Virtual Queue Management System Archives - RSI Concepts - Top IT Solution Provider Company in Dubai, UAE

February 21, 2024

Beyond First-Come, First-Serve: Innovative Strategies for Queue Management

Say goodbye to long waiting lines, unlock the future of customer service with an advance queue management system. Improved waiting lines, efficient customer flow management and seamless customer journey assures higher customer satisfaction. In today’s competitive and highly dynamic market landscape businesses are continuously exploring ways to drive efficiency and boost performance which have direct impact on customer experience. Happy and satisfied customers tend to be more loyal and a loyal customer base can serve as a foundation where a business can built its long term success. A queue management system is one of the most popular solution in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE. Especially businesses are organizations working in banking & finance, retail, healthcare, consumer services and even in government and semi-government organizations are proactively seeking ways to manage large footfall while maintaining a satisfactory customer service experience.

“You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.”

Jerry Fritz – Director of Management Institute
University of Wisconsin

In this blog we will discuss the fundamentals of a queue management system and how businesses can leverage it to elevate their customer service.

Beyond First-Come, First-Serve: Innovative Strategies for Queue Management

What is a Queue Management System?

A queue management system is a combination of both software and hardware tools which automatically manages the customer flow, it can greatly reduce customer wait time and it is very capable of boosting staff performance while optimizing the service deliver which results in a great and satisfactory customer experience. A queue management system consists of a powerful software engine along with an interactive self-service kiosk to allow customers and visitors to sign-in to the queues. A digital signage screen is used to display live queuing details along with some multimedia content to keep visitors engaged. Audio announcement system and counter plates are also used to improve customers’ waiting experience. Modern queue management systems also offer virtual queuing features, a virtual queue management system allow customers and visitors to sign-in remotely, such as by suing SMS, email, online portal, QR code, WhatsApp, appointment booking module or queue management system mobile application. Businesses can also customize the queue management system as per their exclusive requirements.

Queue Management System: Beyond First-Come, First-Serve

Earlier the customer service centers were serving customers and visitors on first-come, first-serve bases or also known as FIFO methodology, where FIFO stands for first-in, first-out. This means that the customers and visitors have to wait in waiting lines, where line jumpers, skirmishes between customers and complaints for employees was very common. All these problems compelled businesses to find out a bit more organized way to rectify all those problems. Manual queue management system, where every customer or visitor was issued a ticket number, was slightly better but eventually this system failed too. With the rise of technology, the digital and smart queue management systems have arrived, and over the time the queuing process and the queue management systems have evolved a lot. Now a days, there are a lot many different types of queue management systems available, some are exclusively designed for certain industries and some are designed for more diverse applications.

A modern queue management system automatically manages customer flow, it can automatically control the route a customers had to take, and during the waiting time it can re-route them to more quick moving queues to ensure minimizing the wait time. Thus first-come, first-serve method is not applicable anymore and customers are served on the bases of various different aspects, such as their priority level, the service they need and various other factors. A queue management system not only capable of identifying the customers and their needs, but it can automatically analyze the current queuing stats and customer flow and with ability to correlate it with historical data and policy guidelines a modern queue management system can take decisions at its own, and in real-time. It is this ability which can greatly enhance the customer flow and minimize the customer wait time. Apart from reducing customer wait time, a queue management system also improve waiting experience and service delivery process.

Innovative Strategies for Queue Management

As I have mentioned above, there are several different features and tools businesses can utilize with a queue management system to improve its efficacy and efficiency. However, in general a queue management system offers fundamental tools and benefits for every business, such as reduced customer wait time, improved customer experience, seamless customer journey, improved resource management and better staff performance, optimized customer service and ability to collect and analyze data which help businesses taking informed decisions. A queue management system software comes with smart algorithms and ability to integrate with other systems, tools, databases, and central information system. It further enhance its capabilities and allow business to develop intuitive and innovative features. The digitalization drives automation and the automation help boosting performance and efficiency. Here are some innovative strategies of queue management which can greatly help business achieve their goals.

Queue Management System Streamline Customer Flow

For any customer facing environment the customer flow is one of the most crucial aspect of managing customer experience. With the help of a queue management system businesses can easily improve customer flow. A queue management system allow customers to not only sign-in using self-service channels such as interactive self-service ticket dispensing kiosk or queue management system mobile app. At this stage businesses can also ask a few questions or let the customer chose their desired service so their route can be set accordingly. The queue management system automatically puts customers in the right queue and direct them to the right counter. Furthermore a queue management system can also monitor the customer flow and service time at each service counter. This information helps it to direct customers to the fast-moving track. A queue management system also monitors employee KPIs which also help businesses improve the performance of service agents which results in lesser service delivery time. Queue management system also offer useful features for service agents which are very helpful in improving performance and productivity.

Queue Management System Improves Waiting Experience

Apart from customer flow management, a queue management system is also good at improving customers’ waiting time. There are two types of wait time, one is the actual wait time and the other is perceived wait time. The human brain is very complex, when we don’t know anything with certainty, naturally we feel fear. Same effect is applicable here too. When the customers and visitors are unaware of the amount of time they have to wait, it naturally worries them. A queue management system has ability to analyze the live queuing data and the historical data long with several other data inputs from all touch points enables it to estimate the customer wait time with great precision. Therefore by simply printing the estimated wait time on the ticket can greatly relief the customers. Furthermore the digital signage are used to display multimedia content which also keep customers engaged. The notifications and alerts and audio announcements are also very effective in keeping customers engaged and busy. All these features help enhancing customers waiting experience and add value to their experience.

Queue Management System Boost Staff Performance

Customer service centers often struggle with low-performing staff. A queue management system comes with several innovative features which help businesses not only accurately monitor staff performance but it also improves it. A queue management system can lift the workload of the staff by automating various internal processes. Businesses can effectively implement their queuing policy and build innovative strategies to further enhance customer experience. Since the sign-in and customer flow management becomes automated with the implementation of a queue management system, the service agents have more time to focus on their primary tasks. There would be less complains, and everyone will know the ticket issuance and customer flow is managed by an automated system. Furthermore the queue management system also aid service agents with their pre and post-service tasks. It also provides them more control over customer flow with dedicated agent dashboard and monitor several KPIs which help management in better resource planning. All these features greatly boost staff performance.

