The customer behavior, their needs and demands and the market conditions are always changing, businesses need to be more adoptive and pro-active in order to keep themselves up-to-date and competitive. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE the markets are more competitive, the customers are also very savvy, and their demands are skyrocketing. The economy is continuously growing, the competition is rising day by day, and customers have a lot of options available to them. One bad experience and your customers will leave you for good. It is extremely crucial to maintain a healthy, strong and satisfactory relationship with your customers. The customer loyalty is one of the most precious asset for a business. This is why businesses are very eager to align themselves with their customers’ needs and demands. When it comes to a queue management system, the business leaders or CX (customer experience) managers can easily get overwhelmed with the sheer number of options available in the local market.
The effectiveness and impact of a queue management system depends on the system’s features and your needs. One doesn’t always fits all, but there are some universal features that can be very beneficial for all types and sizes of the businesses in the service sector.In this blog we will explore such features that can help all types and sizes of business to greatly improve customer experience and their queuing process.
What is Modern Queuing?
The queuing has come long way, traditionally the clipboard and pen based queuing was the way to manage the large footfall and crowded waiting areas. Later on businesses started realizing that they need to do more, this is when the technology starts coming in to the play and that was the time of inception of the modern queuing. The modern queuing methods that businesses are following in Dubai and all across the UAE are have evolved a lot. The technology itself have transformed a lot, now a days, the technology is widely available, the digital ecosystem and IT infrastructure of an average business is enough to support the modern queuing methods and practices. By definition the modern queuing is a queue management system based on the digital technology and software-based solutions. It helps automating several queuing steps and it can automatically manage customer routes and other major queuing tasks. With the help of digitalization and automation the business processes become very efficient and cost-effective too.
Features of a Modern Queue Management System
A modern queue management system is a software based application aided with several hardware devices. Usually there is a sign-up kiosk which allow customers to interact with the system, chose their required service, input data if needed, and dispense the ticket number. There are digital signage and large screens used to display the queuing information and audio announcement system is also considered to be an essential component of the modern queuing. Apart from that there are several administrative dashboards which let managers, head office and service agent interact with the system. The modern queuing system can also integrate with third-party tools, customer database, central information system and any other software to improve functionality and performance of the system. There are many benefits of a modern queue management system, some are more beneficial for some businesses than the others and so on. Here are the most useful features of a modern queue management system which are equally beneficial for all businesses.
Queue Management System Features: Digitalization and Automation
A modern queue management system converts the traditional manual queuing process into a more effective and efficient digital business process by leveraging the technology and AI (artificial intelligence) based software. The digitalization greatly improve the process and also capture valuable data which can be later utilized in various other processes. The digitalization also help automating several customer journey steps and improve customer flow. Due to digitalization and automation the human efforts are significantly reduced which means the business need much less resources to manage their queuing process. The modern queue management system works on smart algorithms which are capable to capturing data in from all touchpoints and various other details and enable queue management system to take real-time decisions to improve the queuing. Furthermore the modern queue management systems also provide self-service sing-up channels to the customers. Usually there is an interactive touch-screen self-service kiosk to sign-up the customer and dispense the tickets. But there are several other methods that can also be offered to customers to improve their experience, such as remote sign-up, mobile apps, online appointment booking, etc.
Queue Management System Features: Significant Reduction in Wait Time
The customer wait time is the single most impactful factor that can completely ruin your all efforts to attain customer satisfaction. According to several studies on an average a customer can wait for up to 5 to 9 minutes, this time limit is different for different industries, after that threshold the customer will start getting stressed and frustrated which will ruin their experience. That is why no matter what type of queue management system you use, the wait time should be minimized as much as possible. The digital queue management system used modern technology and AI based algorithms which enable them to minimize the customer wait time. When the customers sign-up for a queue, they are given a ticket number, the customer flow and movement of queues is fully autonomous, which eliminate any staff involvement in it. Furthermore the customers are allowed to wait comfortably in the designated spaces, hence not much management is required. The automation and no human involvement can significantly reduce the wait time. It also let the service agent focus on their primary tasks, which improve service delivery and make it quicker.
