BLOG OF RSI CONCEPTS

world map

What is a Bill Payment Kiosk: Everything You Need to Know

The bill payment kiosks are revolutionizing the financial market and traditional methods of transactions between businesses and customers. A bill payment kiosk is a specialized type of interactive self-service kiosk which includes features and functionalities to collect payments from the customers. The bill payment kiosk machines offer seamless transaction with an intuitive self-service experience which is why businesses and organizations in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE are rapidly adopting the technology.

The bill payment kiosk are not exclusive to banking and financial sector, in fact various industries are showing great ROIs, making it one of the most popular emerging technology in UAE. A bill payment kiosk not only help streamlining the payment process, but it also ensures a higher customer satisfaction. Features like multiple payment methods, multilingual intuitive UIs, countless hardware features, customizable software, easy adoptability and automation makes bill payment kiosk a perfect companion to deal with diverse customer demand, managing operational performance and building a strong brand perception.

In this blog we will explore several key aspects of the bill payment kiosks and how businesses can leverage them to enhance customer experience and boost operational efficiency.

What is a Bill Payment Kiosk: Everything You Need to Know
What is a Bill Payment Kiosk: Everything You Need to Know

See Also: Leveraging Payment Kiosks for Effective Queue Management

What is a Bill Payment Kiosk?

A bill payment kiosk is an interactive touchscreen kiosk which accept payments from customers via multiple modes such as cash payment via currency bills and coins, credit/debit cards, digital payments, NFC payments, integrated payment gateways, vouchers and many. A bill payment kiosk is a one-stop-shop where customers are offered multiple different services and information.

The bill payment kiosks are excellent at enhancing customer experience while offering them easy 24/7 access to business services such as paying bills, service charges, subscription fees, or checking out at retail stores and restaurants. In the fast-paced markets like Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other regions in UAE where the importance of time is paramount, customers and businesses both admire solutions which optimize service delivery process and minimize customer wait time.

A bill payment kiosk is designed to offer a multitude of services through intuitive user interfaces. It comes with a powerful backend software or management tool which enable businesses to control and manage data and information on the kiosk in real-time. The bill payment kiosk software offers great features such as customization, easy scalability, adoptability, and flexible integration which enable business to offer innovative features and help them improve customer experience.

See Also: The Impact of Self-Service Kiosks on Business Efficiency

What is a Bill Payment Kiosk?
What is a Bill Payment Kiosk?

What are the Types of Bill Payment Kiosk?

There are several types of bill payment kiosks based on their technical specification, usage, or industry-specific application. In general a bill payment kiosk has a touchscreen interface, cash acceptor and authenticator, however, coin-base payment, cash recycler for change return and POS integration for credit/debit card payments is also common. However, there are three major types of the bill payment kiosk on the bases of its physical design:

  • Indoor Bill Payment Kiosk: As the name suggests the indoor bill payment kiosks are designed to deploy in indoor setups, it could be an office, shopping mall, community center, transportation hubs, airports, libraries, healthcare, government service centers, etc. These types of kiosk are cost efficient and can offer multiple advanced features.
  • Outdoor Bill Payment Kiosk: The outdoor bill payment kiosks are deployed in outdoors – fully exposed to the harsh environment. These kiosks are built using specialized components with advanced temperature control and weather proofing features. The outdoor bill payment kiosks are slightly expensive and can have limited features due to the outdoor compatibility of the physical components and parts.
  • Customized Bill Payment Kiosks: The customized bill payment kiosks are tailored solutions as per the specific and unique business needs. Businesses usually go for customized bill payment kiosks in order to develop innovative features adding value to customer experience as well as helping then gain the competitive advantage. Furthermore businesses also require customized solutions in order to include additional hardware and software features which accommodate and strengthen their existing business processes without compelling them to make disruptive changes to their internal workflows.

See Also: Security Challenges and Solutions in Payment Kiosk Systems

What are the Types of Bill Payment Kiosk?
What are the Types of Bill Payment Kiosk?

Furthermore there are many more types of bill payment kiosks on the bases of application and usage. Here are a few commonly used bill payment kiosks that are gaining popularity in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all across the UAE.

  1. Bill Payment Kiosk Machine: These are some of the most common bill payment kiosks in UAE. The bill payment kiosk machines are versatile with cash and debit/credit card based payment methods. These kiosks support transactions for a multitude of services such as electricity and water supply bills, telecom services, remittances, international payments, fees and charges for government services and much more. These kiosk machines are common in public areas, markets, shopping malls, and residential areas, etc. offering a quick way to manage payments.
  2. Cash Payment Kiosk: These kiosks are usually offered by utility service providers, retail businesses, facility management companies, and organizations who are usually dealing with small amounts ranging from AED 5/10 Dirham to up to AED 200 Dirhams. Usually these kiosk doesn’t offer change and return but in certain cases these facilities are added too. These kiosks are usually found in busy service centers offering a quick alternate service channel to optimize efficiency.
  3. Utility Payment Kiosk: The utility payment kiosks are usually utilized by utility service providers and installed at their attended and unattended service areas. The utility bill payment kiosks are also common in shopping malls, residential areas and high footfall public areas. These kiosks offer intuitive payment processes with additional features exclusively designed to simplify the customer journey.
  4. Self-Ordering Kiosks: These self-ordering kiosks are utilized by small and medium sized businesses offering multiple services. Furthermore the food-ordering kiosks are also a type of self-ordering kiosk and are very common all across the UAE. Many popular food and restaurant chains, retail stores, and service providers are using self-ordering kiosks to enhance customer experience and to offer an alternate service channel for quick service delivery.
  5. Self-Service Payment Kiosk: These types of kiosks are usually used at high footfall areas, public places for a multitude of different services, for example, the kiosk that you are using at metro stations to top up your NOL card or any other card or the kiosk you use to purchase bus tickets, cinema tickets, and even at entertainment venues are all different example of self-service payment kiosks.
  6. Cash Payment Kiosk: The cash payment kiosks are usually designed to take and hold large quantity of currency bills, it usually offer a more flexible payment method such as ability to get payment in coins as well along with facility to return change in cash and coins. The cash payment kiosks are used by retail businesses, service providers, government and public offices, charities, libraries and various other sectors.
  7. Money Transfer Kiosk: The money transfer kiosks are used by money exchanges, banks and remittance service providers. As in UAE a large number of expats is living who are regularly sending remittances to their home countries, this is why the money transfer kiosks are gaining huge popularity. These kiosks are equipped with specialized KYC tools and security features to comply with government policies and can hold large amount of cash inside them, ensuring a smooth and seamless customer experience.
  8. Government Service Payment Kiosk: The government service payment kiosks are gaining popularity in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all across the UAE. Different government departments are utilizing these kiosks. These kiosks not just take payments, but has ability to fully integrate in the workflow with additional integrated tools such as Emirates ID scanner, Passport Scanner, Document Scanner/Printer, Barcode/QR Code Scanners, Biometrics and much more. These kiosks are usually custom designed in order to seamlessly integrate with existing government services, workflows and business processes and can offer a multiple different payment methods along with cash payment.

Apart from above all, all different types of vending machines, parking ticket payment machines, and even the ATMs are also the types of cash or bill payment kiosks.

See Also: Revolutionizing Campus Services with Student Kiosks

Commonly used Bill Payment Kiosks
Advantages of a Bill Payment Kiosk

What are the Key Benefits of a Bill Payment Kiosk?

Different industries utilizes bill payment kiosk differently for example, a government of public-office might be using a bill payment kiosk which have additional features such as Emirates ID scanner, biometrics, document scanners and printers and multiple payment methods, however, a retail store might be using barcode/QR code scanner, RFID reader, and in some cases digital weighting scale and such features.

However, no matter what industry you belongs to, there are certain benefits which are similarly applicable across all industries and applications. Here are some key benefits of a bill payment kiosk, regardless of business’ industry or size.

  1. Easy Accessibility: One of the biggest advantage of bill payment kiosk is that it offers 24/7 access to business services. Easy access and reachability enhance customer experience and raise their satisfaction.
  2. Reduced Wait Time: Whether used in attended service centers or unattended setups, the bill payment kiosks has ability to process payments much quickly, optimizing service delivery process, and reducing customer wait time.
  3. Intuitive User Interface (UI): The bill payment kiosks usually offer multi-lingual and very user-friendly user interface (UI) which can greatly enhance customer experience. On-screen instructions and other intuitive features raise customer satisfaction.
  4. Raise Operational Efficiency: A bill payment kiosk digitalize several processes and make transactions seamless. Which greatly improve operational efficiency and also help reducing the employee workload which lead to better resource management.
  5. Multiple Payment Methods: A bill payment kiosk is a digital system which has ability to integrate multiple payment methods such as cash, coins, credit/debit cards, and digital payment modes, offering more ease, convenience and freedom to customers.
  6. Real-time Processing: A bill payment kiosk software can be integrated with third-party software, tools, databases and central information center of the business. This enables it to process payments in real-time and update all relevant systems automatically, giving instant confirmation.
  7. Privacy and Security: A bill payment kiosk complies with highest industry standards to ensure high level security and privacy. It offer self-service experience and encrypted data communication which raise protection levels and help gaining customer trust.
  8. Business Intelligence Data: The powerful software of bill payment kiosk can provide a wealth of high-value actionable analytical data on customer behavior, market trends, service preference and much more which help business taking informed decisions.

Instant service delivery, easy access, intuitive features and secure transactions make bill payment kiosk an ideal solution for growing business. A bill payment kiosk can offer alternate service channel which can greatly improve the capability to serve more customers, hence reduce the staff requirements. All these features enhance customer experience as well as boot operational efficiency and help businesses scale for growth by maximizing their profitability.

See Also: How Interactive Kiosks are Enhancing In-Store Engagement and Sales

What are the Key Benefits of a Bill Payment Kiosk?
What are the Key Benefits of a Bill Payment Kiosk?

How Bill Payment Kiosk can Elevate Customer Experience?

In the highly dynamic and fast-paced business landscape of UAE businesses located in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all across the country are very inclined towards adopting modern practices and methodologies and implementing cutting-edge technology to elevate customer experience. The customer experience is one of the most important aspect of the business, as the entire business success heavily depends on customer satisfaction.

The bill payment kiosks or self-service payment kiosks are also a step toward elevated customer experience and satisfied customer journey. The payment kiosk machines offer a super user-friendly customer experience and also help businesses enhancing operational performance. Here are some key advantages of bill payment kiosk which help elevating customer experience:

  • Easy Access and Convenience: The biggest appeal of an interactive self-service bill payment kiosk lies in its ability to offer easy access and convenience. These kiosk machines operates 24/7 offering more freedom and letting customer access the services any time they want. Furthermore there is no need to stand in long waiting lines, which usually undermine customer experience.
  • Intuitive and User-Friendly: The bill payment kiosks are built on a smart kiosk management software which has ability to offer intuitive multi-lingual user interfaces (UIs). Furthermore on-screen instruction, access to updated information and direct customer support access offer excellent customer experience and make them more user-friendly.
  • Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty: By offering a friction less and optimized service delivery mechanisms through bill payment kiosks businesses can greatly boost customer satisfaction. Freedom, control and personalization with an intuitive and user-friendly service delivery process the customer happiness can be raised which is a key to customer loyalty and long term success.
  • Enhanced Customer Service: The bill payment kiosks are very reliable, offering most accurate services and information by avoiding almost all different types of human errors. Furthermore the bill payment kiosks also help boosting the performance of the service centers. By serving as an alternate service channel, the staff workload is reduced resulting in improved service quality.
  • Multi-Functionality: The bill payment kiosks are versatile, they comes up with multiple software and hardware based features which are all designed to enhance customer experience by simplifying customer journey. Such as specialized features to instantly scan documents, or access to information, or connecting with support, etc. All these features elevate customer experience.