Queue Management System Offers Real-time Monitoring

A queue management system comes with a queue management system server application. The main queue management system software is hosted at a server, either on cloud or in an on-premises server. This enables queue management system to offer a centralized administration and management. The head-office can remotely manage all connected branches via this centralized management mechanism. The queue management system offers various dashboards for various users and management levels. The head-office can monitor all connected branches in real-time. The real-time updates and data sharing also offers higher visibility for the managers, providing them a vantage point and letting them take timely decisions to prevent crowd formation and proactively manage resources for better branch performance. A queue management system can also send alerts to branch managers, head-office and relevant personal if a certain threshold is crossed, this help them dealing with bottlenecks and taking timely actions. The historical data along with live queuing data and reports are also updated in real-time which help management taking informed decisions and help them implementing their innovative strategies.

Queue Management System Provides Valuable Business Intelligence Data

A queue management system is a great tool which can help businesses closely monitor the entire queuing process and help them analyze each and every touch point in customer journey. The queue management system is capable of recording the historical data with ability to analyze it to take automated decisions in real-time. It can also monitor staff performance and help predicting the footfall on a particular day or time of the day. This also enables management to take preemptive actions and it help is very helpful in managing resources effectively. Businesses can accurately monitor which services are most in demand, which staff is performing better and even which service agent is good at which service type and so on. All these different types of analytical and statistical data is very helpful in implementing innovative strategies to improve customer flow and customer experience. Furthermore businesses can also collect customer feedback directly from the queue management system or integrating it with a separate customer feedback system module. A queue management system also offers in-built reports and analytical tools which are very helpful in decision making and preparing intuitive reports.

Queue Management System is a very Cost-effective Branch Transformation Tool

Despite offering great features and innovative queuing solutions a queue management system is a very cost-effective branch transformation tool. The initial cost of a queue management system is not high comparing to any other regular enterprise tool. Furthermore the queue management system works on automated systems and tools which means no full-time operator is required. This not only reduce the operational cost but also help businesses to improve the productivity and performance. A similar branch with similar footfall would require much less human resources when a queue management system in deployed. A queue management system also help boosting staff performance which makes them more productive and cost-effective. Happy customers means higher customer loyalty which in itself can greatly improve profitability and growth. A queue management system doesn’t require much maintenance and could last for many years. Even with minor tweaks, updates and upgrades businesses can rely upon same system for many years, which greatly increase the overall ROI of a queue management system in longer run and makes it one of the best and most cost-effective branch transformation tool.

Conclusion

Queue management is one of the most crucial aspect of customer experience management in any customer facing environment. Adopting an advanced queue management system help businesses taking the transformative leap towards unparalleled operational efficiency, service quality and customer service experience. Happy and satisfied customers tend to be more loyal and the customer loyalty can earn you a long-term success. In this blog we have learned that the queue management system is not only limited to organizing customer queue and improving customer flow, but it is a comprehensive tool which enable businesses to fully manage the entire customer journey while ensuring the highest level of customer satisfaction. Businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE are rapidly adopting modern practices and innovative strategies for queue management to deal with the rapidly evolving market landscapes and ever increasing customer demands. It is impossible for a business to achieve success while sticking to the traditional and outdated business practices.

A queue management system is an essential tool for all customer facing environments, whether you are a bank, healthcare facility, restaurant, retail store, an educational institute or a government organization, in order to improve your brand image and customer happiness you must have to offer the top-notch experience and service. If you want to learn more about the queue management systems or their impact on 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.

January 11, 2023January 11, 2023

Why a Virtual Queuing System Is Better Than Clipboard and Pen

The businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE are well-aware of the queuing difficulties and problems. Especially the retail and service-based industry suffers the most. The businesses who require their customers to arrive at their location or branch in order to make a transaction are the ones with more intense queuing and crowd management problems. Traditionally the queuing process is managed via clipboard and pen. Businesses doesn’t use any tool or complex software solution for their queuing and crowd management needs. This caused very serious problems and businesses have started noticing higher walk-out rates. Furthermore the market conditions, customer behavior and other factors also started transforming the queuing industry. We have witnessed the rapid and in-depth integration of smartphones and other digital technologies in our both work and private lives. The customer experience has become much more important than ever before in recent times. In fact there are several studies and market researches which suggest that an ordinary customer place experience equal to the quality of the product or service they are acquiring. The clipboard and pen based conventional queue management methods are unable to offer a better customer experience.

Furthermore the modern workplaces are heavily data driven the businesses need a tons of data in order to function properly hence there are several technological solutions and software that are considered to be absolute necessity for the modern businesses. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE in fact anywhere in the world, the cost of the labor and retaining employees is very expensive. In order to improve operational capabilities a business might have to hire more employees. First of all more employees doesn’t necessarily means optimized and improved productivity, you must also have to have management mechanisms in place in order to maximize the outcome of the teams and individual employees. That is the reason businesses implement digital solutions and software. The digitalization and IT help businesses in achieving maximum performance with far less employees and far less sophisticated management. In fact a single employee can produce an outcome worth of a team’s work if proper technology and digital tools are in place. Same is applicable to queuing process as well. Businesses need a proper technology to maximize the success rate and in order to achieve their strategic and long-term business goals.

What is Virtual Queuing?

The virtual queuing is a modern form of digital queue management systems. The traditional digital queue management systems have greatly improved the queuing process however, the virtual queuing have completely revolutionized it. The traditional queuing significantly improve customer flow, reduce their wait time, improve management and enhance customer experience. But the virtual queuing have amplified all those advantages with innovative features and integration of modern technologies and digital platforms. The virtual queuing not only allow your customers and visitors to sign-up remotely for virtual queues but it also provide them freedom doing so without being physically present at the premises. This means that the customers and visitors can sign-up for a virtual queue while they are at their home or work and their wait time starts right away, they will be served on time as per their ticket or e-ticket number without being physically waiting or standing in queues at the business’s premises. This is the major difference between a traditional digital queue management system and virtual queue management system. The virtual queuing further enhance customer experience by providing facility to sign-up using multiple remote channels and other useful features. This is what make virtual queuing more superior than the traditional digital queue management systems.

