sign-up for a particular queue for their required service and it can also be used at the agent dashboard to speed up the service delivery process. The third-party system integration is not only a unidirectional data traffic but it is a bidirectional data transfer. As the queue management software can fetch data from a third-party system using API integration it can also push or send data to a third-party system too. For example the queue management software can share the system usage data, reports, stats, customer feedback and other business intelligence data with any other performance management system or customer relationship management tools, etc. The queue management software can also effectively measure many staff KPIs which can be linked to the HR or employee performance management system for further use and so on and so forth. The third-party system integration make the queue management software more effective, useful and efficient. The businesses can utilize this feature for various purposes.

5. Queue Management Software Collects Business Intelligence Data

Business intelligence data is an umbrella term that includes a lot of different types of statistical and analytical data. All of the historical data and the present data is then emerged and processed by purpose-made tools to compile actionable reports which enable a business to make informed decisions and build their future strategy. The business intelligence data is extremely crucial. It highlights the areas of improvements, businesses can easily understand market trends, and their customer, employees, and business can easily evaluate and assess their infrastructure, business practices and methods. Moreover the modern day queue management software also come with an in-built customer feedback and survey tool. Which further provide crucial insight and customer feedback data. That is why it is extremely important that a queue management system offer some kind of business intelligence data gathering and in-built analytical tools to compile that data into reports and downloadable formats.An ordinary queue management software can easily collect data from all important touch points of the customer journey.

However a good quality queue management software not only collect deeper insight. It can effectively capture each and every customer touch points, along with additional information and various customer trends and employee/staff performance or KPIs. These all different data feeds along with the customer feedback are stored in raw format. The analytical engine segregate them in various reports, such as executive trend report, corporate customer feedback reports, and much more. The queue management software can also provide daily, weekly and monthly reports. It should also provide tools to alert the management in case of any event such as if too many customers are giving negative feedback, if a particular service delivery is taking more than average time, etc. These functionalities are very helpful for the management and let them easily assess the employees, various business processes, service delivery mechanisms, customer journey and employee performance and business intelligence data is also capable of identifying the areas of improvements so that businesses can take appropriate actions and make future strategies to achieve ultimate customer experience and maximum operational efficiency, which minimize the cost and maximize the revenue and ensures steady growth.

Conclusion

A queue management software is absolutely necessary for businesses these days. In Dubai and other parts of UAE the service based industry is significantly modernized. The competition in the market is very high and the customer have too many options to go to. It is extremely important to provide your customers with a great customer journey and ultimate experience. A queue management system not only promises a great customer journey and experience but it also maximize the operational capabilities of a business and it also boosts employee performance. These are some of the major reasons each business wants to deploy a good quality queue management software. In the market there are too many vendors and manufacturers, which makes it a bit tricky to choose the best queue management software. The purpose of this blog was to guide our audience and customers about the necessary features and attributes that a good queue management software must have.

First of all any good queue management software must have certain features and functionalities that will enable it to perform better. Secondly there are different types of the technology and purchase plans which impact the cost and scalability. A good queue management software must also offer a very flexible administration and management controls so a business can implement their work flow and management polices without any trouble. The third-party system integration is a great tool to maximize the performance of the queue management software and it also allow the businesses to easily develop their innovative solutions for the performance and the management. The business intelligence data provides a deeper insight to the entire operational process and the customer journey. A queue management software is very powerful and effective tool, it have capability to make or break a business’s growth. If you still have some questions, feel free to ask. If you are planning to deploy a new queue management software or want to replace your existing system please do let us know. You can 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.

Check out this blog: Why do you need a queue management system?