With the advancements in technology the bill payment kiosk machines are becoming more user-friendly day by day. Businesses are rapidly adopting to self-service bill payment kiosks to streamline their service delivery processes which is completely transforming how businesses and customers are conducting financial transactions.

See Also: DP World Acquired RSI Payment Kiosk

How Bill Payment Kiosk can Elevate Customer Experience?
How Bill Payment Kiosk can Elevate Customer Experience?

Why the Placement of the Bill Payment Kiosk is Crucial for Success?

The success of the bill payment kiosk depends on the users, if not many users will use it, you won’t be able to leverage its full potential. But most of the businesses doesn’t realized that how crucial it is to place the bill payment kiosk on carefully selected strategic locations. For example, if you place a bill payment kiosk in a resting area at a highway, what do you expect how many people will going to use it? Not many, because despite having large footfall at those areas, the people who are stopping there are just there for refreshment or rest and doesn’t have any attention to make quick payment while traveling between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

However, if you place your bill payment kiosk at the entrance or exit of a shopping mall, the chances are almost everyone will notice them. Hence you should chose the placement of these kiosk machines very carefully. The shopping malls, bus and metro stations, markets, community centers and places with large footfall are ideal to place a bill payment kiosk. If you are placing it in your existing service center, even then the placement matters a lot. For example, if you are placing it at a corner, where it is not as that visible, then the chances are most of the people will end up in queues instead of going for the self-service bill payment kiosk. Ensuring the bill payment kiosk is placed at a well-lit, secure, easily accessible place could greatly increase the chances of success.

See Also: Dubai Police Acquire Interactive Signage from RSI Concepts

Why the Placement of the Bill Payment Kiosk is Crucial for Success?
Why the Placement of the Bill Payment Kiosk is Crucial for Success?

Why “Pay and Go” Bill Payment Kiosks are the Future?

The Pay and Go kiosks is a type of self-service bill payment kiosks, very popular among retail and service sector in UAE. The Pay and Go kiosk not just only offers convenience but it is a great leap towards more customer-centric and efficient customer service. The ease-of-access, intuitiveness, personalized experience, multi-functionality and optimized service delivery not just ensure customer satisfaction but also boost operational performance.

The digitalization and automation plays a crucial role along with additional features such as remote management, real-time data updates and flexible integration and countless many more benefits of a customized self-service Pay and Go kiosk. Another reason of the popularity of the Pay and Go kiosks is the fast-paced lifestyle of the country. Quicker access to service, freedom of choice, full control over financial transactions and simplicity offered by Pay and Go bill payment kiosks make them and ideal solution for customer-centric businesses.

Businesses can leverage the cost-effectiveness and easier adaptation of the Pay and Go bill payment kiosks to expand their market reach and offer their services for a broader audience base. All the valuable features and advantages offered by Pay and Go kiosk machines are encouraging more businesses to adopt to these solutions to gain great competitive advantage.

See Also: The DMT Abu Dhabi Acquired Hand Sanitizer Kiosks and Dispensers from RSI Concepts

Why “Pay and Go” Bill Payment Kiosks are the Future?
Why “Pay and Go” Bill Payment Kiosks are the Future?

Conclusion

The bill payment kiosks are becoming an indispensable need of modern customer-centric businesses. The versatility, multi-functionality, quicker adaptation, and higher customer satisfaction are the major factor contributing to completely reshaping the business landscape of Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and broader UAE. Various industries are witnessing huge rise in customer satisfaction and operational performance by implementing Pay and Go bill payment kiosk solutions. Above all these kiosk machines are very cost-efficient with relatively longer lifecycle, low maintenance needs, less operational cost and convenience are making them ideal for many industries. Offering a quicker and more user-friendly service channel can greatly reduce the workload of the service staff, which lead to better and improved staff performance and higher service quality.

However, when you are considering to implement a Pay and Go bill payment kiosk, there are certain things that you should consider, such as the features you want to offer, the customer journey optimization, the bill payment kiosks software, the integration and even the placement of the kiosk, all these factors are the main contributes in the success.

In this blog we have covered many aspects of bill payment kiosks and designed this guide to be more understandable for a vast majority of the audience. If you want to learn more about the bill payment kiosks or if you want our help to design and deploy a highly cost-effective tailor-made Pay and Go bill payment kiosk 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.

See Also: Why smart kiosks are the future?


Emerging Trends in Custom Software Development

Businesses are facing a lot many challenges, especially in rapidly growing markets like Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all across UAE where the competition is rising and the customer demands are also skyrocketing. In such conditions businesses need innovative solutions, efficient business processes, and out-of-the box approach to stay ahead of competition. The integration of software applications in business processes and workflows is not new, businesses all over the world are utilizing such tools and solutions and in fact most of the businesses are heavily relying on such tools for efficient operations and seamless process.

However, there is one most important thing to understand, whether you are a business owner, manager or technology enthusiast, when it comes to software there are always tons of options available in the market. Some software are industry specific, some are tailored and some are general purpose. On this bases, we can classify the software in two categories, one is commercial off-the-shelf software solution and the other is custom software development.

Emerging Trends in Custom Software Development
Emerging Trends in Custom Software Development

What Made Custom Software Development Superior than the COTS?

There are two major types of software implementation, one is acquiring a ready-made commercial off-the-shelf software solution and the other is custom software development for tailored solutions. Furthermore these software can be classified in many sub-categories on the bases of platform, technology stack, and various other factors. The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions or COTS are the ready-made software applications that are designed for a particular industry or a particular business function.

For example, the HRMS or Human Resource Management System is designed for HR department and team, however, the Patient Management System is designed for Hospitals, Clinics and healthcare facilities. However, the custom software development on the other hand is a different approach to software implementation, it offers tailored solutions, that can perfectly align with business need and this is what made them superior.

See Also: The Cost of Custom Software Development: Factors to Consider

The COTS are designed for masses, which make them general purpose. Every business and organization at its core is unique and it is this uniqueness that distinguishes businesses from others. Over the time the internal processes evolve too, the organizational culture, high-level goals and strategic objectives are what set the path for an organization. Therefore generic software solutions that are developed on the bases on industry standards are not sufficient enough to align with the unique business needs.

Hence businesses need a tailored solution that fully aligns with their unique work-flows, processes and organizational culture to enable them achieve their unique business goals and objectives. This is where the COTS fell short and paved way for the custom software development. The custom software development begins with intensive requirement gathering, which ensures the final outcome 100% meets business’s expectations. These are some key factors that make custom software development superior.

See Also: Benefits of Investing in Custom Software Development for Your Business in Dubai

What Made Custom Software Development Superior than the COTS?
What Made Custom Software Development Superior than the COTS?

What are the Future Trends in Custom Software Development?

The custom software development industry is rapidly growing in the country and not only in UAE but all around the GCC. However, most of the businesses failed to fully leverage the true potential of custom software development because of lack of knowledge and understanding of the future trends. The technology moves or a rapid pace, it quickly evolves with new technologies emerging every year. Therefore it is extremely important to have an eye on emerging trends in custom software development if you are planning a project soon.

In this blog we will discuss the top custom software development future trends which are rapidly gaining popularity and as per our understanding these technologies will going to lead the custom software development for many coming years in future.

See Also: Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your Custom Software Development Project

Here are the top future trends in custom software development industry:

Custom Software Development Trends: 1. Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

Progressive web apps are basically a kind of hybrid application which leverages the full potential of modern web technologies and is known for their ability to deliver an app-like experience. Unlike traditional web-apps the progressive web apps or PWA are much more efficient, engaging, and reliable and can successfully deliver sophisticated and innovative functionalities. The progressive web apps can be installed at the home-screen like a native app, but with its advance technology it can deliver a seamless and unified experience across all compatible devices and platforms.

The progressive web apps (PWA) are also great at offering sophisticated functionalities such as exploiting the hardware or native features and you can also have push notifications, alerts and offline functionality, which is not available in traditional web-apps. Another great advantage of the progressive web apps is their cost-effectiveness, these apps require much less resources to develop, and are very easy to maintain and scale. These are some of the main advantages which are making progressive web-apps exceptionally popular.

See Also: Custom Software Development for Enhanced User Experience

Custom Software Development Trends: 1. Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
Custom Software Development Trends: 1. Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

Custom Software Development Trends: 2. Internet of Behavior (IoB)

The internet of behavior or IoB has gained huge traction over past few years. With the advancement of analytical and data collection tools and the availability of modern technology frameworks, the internet of behavior has emerged as one of the most popular and effective technology. The internet of behavior or IoB is referred to very specific tools which enable collection of large-scale data with advanced analytical tools to extract insight which help businesses understand, predict and influence the human behavior.

We have witnessed in past few years the internet of things or IoT has emerged as a very solid and futuristic technology, the internet of behavior (IoB) is also built on the foundation of IoT, where the data has been collected from various software and hardware sources such as applications, UIs, cameras, sensors, and integrated data-gathering technologies. Based on various data sources, the IoB provides tools to assess and analyze human behavior which help gathering behavioral insights which are essential for strategic decisions and catering personalized customer experience.

See Also: Top Trends in Custom Software Development: What’s Shaping the Industry?

Custom Software Development Trends: 2. Internet of Behavior (IoB)
Custom Software Development Trends: 2. Internet of Behavior (IoB)

Custom Software Development Trends: 3. Web 3.0

The Web 3.0 is the next generation of the internet, or you can say it is the next version of the internet. The Web 1.0 was all about the static websites, the Web 2.0 was and is dominated by the social aspects, and the Web 3.0 is all about decentralization, integration and interoperability, and superior user control. The Web 3.0 is aimed to empower user with more user-friendly data ownership protocols and policies and above all, it boost security and enhance connectivity. It enable different technologies and platform to seamlessly integrate and communicate with each other while offering superior control and security which is something that is not present in the current Web 2.0.

You must have heard of Crypto Currencies or Bitcoin, these are all based on blockchain technology which is a part of Web 3.0 and it is designed to streamline the transactions and to reduce the friction from various business processes. One of the biggest advantages of Web 3.0 is its ability to give ownership and control to the users. It offers excellent and very flexible scalability which means the businesses doesn’t have to worry about the systems going down or chocked networks. The Web 3.0 would revolutionized the internet for both consumers and businesses.

See Also: Custom Software for Improved Business Efficiency

Custom Software Development Trends: 3. Web 3.0
Custom Software Development Trends: 3. Web 3.0

Custom Software Development Trends: 4. DevSecOps

The DevSecOps is basically a new trend which focuses only on the importance of security of a software application, rather than putting security as an afterthought, the DevSecOps dictates that the security should be integrated at each and every step of the development process. Rather than a new technology type or platform the DevSecOps is more like a movement. With the internet piracy rising and the security breaches and cyber-attacks on personal and businesses are soaring, the need of security is paramount. Furthermore the security breach doesn’t only compromise a certain business function or its data, but it can completely ruin the business’s reputation.

Therefore businesses are investing more and more in security and protective measures to ensure data security and privacy. This is what led to DevSecOps trend, and it has become increasingly popular in custom software development. The DevSecOps emphasize on incorporating the security and data protection in all stages of custom software development especially in earlier stages such as planning and designing. By incorporating security features in the design and enabling testing at every step, the software development process become more effective and agile.

See Also: The Key Elements of Efficient Software Development Project Management

Custom Software Development Trends: 4. DevSecOps
Custom Software Development Trends: 4. DevSecOps

Custom Software Development Trends: 5. Big Data

In the today’s digital world, where the internet and digital solutions are dominating our both personal and work lives. For any business to become more customer-centric the data has emerged as one of the most crucial asset, it provides deeper insights to customer behavior, market trends and much more which help businesses making informed and effective decisions. The Big Data is a term referred to both structured and unstructured data but in very large quantity.

The Big Data is basically a compilation of data coming from various touch points and sources such as customer portals, online or websites, social media, customer service center, interactive solutions, and various different types of hardware sensors and much more. This data is coming in different forms and types which makes it difficult to analyze it and to extract actionable insight from it. The Big Data is a collection of tools and methodologies which help businesses analyze a large quantity of data coming from a large number of touch points and help them extract conclusive insight and actionable reports which help businesses to effectively incorporate data into their decision making processes.