Why a Virtual Queuing System is better than a Traditional Clipboard and Pen Method?

The virtual queuing system can completely eliminate all pain points that cause a lot of problems in the traditional clipboard and pen line management methods. That is the main reason of implementing a digital virtual queuing system. Furthermore the virtual queuing system also offers a tons of benefits and can help businesses effectively compete in the modern marketplace. Here are the common problems that a traditional clipboard and pen method has along with key advantages of using a virtual queuing system:

Common Problems with Traditional Clipboard and Pen Waiting Line Management

The traditional manual queuing management with clipboard and pen is an outdated process. It is not effective anymore and the businesses need a better management tool to ensure a smooth customer experience. Here are some very common problems that businesses and customers face with a traditional clipboard and pen based queuing management methods:

Unclear Wait Time: The wait time is one of the most important factor in queue management and it have profound impact on the customer experience. The manual clipboard and pen based queuing management can’t estimate wait time or provide a clear information to the customer which is also the cause of most of the complaints.
Higher Customer Churn Rate:The manual clipboard and pen based queuing management always have higher walk-out rate which is called customer churn rate. The customer churn rate is represent a great loos of the sales, not only that it results in unhappy and unsatisfied customers who will share their experience with others which will harm your business’s brand image.
Inconvenient for Employees: The biggest problem with the clipboard and pen based queuing system is that only one employee at a time can have it. But that is not practical, usually more than one staff will have to manage the waiting lines hence they will have to constantly pass the clipboard and pen to the next employee. Furthermore the handwriting and typo also cause more problems.
Poor Customer Experience: The customers can never be provided with the accurate estimated time to their turn, usually it crosses the value the staff estimates due to several factors. However, another critical problem is that the clipboard and pen based queue management requires customers and visitors to stand nearby or in waiting lines, hence they have less freedom and could feel bound which results in frustration and unhappiness.
No Data Collection:The business intelligence data is vital for strategy making and decision taking processes. A clipboard and pen based queuing system cannot gather any kind of business intelligence data. It is nearly impossible to understand customer behavior, their experience, the waiting time and employee performance, etc. using clipboard and pen queuing management method. Without clear information decisions and strategies have too much guessing work which reduce the success rate and can undermine the profitability and productivity of a business.

The waiting line management can be very challenging for businesses. There are several factors that contribute to long waiting lines and their repercussions on customer experience. The clipboard and pen queuing is a very old waiting line management method. Due to its inherent disadvantages and flaws businesses started adopting more modern and technologically advanced queuing methods such as implementing a digital queue management system. Here are some key advantages of virtual queuing that will help you significantly improve customer experience, efficiency and productivity in the process.

Advantages of a Virtual Queuing System

Any digital queue management system can offer a great efficiency comparing to traditional clipboard and pen methods. However, the virtual queuing is considered to be the most modern and advanced form of queue management systems. The virtual queuing system help businesses achieve a better customer flow and improve customer journey and experience. The customer experience drives customer loyalty, and the customer loyalty is a key to long term success. Furthermore the virtual queuing system is also a great tool to collect highly valuable business intelligence data which help businesses understand and evaluate their internal processes, customer experience and much more. The virtual queuing system utilizes the most commonly used communication channels and mediums to make it more convenient for an average customer or visitor to access to the system. The virtual queuing also help reducing the customer wait time and provide better control over the customer flow. The crowd prevention features help management dealing with any unexpected scenario and large influx of the customer and visitors. The virtual queuing system is based on an AI (artificial intelligence) based smart software engine which also facilitate communication and improve customer engagements. Here are the key advantages of a virtual queuing system which make it far more superior than the conventional clipboard and pen methods.

Advantages of Virtual Queuing System: Easy Remote Sign-up Features

One of the biggest advantage of a virtual queuing system is that it offers multiple remote sign-up methods. Which makes it more convenient and easier for the customers and visitors to sign-up remotely without being physically present at the business premises. There are multiple channels that can be integrated with virtual queuing system such as SMS, Call Center, Online Booking, Customer Portals, Corporate Website, Queue Management System Mobile Apps, WhatsApp, QR Code, etc. All these channels help customers sign-up easily without any need of physically appearing at the business. The customers are signed-up remotely for virtual queues, no matter if they are present at the business premises or not they will remain on their designated positions in the queue and will be called upon their turn. This means that if a customer plans to visit a bank branch or a customer service center they can sign-up while they are at home or work, and they will be issued an e-ticket which will contain their token number and the estimated time to their turn. Hence they can plan their visit with more freedom and convenience which definitely enhance their experience and raise their happiness and satisfaction.

Advantages of Virtual Queuing System: Significantly Low Wait Time

The wait time is one of the most impactful aspect of queuing process. Longer wait time will always hurt your customer experience and it will also cause increase in customer churn rate. Furthermore the longer customer wait time also causes unsatisfied service experience and it creates other management related problems such as it will impact your employee efficiency and resource management strategy. Furthermore there are two different types of wait time that we consider in queuing process. One is the actual wait time and the other most important phenomenon is the perceived wait time. The perceived wait time is just the imagination of human brain. The human brain works in very peculiar ways, if the waiting experience is not so good, the actual wait time could be 1 minute but we will feel it like 5 minutes or so. That is why the perceived wait time is very important for customer experience. The biggest advantage of virtual queuing system is that it not only reduce the actual wait time but it also help minimizing the perceived wait time as well. As the customers and visitors can sign-up remotely and only required to arrive at the time of their turn so the wait time can be reduced to literally none. Even if a customer arrive before some time it would be marginal and they will have to wait very little which is why the virtual queuing system is one of the best in terms of managing customer wait time.