Furthermore the modern queue management system also help service agents in their tasks, which reduce their efforts and improve their focus on service delivery and other crucial tasks. A modern queuing need digitalization and automation, the electronic queue management systems help managing various other tasks for the staff which greatly improve the service quality and help reducing the service delivery time which eventually reduce the customer wait time. The electronic queue management system also capture valuable performance insight which help businesses further enhance the employee performance and reduce the customer wait time. The queue management system have capabilities to monitor the entire queuing process in real-time which enables it to take real-time decision and improve customer flow. For example, if a service counter is slow due to any reason, the queue management system can automatically redistribute the workload to ensure all counters work under a balanced workload, this also help reducing wait time and when employee work under balanced workload their efficiency also improves.
Queue Management System Features: Support for Virtual Queuing
Virtual queuing is not a new phenomenon. However, since the 2020 we have witnessed a huge rise in the adaptation of virtual queuing all across the country. The virtual queuing isthe most modern form of digital or electronic queue management systems. It takes the waiting time management to the next level, the methods and practices adopt by virtual queuing can literally reduce the wait time to none. Basically the virtual queuing offers more freedom and flexibility to the customers, it allow them to remotely sign-up for the queue by interacting with queue management system using digital media such as SMS, Email, WhatsApp, Mobile Apps, Website, Customer Portals, Appointment Booking Portals, QR Codes, etc. These channels allow the customer and visitors to remotely sign-up for the queue and receive queuing updates through the most convenient channel. This means they don’t have to be physically present at the premises, they will be singed-up in a virtual queue. This allow them freedom to wait anywhere they want to do whatever they want to do during that time. Furthermore they can also plan their visit in a way that they arrive at business only when their number is called. The virtual queuing minimize the wait time and improve customer experience by offering them more control, flexibility and freedom.
Queue Management System Features: Centralized Management
A digital or electronic queue management system is based on a queuing server application which is hosted online, in cloud or at a local in-premises datacenter. Which allow it to capture all the information and data in a centralized repository. This also help solving many management related problems and also offer more innovative features to improve the queuing process and to drive the efficiency. Usually business have multiple branches, regional offices, outlets, or customer service centers, and a single main location or head office. The head office is where the senior management resides, who want to monitor and control all connected branches. The queue management system offers a centralized management mechanisms where it provides head office staff full control over all the branches and share live queuing updates with the head office to improve the monitoring. The queue management system also allow businesses to configure desirable workflows and managerial hierarches to align the queuing process with their existing management structure. The head office and the managers with access can have full control and real-time information about the queuing which enable them to take quick actions to improve the customer flow and to solve the problems or handle the disruptions.
Queue Management System Features: Data Collection
The modern day businesses and marketplaces are heavily relying on information technology and the data is the lifeblood of information technology. A digital queue management system provides a great insight on your queuing process and performance. It can accurately capture footfall insight which help management identify various trends, such as peak hours, days, occasions, popular services, customer churn, etc. The electronic queue management system can also capture employee performance data and various KPIs, such as the average number of served customers in a shift, the active/inactive time, the time spend on a service delivery, etc. The queue management system can also capture customer feedback data either from on-site touchscreens or tablets, or from other channels such as WhatsaApp, Mobile Applications, SMS, email, etc. Any good digital queue management system also have in-built data analytical tools, which help managers to performance various analysis within seconds, and produce actionable reports. The queue management system can also integrate its data with the central information system or any other third-party tool and it also offer data sharing features which improve the control and monitoring capabilities of the management.
Conclusion
The customer happiness and customer satisfaction are the most crucial factor for the modern businesses, the market have already started transitioning from business oriented to customer oriented and that is because of rising competition and more demanding customer behavior. The queuing process is extremely important for the service sector. Businesses who failed to organize and manage their queues will loss the customers and eventually their reputation as well. That is why leveraging modern technologies to adopt to modern queuing has become an essential. A digital or electronic queue management system is a technology based solution for your queuing process. It streamlines customer flow and leverage the automation to improve the process and performance of the employees and customer service reps. The digital queue management system also provide a wealth of valuable business intelligence data which help businesses understand the customer experience and help them identify the areas of improvement to further increase customer satisfaction. In this blog we have listed the key features of a modern electronic queue management system, if you want to learn more or if you want our help to implement a custom-made highly cost-efficient digital queue management system for your business. 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.
Check out this: The Benefits of Electronic Queuing System