See Also: Why the Custom Software Development is Good for Your Business?

Custom Software Development Trends: 5. Big Data
Custom Software Development Trends: 5. Big Data

Conclusion

In today’s modern and digital market landscape where the customer demands are skyrocketing, the competition is rising and the technology is rapidly evolving, businesses need highly effective and efficient software solutions to ensure highest operational efficiency and quality of work. The customer satisfaction is crucial which is tied to the operational excellence, and the operational efficiency depends on the software solutions, tools and IT infrastructure that you have in place. Every business is different from others, even if two businesses are operating in a similar industry, they would still be different in a lot many ways. It is this uniqueness that developed over the year by the natural evolution of the organization.

In this fast-paced market landscape the commercial off-the-shelf solutions with their limited capabilities and slow growth are not enough. Businesses need a more robust solution which not only fully aligns with the unique and exclusive business needs, but also have capability to scale and evolve as the business grows. The custom software development offers an opportunity to tailor-made software applications for businesses which not only strengthen their internal operations and business processes, but also address all unique and exclusive challenges a business might be facing.

In this blog we have discussed some emerging trends in custom software development industry. It is important for a business to be familiar with latest trends and technology updates in order to leverage the full potential of the custom software development. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help with your next custom software development project, 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.

See Also: Which Software Development Trends Yield Success in 2023?


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

See Also: 5 Signs Your Business Requires a Queue Management System

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.

What is a Queue Management System?
What is a Queue Management System?

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.

See Also: Queue Management System with Facial Recognition Technology

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

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.

See Also: Efficient Queue Management System Qualities

A modern queue management system automatically manages customer flow.
A modern queue management system automatically manages customer flow.

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.

See Also: What are basic features of Queuing System?

Innovative Strategies for Queue Management
Innovative Strategies for Queue Management

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.

See Also: 7 Features of Queue Management Software

Queue Management System Streamline Customer Flow
Queue Management System Streamline Customer Flow

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.

See Also: Pros and Cons of Queue Management System

Queue Management System Improves Waiting Experience
Queue Management System Improves Waiting 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.

See Also: Impacts of Queue Management System on Employee’s KPIs

Queue Management System Boost Staff Performance
Queue Management System 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.

See Also: Queue Management Challenges 2021

Queue Management System Offers Real-time Monitoring
Queue Management System Offers Real-time Monitoring

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.

See Also: The Importance of Actionable Data in Queue Management System

Queue Management System Provides Valuable Business Intelligence Data
Queue Management System Provides Valuable Business Intelligence Data

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.

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

See Also: How Insurance Companies can Improve Customer Happiness with a Queue Management System?

See Also: Queue Management System for Trucks and Logistic Centers

See Also: How to Implement a Queue Management System at an Airport?

See Also: Queue Management System for Banks in 2022

See Also: Queue Management System for Telecom Sectors in UAE


Understanding Customer Sentiments by Implementing a Modern Customer Feedback System

Dubai is a central hub for business activities in the region and providing a doorway to access Africa, Middle East, Asia and European markets. Major cities in UAE like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and other emirates are home to international commerce, trade and businesses. It is due to the super business-friendly government policies, world-class infrastructure and dynamic business landscape which is attracting thousands of investors every year. This makes UAE a great business hub, thus also raising the competition.

In general the customers have higher purchase power, they are more tech savvy and highly demanding. Every increasing customer needs and highly competitive markets demand businesses to be more aligned with customers by acquiring deeper understanding of customer sentiments. Offering high-quality products and services alone is not enough for success, businesses must have to align themselves with customer needs, desires, and expectations. Businesses often invest huge amount of resources in improving internal processes, adding features to their products, introducing new services and enhancing customer experience.

However, most of the time businesses are making such decisions on the bases of experts’ opinion, competitive market research and various other factors, while totally undermining the customer sentiments. Which sometime could cause huge failures too. In this blog we will discuss how businesses can understand customer sentiments by implementing a good customer feedback system.

Understanding Customer Sentiments by Implementing a Modern Customer Feedback System
Understanding Customer Sentiments by Implementing a Modern Customer Feedback System

What is Customer Sentiment Analysis?

A customer sentiment analysis is a systematic approach of understanding and interpreting the customer attitude, emotions and opinions a customer shared or expressed towards your brand, employees, products, services or his/her overall experience with your business. It is a much deeper understanding of customer feedback than that of what we usually do. When it comes to customer feedback businesses often thinks of collecting feedback data using various manual or digital channels such as printed feedback forms, happiness meter, NPS Score, social media polls, or rating at a website.

However, the customer sentiment analysis is collecting all that data, running it through a system and understanding how the customer actually feels while sharing a certain opinion. The primary objective of performing a customer sentiment analysis is to understand how your customers feel about a particular aspect of your business such as new product features, customer wait time, service quality, online self-service channel, etc. Thus the customer sentiment analysis goes beyond tradition categorization of customer feedback such as positive, negative or neutral and offers a much deeper, accurate and better understanding of customer sentiments, enabling businesses to make more informed decisions and raise their chances of success.

See Also: 10 Ways to Collect Customer Feedback

What is Customer Sentiment Analysis?
What is Customer Sentiment Analysis?

How Customer Sentiment Analysis is Different from Traditional Customer Feedback?

The customer feedback collection is a common practice, businesses regularly ask customers about their feedback, suggestions or opinion. Usually a customer experience manager is in charge of executing the customer feedback drive. Business often go for a closed-loop customer feedback collection method which is much better at building relationship and increasing customer engagements.

However, all traditional customer feedback methods lack in providing a deeper understanding of customer sentiments. This doesn’t mean the customer sentiment analysis is a completely different process, no, it is same as collecting customer feedback, but the major difference is at how you process the feedback data. Here are some key components of customer sentiment analysis which distinguish it from traditional customer feedback management processes:

  1. Text Mining: This is the most common sentiment analysis method, it enables businesses to collect valuable insights from textual feedbacks, such as survey responses, suggestions, customer reviews, social media interactions, and all other textual forms of customer feedback.
  2. Natural Language Processing or NLP Analysis: That is a modern and one of the most complex form of analysis, it uses modern AI (artificial intelligence) and smart algorithms to analyze written or spoken feedback and provide context, sentiments, and semantics of the feedback data.
  3. Contextual Analysis: A contextual analysis is done using advanced analysis tools and certain feedback techniques which enable businesses to understand the actual context in which the customer has expressed certain sentiments to avoid misinterpretation.
  4. Sentiment Classifications: Once collecting customer feedback data and analyzing it to identify different sentiments, we must classify them in certain pre-define categories. These categories are more granular then just positive, negative or neutral and help taking right decisions.
  5. Machine Learning (ML): This is one of the most modern sentiment analysis technique, usually medium and large sized businesses implement it. An AI model is used for this analysis which is trained to identify patterns and sentiment indicators from a large feedback database.

In simple words, understanding customer sentiments is crucial for a business to acquire actionable insights that effectively aligns their strategic decisions with the customer needs, expectations, and desires. Businesses can leverage customer sentiment analysis to improve their products, services, customer experience, brand perception and reputation and for predictive insights. This is what makes customer sentiment analysis far more effective than traditional customer feedback management.

See Also: 5 Techniques to Integrate Customer Satisfaction Survey with Queue Management System

How Customer Sentiment Analysis is Different form Tradition Customer Feedback?
How Customer Sentiment Analysis is Different form Tradition Customer Feedback?

The Transformation of Customer Feedback Systems

The customer feedback systems have completely transformed over the time, starting from a paper-pen based printed feedback forms it has now become a more comprehensive and complex digital platform. Which not only enhance customer feedback system but also offer a more engaging and seamless customer experience. Primarily the customer feedback systems were designed to monitor and measure customer satisfaction, however, over the course of time, the customer feedback management itself have transformed into a more complex and comprehensive business process.

Therefore businesses took advantage of digitalization and automation by implementing modern customer feedback system, which are providing more detailed customer feedback data, with highest level of accuracy and convenience. In past the customer feedback was collected through the paper forms, which were then processed, and the data was digitalized, mostly excel sheets were used. The customer experience manager or relevant person had to perform the analysis manually in excel or any other program of their choice. This means from collecting the feedback to converting it into actionable insights, it could take weeks or even months if the data is large enough.

See Also: 10 impacts of Queue System with Customer Feedback System

The Transformation of Customer Feedback Systems
The Transformation of Customer Feedback Systems

However, with the advancement of technology the modern customer feedback systems are able to collect, store, process and analyze the customer feedback data in real-time. All branches or touch points can be connected through a centralized customer feedback management system. This also allow integrating more digital channels such as touchscreens and tablets, emails, online surveys, SMS, WhatsApp, web forms and even social media and several other online channels. It is this ability to integrate the customer interaction from many channels into a single cohesive and centralized platform, makes modern customer feedback systems superior.

Furthermore the rise of digital communication channels and ever-changing customer preferences also encourage businesses to adopt to a multi-dimensional and diverse feedback management system. The ability to collect customer feedback data and provide real-time analysis, reports and insight is incredible. Businesses can leverage it to greatly improve customer relationship and gain their trust. Real-time customer feedback data and reporting can greatly enhance visibility and provide management more time and room to take effective actions. Therefore a modern customer feedback system is essential for customer feedback management and customer sentiment analysis.

See Also: Brand for Less Group Have Acquired RSI Customer Feedback System

The ability to collect customer feedback data and provide real-time analysis, reports and insight is incredible.
The ability to collect customer feedback data and provide real-time analysis, reports and insight is incredible.

Why Customer Feedback System is Essential for Customer Sentiment Analysis?

Think of reading out hundreds of customer comments on social media, or emails, or think of reading out hundreds of feedback forms, and then analyzing the data to get accurate understanding of customer sentiments. Will it be possible, no, it won’t. One can only read and comprehend handful of feedbacks by just reading them, but if your feedback dataset consists of hundreds if not thousands of feedbacks and as many are coming from two different channels, or even it could be from 8 to 10 different channels, it is absolutely impossible for a human being to read out all those feedbacks and understand the insight. That can only be done with the aid of a computer or specialized program.

A modern customer feedback system does the same. It is capable of collecting thousands of feedbacks from various different sources, classifying and categorizing them automatically using smart algorithms, performing several analysis on the feedback data and producing actionable reports within blink of an eye. That is why a customer feedback system is absolutely essential for modern customer feedback management and understanding customer sentiments analysis. It is not only about the size of the data, but different communication channels offer different types of feedback and different levels of details and context which is why a comprehensive framework is necessary which can systematically process the feedback data and provide valuable insight for strategic decision making.

See Also: Harmony Medical Center Acquire Customer Feedback Kiosk Stand from RSI Concepts

Why Customer Feedback System is Essential for Customer Sentiment Analysis?
Why Customer Feedback System is Essential for Customer Sentiment Analysis?

Conclusion

In the modern business landscape, especially in competitive markets like of Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other UAE regions, a business must have to have a deeper and accurate understanding of customer sentiments in order to align its strategic decisions with customer needs, desires and expectations. The traditional customer feedback management methods have lost their significance, although they could still be valuable to some extent but fall short on providing deeper understanding of customer sentiments. Businesses must have to understand what customer likes, what they don’t like, what their pain points are and what they are expecting. Therefore businesses need a comprehensive framework to manage customer feedback which can collect feedback data from various channels, consolidate it into a single database, and allow management to perform analysis and produce intuitive reports to actively include customer feedback in their decision making processes.

The evolution of customer feedback system from a simple printed feedback forms to a sophisticated digital and smart software-based platform indicates the importance and value of customer sentiments. In this blog we have briefly discussed why business need to understand customer sentiments and why a digital customer feedback system is the only tool to achieve that. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to implement a bespoke customer feedback 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.