Advantages of Virtual Queuing System: Increase Customer Engagements

Customer engagement is another important factor of queuing management process. Engaged customers are tend to tolerate more wait time comparing to less engaged customers. For that different queue management systems use different techniques, for example a traditional digital queue management system offers digital signage screens and audio/visual announcement system which help engaging customers and keep them distracted from the waiting and reduce their stress. The digital signage are used to display the live queuing information along with multimedia content which keep users busy. Furthermore the audio/visual announcement system also keep announcing ticket number upon each customer call in multiple languages which also keep user distracted from the waiting and help reducing their stress and boredom. The virtual queuing system offers all these features and on top of that it also offers a bi-directional communication channel. Since most of the customers and visitors who are using virtual queuing would spend very less time in waiting areas so the communication channels help businesses provide queuing information, updates, notification, alerts and also a chatting facility via dedicated chat boxes or WhatsApp, etc. The service agents can also update customers in case of any urgent update or change in their turn, etc. These all features help businesses increase the customer engagement which is essential for reducing the wait time stress. It greatly help improving customers’ waiting experience and increase their satisfaction.

Advantages of Virtual Queuing System: Improved and Automated Customer Flow

The customer flow management always have huge impact on the overall performance and efficiency of the queuing process. Each business offers multiple services, these services are offered through multiple counters. Sometimes businesses also multi-stepped services or stepped services which require a customer to visit at least two or more counters in order to avail a full service. Then there are different customer segmentations on the bases of the customers and visitors demographics and service type. For example, businesses could have dedicated counters for elderly visitors, people with special needs, VIP or Premium customers and service-bound segregation. All these segregations means that each customer group will be treated differently or could have different customer experience expectations. On top of that in a real-life queuing scenario there are several other variables that can impact your customer flow such as longer service delivery time than expected, unwanted delay due to disputes, additional requirements or any such thing, all these factors can disrupt a regular customer flow. Hence the businesses need a mechanism in place which can order the customer flow by monitoring real-time queuing data and taking automated decision in order to ensure maximum customer flow is sustained. The dedicated administrative dashboard and smart software engine of the virtual queuing system will help businesses define and implement their queuing policy in a fully automated manner. Hence the virtual queuing system monitors system usage stats and data from touch points to take real-time decisions which help improving the customer flow and improve customer experience by reducing their wait time and solving such problems.

Advantages of Virtual Queuing System: Improve Productivity and Employee Performance

For any business the productivity and performance are essential needs. Without achieving higher productivity and performance a business can never achieve higher profitability which is crucial for long term success and growth. The clipboard and pen based queuing system is slow, restricted and outdated. It cannot meet the needs of the modern market requirements. A digital queue management system on the other hand is very advanced, it improves productivity and performance and help businesses in resource management. A virtual queuing system can collect a variety of employee performance data which is also very helpful in improving employee performance. It can track all employee activities and their progress of the day. On top of that it provides various performance KPIs and analytical tools which help management in evaluating employee performance and help them taking actions in right direction to improve performance and productivity. Furthermore in any queuing management scenarios the employees who are serving customers need to perform several pre and post-service tasks. These tasks can be time consuming, however, with the help of the virtual queuing system and its ability to integrate it with other internal systems and central information center can help reducing employee efforts and maximize their performance. It also keep employee free from any task related to customer flow and line management as all that is done automatically. Hence the employee performance and productivity if significantly improved.

Advantages of Virtual Queuing System: Collect Valuable Business Intelligence Data

The modern day and age is completely dominated by technology and data. The AI (artificial intelligence), big data, cloud, electric cars, smartphones and such technologies are so popular that every day we are reading something about them. The technology have completely revolutionized our daily work and personal lifestyle. The modern businesses are heavily relying on IT and data for their day-to-day tasks as well as for basing their strategies and policies upon it. The term business intelligence is self-explanatory. The business intelligence data is insight about the matters relate to your business. It could and should include both internal and external factors. The data gathering is crucial for any modern business as their most of the policies and strategic decisions will be solely based on the reports and inputs of their data analysts. The traditional clipboard and pen queuing method is unable to collect the required data in fact it is nearly impossible to collect any business intelligence data with that method. The virtual queuing system on the contrary can provide a wealth of valuable business intelligence data. The virtual queuing system is capable of collecting system usage and analytical data from each and every touch point of the customer journey and it can also capture insight from other connected systems and tools. Furthermore the virtual queuing system also provide enriched analytical tools and customized reporting features which also help businesses getting the full advantage of the precious business intelligence data.

Advantages of Virtual Queuing System: Effectively Collect High-Quality Customer Feedback Data

Customer feedback data is vital for a healthy business growth. It help businesses acquire a deeper and better understanding of the customers, their behavior and market trends. Businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE actively work on their customer feedback management campaigns. For that usually businesses use a dedicated customer feedback management tool. The virtual queuing system offer two different method to implement customer feedback management tools. You can integrate your CRM or existing customer feedback management tool with the virtual queuing system or you can utilize the in-built customer feedback management module of the virtual queue management system to collect customer feedback data. It is far more convenient to conduct customer feedback campaign using the in-built customer feedback tool of the virtual queuing system. As the queue management system is already taking information about the customer and the service they need. Hence no need to input that data again during the survey. Which will make your survey small and it will definitely increase the response rate. Furthermore the customer feedback data can easily be analyzed with in-built analytical tools or it can be relayed to a third party system, CRM or any other customer feedback system or it can be integrated with the central information center for better data analysis and data sharing tasks.

See More: 5 Ways to Manage your Customer Service Queues

Conclusion

For any business managing queues and large influx could be a challenging task. For that businesses hire additional staff adopt modern practices and implement technologies. The queue management process is a very complicated process. Especially in Dubai and all around the UAE where the markets are very advanced, the customers are savvy and the competition is tough. Furthermore the customer experience has become a phenomenally important factor in any business’s success. It is not just in UAE but all over the world, the customers are willing to pay extra if they are provided with a better experience. That is why businesses need to focus more on customer experience and customer satisfaction. When it comes to queuing management system the clipboard and pen queuing method is very old and outdated. It is limited, have several restriction, and this method doesn’t collect any business intelligence data. These are the reasons businesses decided to implement more advanced and technology based digital queue management systems. The virtual queuing system is the most modern and highly advanced form of a traditional digital queue management system. It not just only offers all advantages of a tradition queue management system but it also help boosting system efficiency and enhancing customer experience.