The Impact of Performance Management on Organizational Culture

Performance management is one of the most important HR function, businesses and organizations strive to adopt to methods, ways and solutions that can enhance their productivity, operational efficiency and quality of work. The employee performance matters a lot for business growth, every business and organization wants to achieve a sustainable growth, for that the employee retention, satisfaction and high-performance is absolutely essential. High performing teams produce high-quality work, which inspire and attract customers and make them loyal to your brand. Earlier the performance management processes were carried out manually, which was very inefficient and eventually both employees and managers lost trust from manual practices. This lead to the creation of digital performance management systems and HR solutions.

The digital performance management systems are serving as a backbone for the modern enterprises. Businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE have started adopting to digital performance management systems and HR solutions very early, now a days, such solutions have become so common, however, there are still businesses who are either stuck in old practices or haven’t moved to modern performance management systems. In this blog we will discuss how a modern performance management system can enhance organizational culture resulting in elevated employee performance and higher operational efficiency.

The Impact of Performance Management on Organizational Culture
The Impact of Performance Management on Organizational Culture

What is a Digital Performance Management System?

A digital performance management system is a software-based comprehensive framework and strategy which enable businesses to systematically monitor, measure and enhance organizational performance. The modern performance management system offers tools and mechanisms to efficiently execute performance management related tasks. It provides, real-time performance data coming from a multitude of systems and touch points, which is analyzed with in-built analytical tools and AI engine to provide performance data in interactive and intuitive dashboards.

The HR team is responsible for conducting several performance management related tasks, which often are time-consuming and required a lot of efforts, this raise the cost of performance management and at the same time it also make the process more inefficient and inaccurate.

See Also: 5 Performance Management Problems and How to Solve Them

The digital performance management system on the other hand automatically collects data from various sources, minimize the human factor by significantly reducing manual work, bringing transparency and accuracy in the performance management process. It provides a comprehensive framework to setup goals, put monitoring mechanisms in place, provide automated reports and performance analytical data and help enhancing performance management function.

Businesses can greatly enhance various performance management related processes such as performance appraisals, feedbacks and reviews, setting up goals and objectives, monitoring KPIs and progress, identifying hurdles and problems, enhancing employee development program, improving employee satisfaction and retention and much more.

See Also: How to Design a Modern Performance Management System?

What is a Digital Performance Management System?
What is a Digital Performance Management System?

How Performance Management System can Improve Organizational Culture?

The organizational culture is one of the most crucial factor which is often overlooked. The organizational culture have huge impact on employee behavior, attitude, and happiness and consequently the overall business success. A modern performance management system helps streamlining and improving various processes which have direct impact on organizational culture. A positive and productive organizational culture ensures employees are satisfied, valued, motivated, appreciated, engaged and recognized well. A performance management system provides high-tech tools and intuitive processes which majorly helps in the following core performance management processes:

  • Defining success, clear expectations, SMART goals and individual objectives
  • Communicating and relating individual objectives and goals with high-level organizational goals
  • Real-time monitoring and performance data collection with intuitive analytical tools
  • Continuous feedback and reviews, contextual performance and much more
  • Identifying problems, strengths and weaknesses and help making informed decisions
  • Designing effective and comprehensive employee development programs
  • Identifying high-performer, acknowledging their performance with effective reward programs

Apart from that, the performance management systems also help in various HR processes and with the ability to digitalize and automate the performance management process itself become very efficient, impactful and cost-effective.

See Also: The Role of Performance Management in Employee Engagement

How Performance Management System can Improve Organizational Culture?
How Performance Management System can Improve Organizational Culture?

What are the Key Benefits of Implementing a Modern Performance Management System?

Here are the key benefits of implementing a modern performance management system that positively impact the organizational culture:

  1. Driving Productivity: A performance management system can greatly increase productivity in any organizational culture by streamlining communication, increasing and encouraging collaborations, and high focus on the result-oriented progress. A highly engaged workplace lead to higher performance and it empowered employees to deliver their best efforts.
  2. Raising Employee Satisfaction: For any successful organization the importance of employee satisfaction is paramount. The performance management system enhance reward and recognitions processes encouraging employee to perform well by recognizing their achievements, providing them new opportunities, and fostering a culture of constructive feedbacks.
  3. Better Employee Retention: For any business or organization the employee retention is crucial, in order to retain employee the businesses must provide them a positive organizational culture. The performance management system boost communication, enhance collaboration, encourage efforts, develop employees’ skills and provide them more opportunities to grow.
  4. Align Employee Goals: The primary goal of any performance management system is to improve the overall performance of the business. For that it is extremely important that all the employees put their efforts in the right direction. The performance management system helps aligning individual employee goals with the high-level organizational goals and strategic objectives.
  5. Transparent Appraisal System: The transparency and accuracy is the core functionality of any performance management system. The appraisal process is a crucial aspect of performance management and it has profound impact on employee performance and satisfaction. A bias-free, effective and transparent appraisal system can greatly boost employee performance.
  6. Fair Rewards and Recognitions: Employee often complain of bias in traditional and manual performance management systems. The digital performance management system eliminates that and make reward and recognition processes fair and transparent. The employees are rewarded solely based on their performance criteria while all metrics are made available to them.

In the modern day business landscape the employees demand more frequent evaluation and continuous feedback from their managers. The Gen Z. is too impatience, they want instant gratification. This can be achieved only when you have an effective and efficient performance management system.

See Also: Linking Performance Management to Business Outcomes

What are the Key Benefits of Implementing a Modern Performance Management System?
What are the Key Benefits of Implementing a Modern Performance Management System?

What are the Key Elements of a Modern Performance Management System?

A modern performance management system comes with several features which are very helpful in performance management process, administrative and management tasks as well as carrying out some regular HR tasks. Usually a performance management system is customized or tailor-made for any organization to align with their unique and exclusive needs. However, there are some elements that are inherent to any modern day digital performance management system:

  • Setting Goals: Setting up clear, realistic, measurable, and achievable goals for the employees gives them a sense of direction and purpose. When the employees know what is expected from them or what success looks like, they tend to perform better. The performance management system facilitate setting up SMART goals, while ensuring a perfect alignment between individual goals, and high-level organizational goals. This greatly improves overall performance.
  • Frequent Feedbacks: One of the biggest advantage of a performance management system is that it provides a comprehensive framework to encourage frequent feedbacks. Frequent and constructive feedback raise employees’ moral and encourage them to perform well. In most modern performance management system frequent and continuous feedbacks are common and can greatly enhance the impact of a performance management system on organizational culture.
  • Appraisal Process: The performance appraisal process is one of the most important and crucial process of a performance management system. It helps management evaluate employees, acquire a deeper insight to their strengths and weaknesses. A systematic and fair performance appraisal process ensures the evaluation is fair, transparent, and based on pre-set criteria. It also provides a system of constructive feedback, coaching and it aids decision making process.
  • Employee Development: The employee development programs are crucial to unlock the true potential of a diverse workforce. A digital performance management system accurately identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the employees and provide them with the continuous coaching, opportunities to learn and grow which enables them to acquire new competencies and skills. This includes offering mentoring, training, resources and tools to enable them perform well.
  • Reward and Recognition: Higher level of motivation and engagement are essential to high performance, and for that a fair and well-designed reward and recognition program/process is absolute necessity. A performance management system provides a systematic approach to align rewards with performance while ensuring the performance is fully aligned with high-level organizational goals. Recognizing achievements and offering incentives elevates organizational culture and consequently the overall performance of the organization.

See Also: 6 Performance Management Problems and How to Solve Them?

There is a strong correlation between employee performance and organizational culture. Happy and satisfied employees tend to be more loyal and have greater potential to grow and excel. A high-performing workforce requires a strong, positive and productive organizational culture which can only be achieved by effective performance management.

A digital performance management system provides integrated solution, has ability to collect performance data in real-time and it offers multiple dashboards for monitoring. It also elevate several internal processes which results in better communication and higher collaboration. Employee goals can be aligned with high-level organizational goals and with help of real-time data monitoring tools the course correction is seamless which is essential for higher outcomes. These features and benefits made performance management system absolutely essential.

See Also: Performance Management Trends in the Digital Era

What are the Key Elements of a Modern Performance Management System?
What are the Key Elements of a Modern Performance Management System?

Conclusion

An effective digital performance management system have transformative impact on organizational culture. It is a combination of integrated digital tools, data collection and analytical tools, coupled with most modern performance management tactics and practices. The traditional performance management systems and annual appraisal reviews are very time consuming, require a lot of efforts, and are inaccurate which results in distrust and prompt businesses to shift to most modern practices and digital solutions.

A modern performance management system on the other hand can greatly improve the efficiency and efficacy of the performance management process and help businesses greatly improve the organizational culture. A positive, strong and productive organizational culture foster high-performing teams. The digital aspects of the performance management system empower employees and increase engagements.

The business goals and individual goals should be fully aligned in order to produce higher outcomes. This has become very easy with the help of an effective digital performance management system. On top of that it elevate fairness and transparency resuming faith in the system and also help businesses to minimize employee turnover. All these features help enhancing organizational culture and bridge the gap between employees and managers fostering a more connected and collaborative work environment.

In this blog we have discussed how an effective performance management system can positively impact organizational culture and boost overall performance of the organization. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design and implement a bespoke and highly cost-effective performance 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.

See Also: Performance Management System: Best Practices

See Also: How to Customize Performance Management System


Benefits of Investing in Custom Software Development for Your Business in Dubai

The modern day businesses depends heavily on various software applications and digital tools. In fact the operation of today’s business is nearly impossible without utilizing technology. The software applications range from a simple accounts tool to a complex HRMS and a full-fledged complete Business OS (operating system). Different businesses have different needs, different industry sectors have different norms and standards, hence different levels of software complexity is required.

However, one thing is sure that all modern day business are using some sort of software to improve business efficiency. It could either be even a humble email client, like outlook, or MS Excel, these too are software tools. Or it could be a highly sophisticated ERP system or a performance management system to manage thousands of employees and huge business operations. Businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE tend to be early adopter of the modern technologies.

Furthermore businesses and companies from all around the world have presence in Dubai and all around the UAE which raise the competitiveness and diversity of the business landscape in the country. It is the strategic location of the country and its ports along with its highly business-friendly government policies which is and which will keep attracting more businesses, therefore it is important to make your business as much competitive as possible. In this blog we will discuss what are the benefits of investing in custom software development for your business.

Benefits of Investing in Custom Software Development for Your Business in Dubai
Benefits of Investing in Custom Software Development for Your Business in Dubai

The Importance of Technological Advancements in Business

The technology help businesses boost performance and productivity, it streamline internal processes, enhance customer experience, improve product/service quality and it offers better monitoring and tracking capabilities. That is why it is crucial to leverage technological advancements to remain ahead of your competition.

When it comes to the software solutions, there are two distinct ways to do that, the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) solutions and custom software development. Both have their pros and cons, businesses are using various different types of software on different levels and with different complexity and sophistication. For example, if you need an email client, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you can use any off-the-shelf email client.

But if you need an ERP, HR System, or a document processing system or an intranet application, CRM, or other such tool, then you should seriously consider your requirements, goals and objectives and then decide which software solution type will serve you best. Every business evolved differently, and it is this difference which attracts your customers. This also means that every business have different goals and objectives with exclusive needs and requirements. Which can only be fulfilled with custom software development, the COTS are standardized applications and doesn’t offer much room for customization.

See Also: Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your Custom Software Development Project

The Importance of Technological Advancements in Business
The Importance of Technological Advancements in Business

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development for Businesses in Dubai

When business owners, managers or decision makers go with the custom software development they are usually doubtful about the impact of this project. Most of the time businesses are reluctant to go with custom software development because it requires much more time, efforts and in some cases initial cost is also higher comparing to available commercial off-the-shelf solutions available in the market. Here are some key benefits of custom software development for business in Dubai, which will assure them higher success and greater impact than the counterpart COTS.

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Customization

One thing that businesses can never achieve from commercial off-the-shelf software solutions is the ability to perfectly align the software with their unique needs and ability to addressing to the very unique challenges they are facing. However the custom software development not only personalize the software solution as per your business needs but it also helps you to address the unique challenges you are facing and tend to deliver exclusive advantages which can gain you great competitive edge.

The custom software development project starts with intensive requirement gathering drive, which help the development team to understand all your needs and challenges. That is why the custom software development can deliver more effective software solutions. Furthermore when a software solution is built exclusively for your needs it will also allow you to choose the features, technologies and work flows as per your needs. This also help integrating custom software with your existing IT infrastructure in a nearly seamless manner.

See Also: Leveraging Big Data in Custom Software Development

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Customization
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Customization

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Cost-Effective

It is a common misconception that the custom software development is expensive, however, that is not true at all. It might seem that the initial cost of the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions is less and they can setup immediately, even within a day or two, however, the COTS have recurring cost, which diminishes with long-term cost-effectiveness and even it makes them much more expensive than the custom software solutions. The initial deployment cost of the custom software development is quit higher, it also require a lot of time and efforts to breathe life into an idea.

However, the customized software solutions offers better and cost-effective scalability, customization and very less maintenance cost. There is no recurring cost and you can always get them managed and customized from your internal IT team or any vendor of your choice, thus you are also not limited and stuck to a specific vendor. All these factors results in an exceptionally higher ROI and great future readiness.

See Also: The Impact of Cloud Computing on Custom Software Development [Full Guide]

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Cost-Effective
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Cost-Effective

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Security and Reliability

The security and reliability are few of the most important and crucial factors to consider while deploying a software solution for your business. One of the biggest advantage of custom software development is its ability to let you chose the features and technologies. With the custom software development businesses can chose the top-notch technologies and platforms to ensure highest level of security and reliability. Especially when you want to meet the highest industry standards and regulatory compliances, the custom software development is the best choice.

Businesses can not only customize the features but also the frameworks, platforms and hosting environments which assures highest level of data protection. Any security breach or leak of customers’ data can completely ruin your reputation. As the custom software development involves intensive requirement gathering and rigorous testing which makes your custom software apps more secure, reliable and less sensitive towards common technology challenges.

See Also: Top Trends in Custom Software Development: What’s Shaping the Industry?

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Security and Reliability
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Security and Reliability

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Flexibility and Scalability

In the modern fast-paced business landscape of Dubai, businesses needs are not fixed and businesses have to accommodate for the impact of ever-changing customer needs and technology advancements to remain competitive. The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions can provide a good quick fix to your current needs, but doesn’t offer the flexibility, development and customization that you might be needing in the coming years. On top of that the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) are designed for masses hence lack the personalization and ability to customization to address your exclusive challenges.

However, the custom software development on the other hand can offer great flexibility and scalability. Whether you need to address your unique challenges, or you have sophisticated business needs, you can mold the customized software they way you want. As time pass and your requirements changes or your needs grow you can further add more features and increase the capacity of customized software.

See Also: Common Mistakes to Avoid in Custom Software Development Projects

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Flexibility and Scalability
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Flexibility and Scalability

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Seamless System Integration

In today’s modern world, the businesses and organizations have become more sophisticated and require a lot many different IT solutions and software tools. In order to effectively execute a task or to ensure seamless business processes for higher productivity and performance it is absolutely essential that all the different software, systems and solutions work in full harmony by enabling seamless communication between them. This communication means exchange of data, information and instructions.

This is what is called system integration, it also known as integration or third-party integration. The custom off-the-shelf software solutions only provide limited integration capabilities. However, custom software development will enable businesses to build the software to be more compatible with their existing systems, databases, and IT infrastructure which makes them more compatible and integration friendly. Furthermore businesses can also customize them to achieve their integration objectives.

See Also: How to Develop a Custom Software in Dubai?

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Seamless System Integration
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Seamless System Integration

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Higher Productivity

The custom software development help businesses to achieve higher efficiency and productivity. There are several factors that help improving performance and efficiency, such as:

  • Custom software development let businesses build the user-friendly software solutions
  • Intuitive user interfaces (UIs) can greatly enhance user experience (UX)
  • Ability to customize the UI and workflows help employees easily adopt the new system
  • Customized feature help employees get their tasks done with higher efficiency
  • Different user groups can have exclusive features which further enhance their efficiency
  • System integration allow minimizing repetitive work and enhance performance
  • Ability to integrate mobile applications can greatly increase accessibility and convenience
  • Customized features and functionalities help improving workflows and business processes
  • Ability to monitor and track performance offers higher visibility

Businesses can greatly improve employee performance by deploying customized software solutions. That is not all, the custom software development offers businesses full control over the working of all features and help them get the desired outcome which can greatly improve internal processes, workflows and help businesses gain higher productivity.

See Also: Guide to Custom Software Development

Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Higher Productivity
Key Benefits of Custom Software Development: Higher Productivity

Why Businesses in Dubai should Invest in Custom Software Development?

As I have mentioned above there are several benefits of custom software development which makes it superior from commercial off-the-shelf software solutions. The custom software development help businesses digitalize their internal processes and maximize their efficiency by leveraging the automation.

Furthermore when a software is exclusively designed for your business it will fully align with your needs, internal processes and strategic objectives. This makes it more impactful and productive comparing to commercial off-the-shelf solutions.  Here is why a business in Dubai should invest in custom software development:

  • The commercial off-the-shelf software only partially match your business needs, however, the custom software development enables you to design and develop an exclusive solution which fully aligns with your business needs, integrates with your existing IT infrastructure and it also offers long-term service and support.
  • The development process of a commercial off-the-shelf software solution is slow, it only offers upgrades when a large majority of the users need it. However the custom software grows with business needs, any need can be met immediately either by customization or by adding more features and so on.
  • The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions are provided by a vendor or service provider, which offers very less control over various important aspects of the software. However with the custom software development businesses not only have full control over their data, storage and software but businesses also have full ownership rights for their customized software.
  • The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions are designed for masses and the vendor doesn’t have much interest in your exclusive needs or challenges, in fact the vendor follow the industry standards and market trends. However, the for the customized software solutions you get in touch with the software developers, designers and IT specialists who are designing your software application, thus they have better understand of you needs, concerns and challenges.
  • Although the initial cost of the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions is relatively lower, however, there are several recurring expenses. The COTS offer very limited customization but it is very expensive, moreover the scalability too is very expensive. The custom software development of the other hand have slightly higher initial cost, but in long term have no recurring cost, in fact it offers full ownership rights to the businesses and offer more flexibility, customization and easy scalability.

As the market landscape in Dubai is very competitive and dynamic therefore businesses need higher productivity, lower operational cost and better tools to gain greater competitive advantage. And the custom software development can provide all of these.

See Also: Why Off-the-Shelf Solutions Fall Short: Advantages of Custom Software Development

Why Businesses in Dubai should Invest in Custom Software Development?
Why Businesses in Dubai should Invest in Custom Software Development?

Conclusion

In this modern and fast-paced market landscape in Dubai, where the customer needs are growing endlessly, rapid and sudden change are very common across all industry verticals, businesses need a proactive software development approach to mold and align their tools with the changing and growing needs. The custom software development is the way to design and develop software which are exclusively build according to the business needs and latest industry trends. Furthermore the businesses need to integrate various software and applications in order to improve their operational capabilities and to boost the employee performance. All this can only be achieved with a more flexible and controllable software development method which is only offered by the custom software development. The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions might offer lesser initial cost and are extremely easy to setup, however, in longer run neither they remain relevant nor cost-effective.

The custom software solutions on the other hand has incredible ability to grow as business grows and offer great ROI in long run. In this blog we have covered key benefits of investing in custom software development for business in Dubai and all across the UAE. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help with your next custom software development project, 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.


How Interactive Kiosks are Enhancing In-Store Engagement and Sales

The retail industry in UAE is huge, there are thousands of local and international brands who have established businesses and retail store chains all around the country. This means a really tough competition, above all the customers in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE are also very demanding. This means if a retail business wants to succeed and grow then they must have to ensure their customers are having an excellent experience at their stores. Retail businesses invest a huge chunk of their hard-earned profit into managing and enhancing customer experience.  Most of it goes directly to the implementation of the technology and digital solutions.

The self-service interactive kiosks are one of the most rapidly growing trend in the UAE. Businesses of all sizes and types are implementing digital interactive kiosks to enhance in-store engagement and sales. That is not all businesses and organizations from all industry sectors are implementing self-service interactive kiosks. In this blog we will discuss how retail businesses can leverage the potential of self-service interactive kiosks to elevate customer experience, enhance customer engagement and to boost their sales and profits.

How Interactive Kiosks are Enhancing In-Store Engagement and Sales
How Interactive Kiosks are Enhancing In-Store Engagement and Sales

What is an Interactive Kiosk?

An interactive kiosk is a secure touch screen based device which enable customers to perform tasks, avail services, access information and make a purchase without requiring any help from the staff. The interactive kiosks are used to deliver a seamless self-service experience which not only give your customers more freedom and control over their interaction but it also help businesses to improve their operational performance and human resource management. An interactive kiosk consists of a touch screen display, internal computer, a secure enclosure and a management software.

Furthermore there are several features which are very common such as thermal printer and various other kinds of printer, Emirates ID scanner, Credit/Debit Card Scanner, RFID, Document Scanner and various other kind of scanners. Some interactive kiosks also have external keyboard and track pad. However, now a days mostly on-screen keyboard is enough with a properly optimized UI for touch screens. The interactive kiosks can be connected to network via LAN, WiFi or cellular network. Different features, design and type of the kiosk depends on business needs, businesses can also have a customized interactive kiosk for their unique needs.

See Also: Introduction to Digital Signage Kiosk and Smart Kiosk

What is an Interactive Kiosk?
What is an Interactive Kiosk?

How Businesses can Enhance in-Store Customer Engagement and Sales?

Businesses are now realizing that the customers are valuing experience a lot, thus the focus has shifted from selling only products to selling good experience along. This also means that the customer engagements are becoming more important and impactful, the more a customer is invested in emotionally and physically, the more chances are to convert them to a sale and begin a relationship with them which can be leveraged to attain loyalty and build a strong brand image over it. Before we discuss what factors help increasing customer engagements and improving their experience, it is also worth mentioning what factors are countering to it.

For example, the biggest problem a customer faces in retail stores is difficulty in finding the right product and long waiting lines at the cash counters. These two are also main causes of the higher customer churn. The interactive kiosks not only help customers find the right product, but also provide full access to all available items. The self-checkout kiosks help customers purchase an item and quickly checkout without relying on conventional cash counters.

See Also: Payment Kiosk Machine & Self-Service Cash Acceptor Solutions

How Businesses can Enhance in-Store Customer Engagement and Sales?
How Businesses can Enhance in-Store Customer Engagement and Sales?

Where the interactive kiosks are facilitating customers they are also very helpful for businesses. The retail store can use these devices to run their promotions, adverts, marketing and the can easily implement upselling strategies which help them increasing the average sale volume. The retail stores can greatly improve customer experience which ultimately help them building a strong and loyal customer base upon which the businesses can grow and prosper. In this blog we will discuss the key features of interactive kiosks which help retail businesses to enhance in-store customer engagement and boost their sales:

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Quick Service Delivery

In a traditional retail store, the customers usually have to wait for several minutes at cash counters to make the payments. In today’s fast-paced world where the time is one of the most precious commodity, making your customers to wait in long queues will deteriorate their experience. Moreover during the busy hours the long waiting lines are a common sighting at retail stores, during that time offering your customers an alternate checkout channel, much quicker than cash counter could greatly enhance customer experience. The self-checkout retail kiosks are equipped with necessary tools to let customers scan their items and make payments, completely independently.