The virtual queuing system is a great tool to maximize the efficiency of your queuing process. It also help enhancing customer experience and it is a great tool to capture valuable business intelligence data. In this blog we have discussed why a virtual queuing system is better than clipboard and pen. We have listed the common problems and drawbacks of clipboard and pen based queuing process and we have enlisted the key advantages of the virtual queuing system. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to implement a highly customized and tailor-made virtual queuing 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: 5 Challenges to face if Performance Appraisal is not customized as per Organization’s Policies

February 8, 2022February 26, 2022

Virtual Queuing and Digital Customer Experience

Business in Dubai and all around UAE are always seeking ways to improve their customer experience and customer journey. The UAE is a very large and rapidly growing economy, this attracts a lot of entrepreneurs, investors, businesses from all over the world. Especially the service based industries are facing tough competitive environment. This competition results is high market standards and higher customer expectations. That is why the customer experience is extremely important for any business to ensure long term sustainable growth. During last few years the customer behavior have changed drastically due to the COVID and social distancing. People are more inclined towards digital interaction than physical interaction. The businesses also have to implement social distancing policies and other safety rule to ensure the health and safety of the customers and the staff. This has changed the entire landscape of the communication and services.

A queue management system is a tool used to streamline customer flow. It help businesses to automate or semi-automate various customer journey steps. A digital queue management system can segregate customers as per their needs which improves customer flow and reduce customer wait time. The queue management system also help improving the service quality and boosting the performance of the service staff or service agents. Which result in reduced customer churn rate, higher customer happiness. The customer satisfaction is a key to customer loyalty and the customer loyalty is considered to be the foundation of growth and profitability. The queue management systems have also evolved a lot, as the general market trends got changed the queue management systems also got changed. The virtual queuing and mobile queuing are not a new concepts however, since the later 2020 till today and also in future the virtual queuing will dominate the queue management systems. In this blog we will discuss how virtual queuing and digital customer experience can be your best competitive advantage to boost the profitability, efficiency, quality of service and customer experience.

What is Virtual Queuing?

The virtual queuing is a process of signing-up a customer in a virtual queue. For queue management systems the virtual queuing is a relatively new terminology and it doesn’t only mean to create virtual queues in fact the virtual queuing means to enable the customers to sign-up remotely in virtual queues using mobile devices or digital channels. The virtual queuing can be done using web portals, mobile apps, SMS, emails, QR Codes and much more. The biggest differentiation between the virtual queuing and traditional queuing is that the virtual queuing can literally reduce the wait time to none. The customers and visitors are free to wait outside or plan their visit to arrive only when their turn is expected. The live queuing information can be relayed to the customers using multiple channels along with alerts and notifications. The customer service agent can also communicate with the customers and visitors to inform them about any change or unexpected scenario. The virtual queuing transform customer journey and customer experience and ensures maximum customer happiness.

What is Digital Customer Experience?

The term digital customer experience refers to all the interactions a customer have with the business using the digital channels and mediums such as online or internet, emails, mobile apps, social media, chat bots, and even the SMS communication can be taken as the part of the digital customer experience. The digital customer experience management strategy is very important these days. As people living in Dubai or anywhere else in UAE are very familiar with the digital interactions. So providing digital customer experience doesn’t only have operational benefits but the customers will also expect digital interaction from their favorite brands. That is why the digital customer experience is very important and a business should use right tools to ensure the customers will be satisfied and delighted with their interaction. The virtual queuing is a great tool to enhance digital customer experience. It also help businesses collect useful system insights and business intelligence data which can be further used to tune up relevant business processes and to evaluate the performance of the staff and different departments/branches. The business intelligence also help businesses to take informed decisions and make right policies to ensure long term growth and customer retention.

Virtual Queuing and Digital Customer Experience Optimize Wait Time

People don’t like to wait in long queues. The long wait time is a major reason of customer churn and poor customer experience. We have all noticed that when we are standing in queues at one point or another we feel that the line next to us is moving faster, this is only a behavior phenomenon when people just perceive that and it is because of the stress of the waiting. With manual queues there are several other problems too, such as line jumpers, or people standing in wrong queues or even people are giving way to others to join the queue from their point. However, with a digital queue management system when a single customer have a ticket these all things can be avoided. The psychological effects of waiting in the queues can also be minimized. With the help of virtual queuing the businesses can offer their customers and visitors a facility to sign-up remotely or virtually and they are provided with the live queuing information via remote channels which allow them to arrive only when their ticket is called. Hence there is literally no wait at all.

The digital experience and virtual queuing strategy can significantly improve customer satisfaction and help improving customer loyalty too. These days everyone is familiar with digital interaction. The internet penetration is almost 99% in UAE. This enabled businesses to innovate very effective digital strategies utilizing digital channels and digital communication. There are several digital channels that c

an be integrated with queue management system to enable virtual sign-up process. For example, the company website or a dedicated customer portal can improve customer experience. Moreover an appointment booking module can offer a great sign-up experience. It can provide additional details such as busy hours, nearest branches and much more which can be very helpful for booking a suitable appointment and planning the visit.

In the entire UAE the mobile phones are widely used, in fact almost 96% of the population use mobile phones. Which make them extremely important. In order to build a strategy for digital customer experience the mobile phones can be a great tool to enhance customer journey and experience. Businesses can offer mobile phone apps or SMS based virtual queuing. The retail sector in Dubai and all around the UAE is also using QR code based queuing. These all are the form of virtual queuing. Along with that the business can also integrate SMS services to enable the customers to sign-up via SMS. WhatsApp is the most popular app used for communication in UAE and also all around the world. The WhatsApp can also be integrated to enhance digital customer experience. These all tools can be used to improve communication, customer engagements, customer waiting experience and even businesses can also conduct customer feedback surveys via their digital channels. The virtual queuing reduce the customer wait time to literally none, which raise customer satisfaction and customer happiness.

Read More: Queue & Waiting Time Management

Virtual Queuing and Digital Customer Experience Improves Customer Satisfaction

The virtual queuing and digital customer experience can automate several customer journey steps and improve customer flow. The queue management system can easily identify the service hence it can sign-up the customers and visitors for the right queue or virtual queue. The queue management system can also help streamlining the customer flow by automatically routing customers to the relevant counters and even it can automatically reroute the customers as per the set protocols. For example, if some counters are less busy or free the system can automatically reroute the customers to such counters. This way the business can optimize resources and improve the overall efficiency of the entire branch. The queue management system can also manage customers on the bases of their priority, such as ordinary customers, premium or VIP customers, and customers with special needs, etc. This also help improving customer experience and ensure a balanced workload for the staff to improve staff efficiency and quality of the service.