The interactive kiosks comes in multi-lingual user interfaces (UIs) which are very helpful in a multi-cultural society. Furthermore the on-screen instructions and information also make customer journey quicker and simpler. Customers can also access their reward accounts and redeem them if they wanted to. The interactive self-checkout kiosk for retail also enable customers to make payment with multiple payment methods such as some with cash and some with credit/debit card, they can scan discount vouchers and they can redeem their reward points if they want to. These features greatly increase customer happiness and satisfaction.

See Also: Leveraging Payment Kiosks for Effective Queue Management

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Quick Service Delivery
Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Quick Service Delivery

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Better In-Store Experience

The interactive kiosks have bright flashing display often running multimedia content on it which attracts customers and passerby. Businesses can provide access to important information via these self-service interactive kiosks. The customers have endless desires and choices, they tend to compare multiple products before making a purchase decision. That is because there are always multiple options available for the customers, which often make it difficult for them to make a decision. An interactive kiosk can provide customers access to different items along with their descriptions, features and all relevant information and also let them compare both in terms of price and features which help customers quickly take a decision.

The interactive kiosks comes with a very powerful software tool which is integrated with other important systems and databases. This integration allow interactive kiosks to provide real-time data and updated information such as it will enable customers to see if the item is available or not, which variants and what stock is available, how much discount they can get, etc.  Such information can greatly enhance customer experience and increase in-store engagements.

See Also: Dubai Police Acquire Interactive Signage from RSI Concepts

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Better In-Store Experience
Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Better In-Store Experience

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Higher Customer Satisfaction

The customers who are using a retail self-checkout interactive kiosk are more likely to be happy and satisfied with their experience. As it is a quicker service channel and it provides easy access to information and content which help customers making their decision quickly. Furthermore these interactive kiosks comes with an intuitive multi-lingual user interface and several other software and hardware based features which are designed to enhance customer experience. A good customer experience means higher customer satisfaction.

The customers can easily access to their inventory, compare multiple products and gain full control over their cart. They can add or remove an item whenever they want during the customer journey. It is worth mentioning that not all of your staff would have full knowledge of all of the products, however, the self-service interactive kiosk can provide full details about any product the customer is looking for. Furthermore the businesses can also personalized customer experience based on their demographic data, purchase pattern and much more. All these features are very helpful and add value to customer experience which translates in customer satisfaction.

See Also: Security Challenges and Solutions in Payment Kiosk Systems

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Higher Customer Satisfaction
Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Higher Customer Satisfaction

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Better Inventory Management

One of the biggest advantage of self-checkout interactive kiosks is that they can very capable tool of collecting analytical and statistical data which can drastically improve your management and decision making processes. The interactive kiosk software features smart algorithms which are very capable of collecting business intelligence data and converting it into actionable reports which reports can be integrated in decision making process to make informed decisions. Businesses can not only understand which products or which variants are more in demand, but they can also acquire a deeper understanding of individual customer behavior which can help them personalized customer experience while they are interacting at the kiosk or other channels.

The system can automatically make suggestions for products, add-ons and promotions as per the customer liking and past purchase pattern which can greatly increase the chances of sale and also enhance customer experience and raise their satisfaction. The businesses intelligence data also help businesses to prepare their inventory as per the customer trends and also help them improve the accessibility and visibility of the products which also help increasing sales.

See Also: 8 Benefits of Using Digital Kiosks for Your Business

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Better Inventory Management
Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Better Inventory Management

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Boost Performance and Productivity

The self-checkout kiosk, information kiosk, interactive signage and any other interactive kiosks are designed to aid the staff. Most businesses often think that these devices could replace the staff, but that is not correct. The interactive kiosks are meant to enhance customer experience and boost staff efficiency. With the implementation of self-checkout counters, informational kiosks and interactive signage businesses can lift heavy workload from the staff which not only provide a quicker alternate channel but also help the staff to focus more their primary tasks which enable them to deliver excellent customer service and improved customer experience.

The implementation of interactive kiosks at a retail business also help management optimizing the human resource and help them leveraging the full potential of their staff. The interactive kiosks keep customers engaged while providing them all the information they want, businesses can also put videos, photos, and multimedia content to provide more details. This let your staff free from most of customer enquiries and allow them to focus on more productive tasks. High performing staff and a productive operation is a key to long term success and higher profitability.

See Also: Self-Service Kiosks for Effective Queue Management

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Boost Performance and Productivity
Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Boost Performance and Productivity

Conclusion

Retail businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and everywhere in UAE knows very well that their customers often have multiple options and they can switch quickly. In fact on bad experience is enough to send your customer to a competitor. This demands highest level of service and high-performing operation. A good customer experience is a key to customer satisfaction, now a days customers tend to prefer businesses and brands who offer them better experience. The interactive kiosks are a great way to enhance in-store customer engagements. Businesses can utilize a variety of different interactive kiosks for different purposes. The information kiosks are usually placed in different sections and the customers can quickly access information about the products in that particular section, they can also explore other sections and get real-time inventory and stock updates, prices, promotions and much more right from the kiosk.

Businesses often put interactive self-checkout kiosks where the customer can scan their cart, make payments, and perform several other tasks and all that is completely self-service. This empowers customers, gives them more control and also help businesses improving human resource management. All these benefits of interactive kiosks can greatly enhance customer experience and boost sales. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design a customized interactive kiosk 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.

See Also: Revolutionizing Campus Services with Student Kiosks


Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your Custom Software Development Project

In the today’s technology driven world, the businesses are dependent on software solutions more than ever before. Especially in competitive markets like Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other cities of UAE where the customers are also very demanding and tech savvy the software solutions have become absolutely essential to ensure greater operational efficiency, productivity and performance of the entire business. Where the integration of technology become deeper and raise new needs for software solutions, the custom software development industry have also evolved in UAE. Once software tools thought to be meant for high-value and large-scale enterprises are now in the reach of a startup, thanks to the advancements in the software development tools and technologies, now a days, building a great software solution is not a luxury anymore. Every business can build software tools to drive performance and productivity which can gain them the much needed competitive advantage and help them stand out of the crowd. The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions more often doesn’t fulfill all the needs, hence businesses are turning to custom software development. The custom software development not only offer exclusive solutions and tools that perfectly aligns with business needs but it also tend to offer better ROI in longer run. In this blog we will go through a step-by-step guide to planning and executing your custom software development project which can drive efficiency, improve workflows and processes and enhance customer experience for your business.

Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your Custom Software Development Project
Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your Custom Software Development Project

Why do You Need a Custom Software Development Project Plan?

When it comes to deploy a new software solution your project goals could fall in any of the three, operational improvements, customer experience improvement or improved management process and workflows. When it comes to the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions is relatively easier to carry out market research, done a competitive analysis and chose the right tool or solution as per your needs. However, when it comes to developing a custom software, the businesses must have to do in-depth analysis, research and due diligence to ensure the final product will fulfill their needs. Since comparing two or more existing products is easier, you can simply signup for trials or have demos to compete COTS, however, in case of custom software development, there is no product hence your project plan will help transforming your software requirements into a fully functional software solutions. That is why a proper and comprehensive project plan is absolutely essential.

See Also: Comparison between COTS and Custom Software Development

Your project plan will help you understand the following very basic questions that will help you effectively executing your custom software development project:

  1. What technology or tools you will be needing to develop your custom software?
  2. Which department is the project owner and who are the main stakeholders?
  3. Who will be managing the software and who will be the primary users of the software?
  4. What skillset and resources do you need in your team?
  5. What external resources you will be needing?
  6. What your success will look like? What are your success criterions?
  7. How much time is required to develop your custom software solution?
  8. What is your budget limitations? What is the estimated cost including all assumption (if any) you are making to estimate the cost of your custom software solution?

These are just a few questions that will help you align your project with your timelines and budgetary limitations. A project plan for your custom software development project will mainly cover, requirement analysis, ideation, concept, development process, testing and deployment, post-launch processes and obviously documentation. Everything has to be documented properly to ensure an effective and successful project execution.

See Also: Top Trends in Custom Software Development: What’s Shaping the Industry?

Why do You Need a Custom Software Development Project Plan?
Why do You Need a Custom Software Development Project Plan?

How to Setup a Successful Plan for your Custom Software Development Project?

A successful project plan is essential for a successful custom software development project. It is important to understand that a business have to invest a lot of resources, efforts and time to develop a custom software therefore the stakes are very high and businesses must have to make sure that the final product resonates perfectly with the set success factors. Businesses often doesn’t pay much attention to the planning phase, overlooking its importance, which lead to unsuccessful custom software development projects and result in loss of a lot of resources, time and money. Here is a step-by-step guide to planning your customer software development which will raise your success probability to 100% if the plan is properly executed.

See Also: Common Mistakes to Avoid in Custom Software Development Projects

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 1. Define High-Level Workflow

The high-level workflow of your custom software development project will help you segment the entire project and understand how each stage transitions to the next stage. It is a common misconception among the businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and in fact all around the UAE that only the launch is the most important stage of a project, however, a good high-level workflow for a custom software development project must look like the following:

Planning –> Designing and Development –> Launch –> Final Delivery –> Maintenance

Most of the time the key stakeholders emphasize much on the launch and delivery phase, while completely ignoring the importance of the previous stages. Which cause several problems and sometimes cause serious issues which require to make major changes in the software which also result in delays and increase the overall cost of your custom software development project. Therefore it is crucial to define a high-level workflow before starting your custom software development project.

See Also: Why custom software is more cost efficient in UAE?

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 1. Define High-Level Workflow
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 1. Define High-Level Workflow

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 2. Define the Scope of Your Project Plan

The scope of the project plan is a pretty vague term, however, it can easily be understood. A good way to define the scope of a project is to first determine the project timeline, importance, and sophistication. Any custom software development project which is meant to last longer than 2 weeks must require a proper upfront plan in order to ensure success. However, some custom software projects might last longer than 6 months, for such projects it is difficult to plan for the entire project, hence the planning could be done for 4 to 6 months chunks. Because in custom software development projects most of the time after six months due to external, internal or some unexpected circumstances will most likely render your estimation inaccurate, if not fully inaccurate there would be some off-set, which must be accounted for. Therefore it is a good practice to plan for maximum 6 months and not longer than that and after 5 or 6 months revisit your plan and set course accordingly as per the current circumstances to ensure success.

See Also: Step-by-step Guide to Develop Custom Enterprise Software

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 2. Define the Scope of Your Project Plan
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 2. Define the Scope of Your Project Plan

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 3. Define Success Factors and Project Outcome

This is one of the most part of a project plan. Every project has a purpose and a business ultimately want to achieve something with their custom software development project, for that they business must have a criteria or expectations which will define the success factors. It is important to clearly define what the success of the project will look like, it could be from functional point of view or from performance point of view or it should be the improvements the software could bring to existing processes and workflows, or customer experience, whatever it is, your success factors should be clearly defined and listed. All the stakeholders must be taken onboard at this stage and all the success factors should be discussed thoroughly with all stakeholders and approval should be taken if needed to ensure there won’t be any surprise at the end for any stakeholder or user group. This cannot be done without considering the custom software development process, and for that most of the time some assumptions are made, which should also be discussed thoroughly with the stakeholders with the possible outcomes to ensure all goals are met and the target is achieved.

See Also: Custom Software Development Progressive Web Apps – Beginner’s Guide

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 3. Define Success Factors and Project Outcome
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 3. Define Success Factors and Project Outcome

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 4. Estimate the Project Workload

This is the time when a proper blueprint of the project has to be written. For that the project manager should engage the development team whether it is in-house team or an outsourcing custom software development partner, the actual programmers, software developers and engineers should be onboard during this phase. As all the requirements are set, the final outcome is defined and the success factors are set, now is the time to estimate the actual workload of your custom software development project. This is the workload involving the software designing and development teams, who will be performing various different tasks. Furthermore the responsibilities of every team or team member can also be divided into individual tasks, and accordingly a timeline is set for each task which then should be accumulated to estimate the total project workload and estimate the time and effort required to deliver a successful project. It is important to take feedback from each individual team member on each individual task rather than asking only supervisor or team leads or managers to give an overall estimation. It is important to understand that the project workload estimation could have significant influence on the cost of the project that is why this stage is important.

See Also: The Key Elements of Efficient Software Development Project Management

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 4. Estimate the Project Workload
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 4. Estimate the Project Workload

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 5. Scrutinize the Estimation

The significance of the estimation of project workload is very crucial for a successful deliver of your custom software project. That is why it is absolutely necessary to scrutinize it thoroughly and repeat it many times if needed. But most of the time when project managers are repeating the estimation or cross-questioning the teams and team members their prime agenda is to minimize the timelines and encourage quicker deliver. However, that is not a correct approach. The project manager should provide full freedom to each individual team mate to let them express themselves freely, however, questioning their feedback will help refining the estimation and will also keep your team motivated to deliver good quality work. Here another important thing to consider is that the custom software development projects are often complex and sophisticated and a lot many assumptions are also made, which sometimes proven to be incorrect or slightly off-set. That is why it is important to keep some room for errors and mistakes and consider some gaps for the unforeseen circumstances and unexpected scenarios to ensure you don’t miss any milestone or even the overall deadline.

See Also: How to Choose the Right Software Development Vendor for Your Business

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 5. Scrutinize the Estimation
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 5. Scrutinize the Estimation

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 6. Setup and Define Milestones

Setting up milestone and clearly defining them is important, it will help the project manager and the development team to track the progress throughout the custom software development project. There could be a high-level milestones marking different stages or phases of the software development process such as design, development, MVP, completion, testing, delivery, etc. Or each of this milestone can further be divided into many more to improve the performance and progress. Some custom software development project teams follow a modular approach where the entire software application is developed in form of different module on a single platform. These kind of project management method ensure each module deliver all the needed features and fulfill all of customer’s expectation. Whatever approach you follow the important thing is that your custom software development project must be divided into several stages or phases with pre-set milestone marking different levels of progress to ensure the development process remains on track which is a key to successful project delivery.

See Also: Importance of Custom Software Development in Dubai

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 6. Setup and Define Milestones
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 6. Setup and Define Milestones

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 7. Resource Forecasting

After estimating the workload, setting up milestones, and defining the success factors now a project manager can easily forecast resources required to deliver the project. As the entire custom software development project is divided into several phases and milestones are set for each phase, now it is easier to accurately forecast which resource or technical team and personals would be needed at which stage. For example, the initially phase is the designing at this stage, the design team would have to lift the heavy load and later on during the development phase only the software developer, programmers and engineer would be working on the project, and very little input would be needed from other teams. Similarly at the testing phase and deployment phase different teams and different resources would be needed, hence there is no need to engage the entire skillset throughout the custom software development project execution. This also help improving the project management and speeding up the entire process. It is important thing to understand that adding more resources to the team or engaging more people at a time won’t guarantee a fast-paced project execution, in fact it will further complicate it and could even slow down the progress.

See Also: How to Develop a Custom Software in Dubai?

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 7. Resource Forecasting
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 7. Resource Forecasting

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 8. Consider Changes and Obstacles

It is extremely difficult to ensure a seamless custom software development project execution, one way or another something will eventually go wrong which could cause revisions, changes and delays. Your custom software development project plan must have room for changes. That is a very simple process, it can be done by holding up a meeting or discussion with all stakeholders from the management and development side and asking everyone of their pinion thus concluding the most obvious things which could go wrong and at the same time defining a strategy and plan of action for mitigation. This step usually referred as pre-mortem session, even if you do not conduct a pre-mortem you should account the changes and delays in order to ensure the project executes smoothly and the deadlines are met successfully. A great way to dealing with such risks is to make a proper list of all expected risks, delays and obstacles along with a realistic mitigation strategy. This list could be very helpful for both the development team and the management throughout your custom software development project execution process.

See Also: 5 Advantages of Custom Software Development

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 8. Consider Changes and Obstacles
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 8. Consider Changes and Obstacles

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 9. Conduct a Thorough Post-Project Review

Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or anywhere in UAE doesn’t usually conduct a post-mortem or post-project review of their custom software development project. One of the biggest reason of neglecting the post-mortem review or post-project review is that the project teams and resources are immediately dismantled and appointed to other tasks as soon as a project got completed or delivered. The post-project review consists of discussion and feedbacks. The discussions and feedbacks are aimed to answer the following few important questions:

  1. What lessons have we learned during this custom software development project?
  2. Was the project successful or not or how much of project goals are achieved?
  3. What actual value or benefits our business will get from this custom software development project?
  4. What went as per expectations, what went well, and how this can be done in future projects?
  5. What went wrong, why it went wrong and what can be done to avoid it in future projects?

These are some very simple open-ended questions and everyone should be able to share their opinion and thought freely. Which can be further processed and analyzed to make them a useable charter for future projects. If the post-mortem or post-project review is ignored your businesses will have to spend time and resources in learning this over and over again. That is why it is important to allocate resources for post-project review in the planning of your customer software development project.

See Also: Advantages of a Custom ERP Software Development

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 9. Conduct a Thorough Post-Project Review
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 9. Conduct a Thorough Post-Project Review

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 10. Service and Maintenance

Here in UAE it is common that large businesses have in-house teams who are developing custom software tools for their needs. However, acquiring services of a professional software development agency is also common for large-scale or sophisticated projects. Small and medium sized businesses usually outsource their software development projects as they usually don’t have sufficient in-house resources to be able to handle custom software development projects. Regardless of the size or industry of your business the either your will maintain the software in-house or you will outsource it to get the technical support and maintenance tasks done. When it comes to outsourcing businesses usually prefer to take AMCs (annual maintenance contracts) form the same software development agency who has developed the software or either they go for another vendor.

See Also: Trends in custom software development in 2022

It is extremely important to include a proper plan for support and maintenance in your custom software development project plan. If you are choosing a maintenance and support service provider other than the company who developed your custom software then you should consider the transition of service requirements to ensure a smoother handover and transition to the service provider whether it is a third-party vendor, outsourcing partner or in-house team. Because it requires a lot of resources and time to handover a complete software solution to a team for maintenance and if that is not done, it could not only cause serious issues but it will also hinder the performance and impact of your custom software application.

See Also: Why the Custom Software Development is Good for Your Business?

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 10. Service and Maintenance
Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 10. Service and Maintenance

Conclusion

Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or anywhere in UAE are turning away from commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) solutions and leveraging the remarkable potential of customized software solutions. This also empowered the software development industry in the country and further make tailored solutions more accessible all sizes and industries. Businesses are relying on custom software development to drive performance and operational efficiency which help them gaining competitive advantage and customer satisfaction. However, when it comes to developing a customized software solution most businesses overlooked the important of developing a proper project plan before starting the work. Businesses do have project plan but it is not as that comprehensive as it should have to be, which results in a complete failure or partial success. A well-crafted customer software development project plan is absolutely essential to ensure success, as it provides a complete roadmap to transform your unique business requirements into a fully functional software solution which can deliver performance and efficiency as per your goals and expectations.

See Also: Guide to Custom Software Development

This blog covers a complete step-by-step guide to planning your custom software development project and equally beneficial for small, medium or large custom software development projects. Regardless of the size, scope, duration or complexity of the project if you make a plan following the above mentioned steps you can easily execute a successful custom software development project. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you need our help with you custom software development project, 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.


Why Businesses should offer Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps?

Everyone knows waiting in long queues could be so frustrating, whether it is a bank, a hospital, a retail store or a government office, the long waiting lines bother everyone. The long queues are not only wasting your customers’ valuable time but are also very frustrating for your staff. Long waiting lines and crowded waiting areas deteriorate customer experience and also engage your staff in activities which doesn’t produce much value and hinder productivity of your branch or business. In order to enhance customer experience and improve performance businesses started adopting to modern queuing practices and deploying digital queue management systems. A token management system or queue management system is a combination of hardware devices driven by a powerful smart software engine. With the passage of time the queue management systems also evolved and become more effective and impactful. Now a days a queue management system is not limited to just reducing the wait time, but it can offer a plethora of features which help businesses improving customer journey and their staff performance. In this blog we will discuss how integrated queue management system smartphone apps can great enhance customer experience and branch performance.

Why Businesses should offer Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps?
Why Businesses should offer Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps?

What is Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone App?

An integrated queue management system smartphone app is a mobile application developed exclusively for allowing users to interact with the queue management system even remotely via the internet. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps are developed for both Android and iOS, now a days’ hybrid mobile apps are also used. The word integrated here represents various different types of integrations of the smartphone apps with other systems, tools and databases. It usually depends on the nature of business and services you want to offer through your queue management system smartphone apps, however, there are certain features which are very common such as integration with the customer database to allow quick sign-in, integrating with other branch data, Google Maps, appointment booking portals, customer portals, or even with customer service center. Businesses often integrate queue management system smartphone apps with their CRM or customer feedback system too, to collect valuable customer feedback data. Thus the integrated queue management system smartphone apps can be used to offer a multitude of services and information to improve customer experience and it is also a type of paperless queue management system.

See Also: What Is Virtual Queuing? A Guide to Virtual Queues

What is Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone App?
What is Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone App?

What are the Benefits of Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps?

Every business have unique needs and different way to handle certain things, same is the case with the queue management systems as well. Every business have different challenges and different strategies to handle those challenges which is the foundation stone of a unique business identity. It is this uniqueness that attracts most of the customers and help businesses established a unique brand identity which stand out of the crowd. When it comes to the integrated queue management system smartphone apps, every business have different preferences, however, there are certain traits of these smartphone apps that can greatly benefit a business by enhancing customer experience and by driving performance and productivity. Here are the key benefits of an integrated queue management system smartphone app:

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Remote Sign-in and Virtual Queues

Enabling your customers to sign-in remotely from their smartphones or any other online channel for the waiting lines is one of the most effective feature of an integrated queue management system smartphone app. With the rise of technology different platforms has emerged over the time and become very popular among the people for example, the WhatsApp. Now a day’s almost every business is holding a WhatsApp business account. Similarly the smartphone apps have become a crucial part of customer services, many industries have made smartphone apps and industry standard over the past few years. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other cities of UAE are increasingly developing their smartphone apps to improve customer experience and customer service. The integrated queue management smartphone apps allow customers to sing-in for the virtual queues with just a few taps on the screen. The customers can sign-in and get estimated time, which allow them to plan their visit in a way that they can get served instantly as they arrived at the business. Hence minimizing the customer wait time to almost none. This remote sign-in features makes integrated queue management system smartphone apps the most ideal solution for modern day queuing.

See Also: World’s First WhatsApp Queue Management Solution

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Remote Sign-in and Virtual Queues
Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Remote Sign-in and Virtual Queues

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Better Waiting Experience

The customer experience is one of the most crucial factor in customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are absolutely essential for a stable and long term growth. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps can offer features which can greatly enhance customer experience and help raising customer satisfaction. Moreover the virtual queue management system can enhance the business processes  by leveraging digitalization and automation. When it comes to customer wait time, there are two different wait times, one is the actual wait time as per the clock, and the other is the perceived wait time. The perceived wait time is what our brain thinks is the waiting time, to understand this phenomenon think of driving on a busy road, we usually think traffic flow is quicker in the adjacent lane, however, in reality that is not true. However, this impact on mood and similarly in the waiting areas the perceived wait time also impact the customer experience in the waiting areas. However, with the help of the integrated queue management system smartphone apps businesses can not only reduce the customer wait time but they can also improve customer waiting experience as well. The smartphone apps is integrated with the queue management system which allows it to provide highly correct estimation of the wait time which prevent the impact of the perceived wait time and the live queuing information and alerts help customers to plan their visit according to their turn so they don’t have to wait much. This greatly improve customer experience and increase customer satisfaction.