Most of the time a business has multiple services and multiple counters, some counters are dedicated for certain services and sometimes some counters are dedicated for priority customers. A digital queue management system can easily handle all those scenarios and it can automatically control customer flow for each counter as per the set protocols. Most of the time businesses also offer stepped-services. The stepped services are those which require from a customer to visit multiple counters for a single service delivery. Managing such services could be tricky, some steps are lengthier and some are quick, sometimes some steps have more counters and vice versa. A digital queue management system can easily handle all those scenarios by using in-built smart algorithms and intelligence software engine, which help businesses to ensure smooth customer flow throughout the entire customer journey to improve customer happiness and customer satisfaction. Such way the businesses can significantly reduce customer wait time and improve customer flow which directly impact customer happiness and customer satisfaction.

Virtual Queuing and Digital Customer Experience Improves Service Quality

The service quality is extremely important for customer retention. If a businesses is failing to provide quality service no matter who much efforts they put to improve customer flow, ultimately the customers will be unhappy. That is why it is extremely important to improve service quality. A virtual queue management system or any other queuing solutions is capable of collecting basic information during the sign-up process. This information can be used to improve service quality. For example, whenever a customer is reaching to a counter the agent needs their basic information to start the service. That information can be pre-loaded when the customer is arriving as the system already knows their identity from the virtual sign-up process. Similarly as a customer is already selecting the service they need, so if any preparation is required for that, it can be done automatically before even the customer arrives, so the agent is completely ready to deliver the service.

This not only reduce the service delivery time, but it also reduce server’s/agent’s work, which give them a better chance to focus on the quality and experience. Quicker service delivery mean happy customer and it also mean less time for the next customer waiting in queue. This way it not only facilitate the service delivery process but is also help businesses in reducing the wait time. Since an employee can entertain more customers in less time, their work efficiency is also improved. The virtual queuing and digital customer experience can help improving service quality and service delivery process.

Virtual Queuing and Digital Customer Experience Provide Deeper Data Insights

The virtual queuing is used to transform digital customer experience. The digital comes with various benefits and one of them is the data collection and business intelligence gathering. With virtual queuing and digital customer experience strategy business can collect statistical and usage data from each and every touch point of the customer journey and businesses can also collect customer feedback data using integrated communication channels. The queue management system can record the statistical data too such as which virtual queuing channels are used for how many times, what is he average wait time, which service delivery takes how much time on average and even the queue management system can also record such details for each individual interaction. These are very helpful information and provide a deeper and much better understanding of the customer journey. Businesses can easily identify the areas of improvements and build their future strategies to meet their goals of efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The virtual queuing and digital customer experience also provide accurate KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and other data which can be used for various purposes and can be shared with relevant departments and personals to help them improve their performance. The business can accurately monitor and record the performance of individual employee for example, which employees take how much time to deliver a service and that can be recorded against each service the agent is working on. The queue management system can also record the performance of the teams and even the branches which can be later analyzed by the management using in-built data analytical tools. Businesses can also done comparative analysis for the employees, services, teams and branches as well. The queue management system also help collecting the customer feedback data which can be collected using multiple channels.

The customer feedback data is very important. Businesses can conduct various different types of surveys using the digital and mobile channels such as SMS, Emails, Customer Portal Dashboards, Website, Touch Screens (in-premises), mobile apps, etc. The queue management system can collect NPS (net promoter score), CES (customer effort score), CSAT (customer satisfaction score), general rating and happiness scores and even businesses can also conduct long surveys. This data can provide a deeper understanding of the customer’s minds, their expectations and market trends. Collectively the business intelligence data collected from virtual queuing and digital customer experience can be used highlight areas of improvements and to build strategies for the future growth.The queue management system also provide facility to directly share the relevant data to the relevant department, management or individual employees to ensure seamless automated data sharing. This enables the businesses to take immediate actions on top priority feedbacks and data indicators and also help them to make better plan for the future.

Virtual Queuing and Digital Customer Experience Boost Employee Performance

The employee performance is also a key factor in customer satisfaction and overall efficiency of the business. With the help of virtual queuing and digital customer experience the employee workload can be easily reduced. As the wait time is very less, so there is not much chance of crowd formation or any such problem with the customers and visitors waiting in the waiting areas. Moreover the sales agents and server also get help from the queue management system dashboard and the system can also aid the service delivery process by automatically preparing the agents for the next customer. This way the employee workload can be significantly reduced. A single customer service agent can serve more customers in a single shift. Which boost their performance. The queue management system also closely monitor the performance of the staff and help the businesses and management to effectively utilize resources for best performance.

For example, some employees perform better with the services they are experienced in and some perform better for certain services and vice versa. This can be analyzed with the help of KPIs monitoring tool. The information can be relayed to the HR which can later help training programs or transfer human resources and deploy them as per their skill set to obtain maximum employee performance and overall business efficiency. Good employee performance also help improving customer journey and customer satisfaction. The employees who are working under a pleasant environment with balanced workload are tend to deliver high quality services thus ensuring better customer experience and higher customer happiness.

Virtual Queuing and Digital Customer Experience – System Integration

The virtual queuing and digital customer experience management is not as that simple. In fact it is a very complex and sophisticated process. The SMEs and SMBs can equally benefit from the virtual queuing and digital customer experience strategy as the large banks, healthcare facilities, educational institutes and large enterprises. Any digital solution or system requires data to operate at optimum levels. For that the system integration is done. The system integration is a technique used to push and pull data from a system. Usually every business have a central information system which is lined to a tool or software that is responsible for the most of the operational activities. That is why a queue management system and digital customer experience solution can be integrated with the central information center or with any other third-party system or tool to ensure automatic data synchronization. The integration also paves the way for various innovative features which can be added to the system to improve digital customer experience and to increase customer happiness and satisfaction.