See Also: Queue Management System and Predictive Waiting Time

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Better Waiting Experience
Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Better Waiting Experience

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Appointment Booking Features

The integrated queue management system smartphone apps also allow customers to book an appointment as per their convenience. The modern queue management system smartphone apps comes with in-built appointment booking module and moreover these apps can be integrated to an existing appointment booking portal to enable customers to book appointments from the apps. The appointment booking module will allow users to view the queuing data and also any future bookings for example if they want to make an appointment for the next week. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps are built on smart algorithms which have ability to access and analyze the live queuing data as well as historic data. This enables the apps to estimate the waiting time and overall footfall based on historical data present this information to the customers so they can chose the right day and time with less waiting time expected. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps also have ability to send reminders, alerts and notifications to remind customers of their appointment and furthermore it can allow the service agents to directly communicate with the customers and push information to their dashboard regarding any change or update in the schedule. Such features help improving customer experience and ensures the customer gets the fast-track service.

See Also: Why Bank should Integrate Appointment Booking System with a Queue Management System?

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Appointment Booking Features
Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Appointment Booking Features

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Branch Locator

Most of the businesses have multiple branches, especially in large cities like Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi there could be several branches within a 20 to 30 minutes of drive. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps can fetch data form all branches and analyze it in real-time and based on historical data and current customer flow they can accurately estimate the wait time at each branch. Furthermore the smartphone apps are also integrated with Google Maps which enable them to find the customer’s location and suggest them the branches that are closer to them with them and have shortest expected wait time. All this information can be shown to customers as well and allow them to compare different branches and sign-in to the branch which is most convenient for them. Furthermore some businesses also allow customers to shift their ticket form one branch to another based on the current customer flow and queuing speed. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps not only provide branch location but can also provide full contact directory which makes it easier for the customers to directly call or contact the relevant staff if they have any query regarding the service they want. All these innovative features significantly improve customer experience and raise their satisfaction.

See Also: Queue Management System Features you Need for Modern Queuing

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Branch Locator
Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Branch Locator

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Better Staff Performance

The integrated queue management system smartphone apps doesn’t only streamline customer flow and enhance customer experience but these apps are a great tool to improve staff performance. With the help of integrated queue management system smartphone apps businesses can have more control over the customer flow and it also allow them to effectively implement their queuing policies. Most of the customers will only arrive when their turn will come or is about to come. This help minimize the load in the waiting area and prevent crowd formation. The busy waiting areas put extra stress on the staff and deteriorate their performance. When the customer flow is good and the waiting areas are not crowded the staff can focus more on their primary tasks which makes them more productive and also improve their performance. The queue management system itself can provide a great performance monitoring and tracking metrics which are also very helpful in improving staff performance. Furthermore the integrated queue management system smartphone apps enable a direct communication channel and provide more control to the service agent which help them improve customer flow and deliver good quality service.

See Also: Impacts of Queue Management System on Employee’s KPIs

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Better Staff Performance
Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Better Staff Performance

Conclusion

A queue management system has become an essential for a modern business. Whether you are a bank, hospital, government office, HR office, retail business, educational institution or any other organization in service sector. If you are serving your customers at your premises, you need an effective customer flow management system to ensure your customers will get a good customer experience. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps are a significant leap forward in improving service quality, performance and customer experience. Businesses can leverage the features such as remote sign-up, virtual queuing, customer alerts and notification system, appointment booking and data insights to greatly enhance customer experience. A good customer experience will help you increase customer satisfaction and make your customers loyal which is essential for a long term and stable growth. The innovative features and valuable insight for both customers and service agents can greatly improve productivity, performance, and customer experience and service quality. Happy and satisfied customers and high-performing teams/branches means high profitability and help businesses raise their overall ROI for deploying queue management system. If you want to learn more about integrated smartphone apps or if you need our help to build and deploy customized queue management system smartphone apps 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.

See Also: Why Virtual Queuing Has become an Essential Part of Modern Queue Management Systems?


Streamlining the Waiting Experience: How Queue Management Systems Improve Patient Flow

The hospitals, clinics, medical and health facilities have to deal with large footfall, overcrowded lobbies and waiting areas on regular bases. The patient often have to face long waiting time which makes them more frustrated and make it difficult for the staff to deliver a good experience. The poor queue management or queuing policy can lead to dissatisfaction and distrust which can severally harm your clinic, hospital or medical facility’s reputation.

Furthermore it is important to consider that when patients are visiting any healthcare or medical facility, they are already in stressful condition, if you hospital or clinic is failed to deliver them a good experience they will get more stressed, that is why an efficient queue management system is needed. The patient experience mostly depends on how quickly they get served attended and then the next important thing is how the staff handle them. If you have crowded waiting areas and unhappy patients, the staff will have a lot more work to do, which will definitely hinder their performance.

Altogether these all factors will harm the patient experience and will add to their dissatisfaction which is very bad for your reputation. In this blog we will sum up how an effective queue management system can streamline the patient flow at hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and healthcare facilities.

Streamlining the Waiting Experience: How Queue Management Systems Improve Patient Flow
Streamlining the Waiting Experience: How Queue Management Systems Improve Patient Flow

See Also: 3 dimensions of Queue Management System for Hospitals

How Patient Queue Management System is Different from other Queuing Systems?

The queue management system is a very complex tool and it is built on a highly smart AI-based algorithms, this complexity allow it to effectively implement a business or organization’s queuing policy. Now if we talk about an ordinary queue management system it is used to facilitate multiple customer routes, include a variety of different services and sets of priorities, etc. When it comes to the patient queue management system the important thing to understand is that the patient who are visiting hospitals, clinics, medical facilities or healthcare establishments are mostly anxious, stressed and in sometime could be in pain.

This demands all healthcare facilities including hospitals, clinics and testing facilities to ensure all patients receive adequate service based on their condition too and also as quickly as possible. No one wants to wait in long queues at hospitals, clinics or healthcare facilities, neither patient nor their families, everyone wants to get the treatment or service as quickly as possible. Therefore the waiting time is the most crucial factor in queuing management which can only be minimized when the patient flow is streamlined and the entire system works with highest level of efficiency and efficacy. This is what makes patient queue management system slightly different from regular queue management systems.

See Also: What are the Different Types of Queue Management System?

How Patient Queue Management System is Different from other Queuing Systems?
How Patient Queue Management System is Different from other Queuing Systems?

What are the Important Features of a Patient Queue Management System?

Businesses and organizations operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other cities of UAE are using a variety of different queue management system depending on their needs and industry standards. However, for the healthcare sector the queue management system should include most modern features which can help them to improve patient flow, their journey and also the performance of the staff to ensure a better patient experience. Usually hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities doesn’t implement a customized queue management system which is exclusively designed for the healthcare industry.

See Also: Queue Management System Features you Need for Modern Queuing

Virtual Queuing Features and Remote Channels

The inclusion of virtual queuing and remote channels is one of the most important feature for the patient queue management system. The virtual queuing is a modern form of queuing which enables the patients to remotely sign-up for the queues even if they are not at the facility. The patient queue management system integrates remote channels such as mobile apps, online web portals, SMS, WhatsApp, etc. This allow the patient to sign-up even prior to arriving to the hospital or clinic or any healthcare facility. Furthermore the queue management system can also allow the patients to view the current queuing status and the system can also share live updates with estimated queue time.

All these features help patients to plan their visit and also minimize the wait time. Since the patient have full view and live coverage of the ongoing queues, they can easily plan their visit and arrive only when their turn comes. This feature can literally minimize the waiting time to none and help improving the patient experience. The queue management system mobile apps and online portals can greatly enhance patient experience and help reducing the workload of the staff by preventing crowd formation and empowering them with additional administrative control.

See Also: What Is Virtual Queuing? A Guide to Virtual Queues

Patient Queue Management System: Virtual Queuing
Patient Queue Management System: Virtual Queuing

Third-party System Integration

The patient queue management system is not limited to virtual queuing and appointment booking tools, but it can also be integrated with patient data and other third-party systems using secure web services or APIs. The integration help offering a personalized patient experience. The patient queue management system can analyze the patient history and provide them most suitable time for their appointment, it can also give suggestions to patients about available or alternate doctors or even the schedule as per their needs which makes it easier for patient to choose the most convenient time for their visit. If the patient are at the hospital, clinic or testing facility, the patient queue management system can provide them the accurate wait time for their particular service based on the previous data and current queuing stats.

The patient queue management system can be integrated with mobile apps, appointment booking portals, and internal management system which allows it to provide the real-time updates about any change in schedule and help patient book the right time for their visit. Based on patient’s history and current service request the patient queue management system can automatically set the priority level for the patient and put them on the right queue. All these features not only enhance patient experience, but also help reducing wait time and improve overall patient flow.

See Also: Must have features of Queue Management System

Patient Queue Management System: Third-party System Integration
Patient Queue Management System: Third-party System Integration

Announcements and Notification Center

When a patient sign-up for the queue either using virtual queuing or on-premises ticket dispensing interactive kiosks, they patient queue management system should be able to send them alerts and important queuing information. If the patient are signing up remotely or booking an appointment, the patient queue management system should provide continuous alerts and notifications. These alerts and notifications can be sent across multiple channels, for example, the queue management system mobile app can have push-notifications and in-app alerts along with live queuing information and update to keep patient informed. There should be alerts after short intervals to ensure the patient didn’t get late or miss out their turn.

When the patient are at the hospital, clinic, or medical facility there should be large digital signage displays with live queuing information displayed on them. Furthermore the audio announcement system and patient calling should be provided. Along with that the SMS alerts can be very helpful, because in such situations people tend to spend time on their mobile phones, so the SMS can quickly alert them. Furthermore since the patient queue management system is integrated with central information center and any other relevant third-party system, it can identify if any change is made in schedule or any delay is expected, and automatic alerts can be configured to update the patients about these changes.

See Also: Manage Patient Appointment and Journey with Queue Management System

Patient Queue Management System: Announcements and Notification Center
Patient Queue Management System: Announcements and Notification Center

Data Collection and Reporting

The patient queue management system software can collect a wide range of business intelligence data from as simple as number of patient to AI driven deep insights, based on your requirements. As a patient queue management system is also a digital system so it can collect data from each and every touch point of the customer journey. This data can help hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities to improve their patient journey, highlight the areas of improvements and monitor performance. Since the patient queue management system offers multiple channels hence the data can also be collected from and integrated channels. However, the important thing is that the system should be able to collect valuable and accurate data which can be later analyzed and converted into actionable reports which can guide management in making informed decisions.

The patient queue management system also offers in-built analytical tools which can further enhance the reporting and help management produce customized reports as per their needs and share different data types with different decision makers and stakeholders. The patient queue management system can also collect patient feedback. Multiple channels can be utilized to collect patient feedback such as on-premises tablets/kiosks, mobile apps, online portals, etc. The patient feedback is very important and can help management further improve their services and processes to align them with the patient needs.

See Also: 6 Benefits of using Queuing System in Hospitals

Patient Queue Management System: Data Collection and Reporting
Patient Queue Management System: Data Collection and Reporting

Conclusion

Patient and their families coming to hospitals, clinics, laboratories and other medical facilities are already anxious and at an un-easy position, which means they want to get the treatment or service a quickly as possible. In such situation waiting in long queues or in crowded waiting areas can further deteriorate their experience. That is why healthcare sector is rapidly adopting and implementing modern queue management systems to enhance patient experience and to drive performance. When it comes to a patient queue management system there are tons of different queue management systems available in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other parts of UAE.

This can be very frustrated for the management or decision maker, therefore we have enlisted the important features and aspects of an effective patient queue management system in this blog. A good patient queue management system is exclusively designed for the healthcare sector to cater to their unique business needs. A patient queue management system can greatly minimize average patient wait time by improving patient flow and automating several processes. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design and implement a customized queue management system for your healthcare facility, 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.

See Also: What is Queue Management? Beginner’s Guide to Queuing Systems