Virtual Queuing and Digital Customer Experience is a Key to Long Term Growth

The growth of any business depends on two main things, one is customer satisfaction and the second is right strategy and policy. The customer happiness and customer satisfaction drive customer loyalty and help improving customer retention rates. Studies have shown that it is almost nine to twelve time less expensive to sell to an existing customer rather acquiring a new customer. There are various studies that shows that a business’s reputation and its brand image can impact its marketing campaigns too. If a business has good reputation and a positive brand image the return over its marketing investments would be better comparing to a business with bad reputation or negative brand identity. The loyal customers and customer retention is considered to be the foundation of the long term growth. Customer happiness and customer satisfaction drive customer loyalty. The loyal customers are more likely to do repeated business and are also tend to be a good brand advocate and help promoting the brand.

In addition to that the virtual queuing and digital customer experience help businesses optimizing the resource consumption and improve employee performance as well. The digitalization and automation also help automating various business processes and reduce customer journey steps. Collectively these all factors result in per service cost reduction. Which ensures high productivity and profitability. That is why the virtual queuing and digital customer experience is a key to long term growth.

Conclusion

The virtual queuing and digital customer experience help businesses improve customer journey and ensure customer satisfaction. The customer happiness and customer satisfaction is achieved by reducing the customer efforts and by enabling the business to reduce the wait time. It also help businesses to optimize various business process and also help improving service delivery mechanisms. The virtual queuing and digital customer experience help improving staff efficiency and increase the overall operational capabilities and productivity of the entire business. All these factors contribute in customer retention and help earning customer loyalty. The virtual queuing and digital customer experience also help collecting data insight and customer feedbacks. Which can be analyzed to make changes for the improvements and to build future strategies that drive higher profitability and customer satisfaction. The purpose of this blog was to emphasize on the importance of the virtual queuing and digital customer experience. If you need more information about the topic or need our help with your queuing needs or customer experience transformation, 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.

August 25, 2021

Top 10 Virtual Queue Management Benefits

One of the biggest challenge for business in Dubai, UAE and all around the world is to provide a great customer experience and customer journey. However, the reality is no one likes to wait in long lines, people often think that waiting in long queues is a waste of time. People thinks that the businesses and brands who failed to reduce the wait time or long queues don’t care much about their customers. Business too could have a very negative perception about the wait time, often businesses think that the wait time can’t be reduced or can’t be reduced more than a certain level. However, that is not the case. The customer wait time can be reduced significantly by proven methods and technologies. The virtual queuing is one of them. It is the most effective queue management system type which help in reducing the wait time. The virtual queue management systems are very effective in managing the customer flow and they also help improving customer experience.

The effective customer flow management also improves employee efficiency which also help improving customer experience. The primary goal of having any queue management system is to make your customers happy and satisfied. Only the satisfied customers are loyal to the brand. The unhappy customers will immediately switch to others as soon as they got another option. Here in Dubai and all around the UAE the competition is too high, customers have a lot of option. The customer expectations are also very high and the customer retention is very difficult. A virtual queue management system is a very helpful tool in improving customer satisfaction hence it improves customer retention too. The loyal customers act as a strong foundation for the business. The business can build their future on that base. If a business keep on losing existing customers then they will have to invest more in acquiring new customers and studies have shown that acquiring new customers could be 8 to 12 times expensive then selling to the existing customers. That is why the queue management system is extremely important for any business. Here are top 10 benefits of the virtual queue management system:

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 1: Reduce Wait Time

The virtual queue management systems can significantly reduce the wait time. In fact the virtual queuing is the only queuing method that can promise to completely eliminate the wait time. Thanks to the remote sign-up, smartphone apps, the other features of the virtual queue management, the customers can be booked a spot in the waiting line (virtual queues) and the estimated time of their turn is given to them, which allow them the freedom to spend their time in other activities or arrive at the branch at the very exact time of their turn. The customers can also schedule a visit or book an appointment at the time of their convenience which also add value to customer journey and customer experience. If customers and visitors will have to wait in the long queues inside the branch then the staff could also get overloaded, as they will have to manage the crowd too along with their primary tasks, which further prolonged the wait time and harm the customer satisfaction.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 2:Remote Sign-Up

The remote sign-up improve customer experience and provide them freedom to sign-up remotely for the physical queue. That is not all, with the virtual queue management system the customers and visitors can also wait elsewhere, they are not required to wait physically in the queues, instead they are placed in a virtual queue and their number called as they were physically present in the physical queue. The virtual sign-ups can be done through various mediums and methods for example, Queue Management System Smartphone Apps, Online Appointment Booking System, Website, Customer Portals, Email, SMS, Call, etc. When a customer or visitor is remotely signed-up using any medium they have been issued an e-ticket or mobile ticket which is their position in the queue. Along with that mobile ticket they are also given the estimated time of their turn along with the counter number. This helps them to plan their arrival accordingly and save a lot of wait time.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 3:Prevents Crowd

The crowd and congestion in the branch can have big impact on customer journey and customer churn rate. Customers often leave when they see crowd or too long queues, in addition to that it also put more burden on the staff and management and it is harder to manage crowd. Customers and visitors usually avoid reaching out to staff or spending much time in conversation with the staff when they see a lot of people waiting in the queue or when there is a crowd. This can prevent new sales as well as it will leave your customers unsatisfied. Some customers and visitors often left without getting serve or purchase due to crowd and too much congestion. But a virtual queue management system provides the facility to arrive just in time and immediately get served, which means there will be no congestion or crowd formation, the customers and visitors will be comfortable and the staff can also focus on primary tasks rather managing crowd. The staff performance get improved and they deliver better quality service.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 4: Implement Social Distancing Easily

Implementing social distancing is mandatory for all public places and offices. If you appoint staff to prevent people from entering into the store/branch then the crowd could form outside the store/branch. People also don’t like such practices. But with the help of a virtual queue management system the customer journey can be made contactless, the management can easily control the number of active queues and can easily prevent congestion. The management can also limit the number of active queues in a way to ensure the social distancing which will protect the customers and visitors as well as the staff.

Businesses and stores in Dubai and all around the UAE are only permitted to have a certain percentage of the full capacity of hosting the number of customers and visitors at a time. Which makes it very hard when managed manually, but with a virtual queue management system the system can be configured to ensure the number of customers and visitors will not exceed that limit. Moreover the virtual queue management system also provide direct communication channels to the customers which makes it easier to send instructions and notifications to the customers and visitors. This helps maintaining the social distancing and implementing other company policies with ease and accuracy.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 5: Improve Employee Efficiency

The major factors that reduce the staff efficiency are the crowd formation and unbalanced work load. If there is congestion then the employees will have to stay on the counter all the time and they couldn’t spare time for off-the-counter tasks. Which is a big reason of employee work deficiency. Moreover when the customers are coming through a bad customer journey the employee may focus more on a single customer to make them happy and satisfied and for that a single employee will have to spend more time on a single customer. This reduces their daily capacity of handling customers and visitors.

But when the number of customers are controlled and the customer flow is managed by a virtual queue management system there could be no crowd formation, the work load of the employee also get reduced, they can have small breaks too, which significantly improve their productivity and capacity to work. Another great advantage of the virtual queuing is that it can provide basic information and data of the customer beforehand through the agent portal/dashboard which really expedite the service delivery process and increase the capacity of the employees to serve more customers in a single shift.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 6:Integration with Smartphone Apps

Virtual queue management system also integrates smartphone apps to improve customer journey and customer experience. The customers can get the e-ticket or mobile-ticket from the smartphone applications. The easy sign-up process and is one of the main advantage of the virtual queue management systems. The business can also easily communicate with their customers using the smartphone apps. The live queuing data and ticket information can be published on the smartphone applications. The alerts, notifications and queuing information make sure the customer can easily reach in time to get the service delivered with very little or almost no wait time. The smartphone applications integration also provide other useful information and functionalities such as branch locator, branch details, nearest branch or least busy branches and so on. Moreover the smartphone applications can also be used for various other purposes such as making online payments, submitting customer feedback and much more.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 7:Collect Customer Feedback Easily

The customer Feedback is a very important piece of information for any business. As businesses often spend thousands upon thousands on solutions and system aiming to improve customer journey and customer satisfaction, it is crucial to understand how your all efforts are going. The best way is to let your customers talk to you, let them identify the areas of improvements and let them tell you what do they expect from you. The customer feedback system comes as an additional module to virtual queue management system. The businesses can utilize this module to collect various types of customer feedback such as NPS (Net Promoter Score), Customer Effort Score, Customer Satisfaction store and much more. The feedback can be collected via smartphone apps, SMS, emails, online links, etc. The feedback data is very helpful in identifying the areas of improvement. It help businesses to understand their strengths and weaknesses. It is also very helpful in evaluating employee performance, customer journey, business practices, product/service quality and a lot more.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 8:Cost Reduction and Profitability

The virtual queue management systems can be very helpful for business in cost reduction and improving profitability. The less wait time, enhanced customer journey, quick service delivery, and employee performance can significantly increase the overall operational capabilities and work efficiency of the branch/store. This means with the same amount of resources the business can serve more customers with better work quality. Hence per service delivery cost is automatically reduced. Moreover as the entire customer flow and customer journey is managed by the virtual queue management system, businesses can automate various business processes. The automatic customer flow management, reduced customer numbers in the branch and efficient customer journey reduce the work load of the employee and improve their efficiency, these all factors collectively results in less cost per service delivery. Either the business can use the same resources to serve more customers or can adjust the resources as per the needs to minimize the cost. In each case the per service delivery cost get reduced significantly and the profitability get increased.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 9: System Integration and Central Management

Another great advantage of the virtual queue management system is that it is very flexible towards integration with other tools, systems and third party software. The system is usually hosted online, which means that connecting all the branches to the head-office is very simple. The virtual queue management system can be integrated with smartphone applications, online appointment booking module, CRM (Customer Relationship Management tools), Customer Feedback and Survey Modules, CLM (Customer Loyalty Program), ERP, Sales System, Enterprise Performance Management System and much more. The integration is usually achieved using APIs, which is a very secure and efficient technology. This high connectivity also enables the head-office to monitor and control (if needed) any connected branch. All the real-time monitoring data and queuing stats are available for the head-office, branch manager or anyone else who is authorized to access them. The central management is very important as businesses usually scale, and require to add branches and counters.

Virtual Queue Management System Benefit No. 10: Reporting, KPIs and Business Intelligence

The virtual queue management system is capable of capturing data at all touch points in the customer journey along with various other KPIs (key performance indicators). As the system is integrated with smartphone applications and customer feedback modules, it also collect various types of statistical data from these two interfaces. The KPIs are important to assess various customer journey steps and the employee performance. The customer feedback is very important and can be used for evaluating the entire business operation. Moreover the system is also capable of collecting stats and fetching data from other connected systems and tools. Collectively these all data streams forms and sophisticated matrices of analytical and statistical data which is called business intelligence.

Such data is very important for the management to assess and evaluate their ongoing business process, methodologies and the entire infrastructure. It also includes the evaluation of the products and services. A good queue management system always have an in-built data analytical and statistical tool, which can compile this data in the form of actionable reports. The management can use these reports to improve their strategies, methods and processes. With the help of such reports the management can easily make informed decision which can help them to improve the entire business operations for future.

Conclusion

For the businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE the virtual queue management system is a great tool keep up with the latest trends while maintaining the highest level of operational efficiency. The virtual queue management systems enables a business to effectively control the customer flow and also allow the customers and visitors to sign-up remotely through the easy remote sign-up channels. The crowd prevention, automatic customer flow management and automation of various customer journey steps reduced the work load of the employees, which improve employee performance and efficiency. Only the basic features of the virtual queue management systems can effectively reduce the per service delivery cost and on top of that the businesses can also customize the virtual queue management systems to further improve their efficiency and profitability. The system integration via APIs, smartphone apps, customer feedback system module and central management are the key features of a virtual queue management system. RSI Concepts is a leading name in Queue Management System providers in Dubai, UAE. Feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below to learn more about our queue management systems and solutions.

Check out this blog: Why Business Need Mobile Apps along with Classic Queue Management System?