Kiosks are best known for providing self-service ordering and checkout options in retail and hospitality. But there’s an argument to say that the most common (or at least the most broadly applicable) use for kiosks is as information points. From airports to libraries, office complexes to hospitals, transport hubs to museums and other leisure attractions, kiosks provide a convenient, accessible way to communicate required information. They put the user in charge, and their interactive nature is engaging – and even, we daresay, fun. Together with the user-friendly familiarity of their touchscree ..read more

It was Alan Turing, code-breaking war hero, computer science pioneer and all-around mathematical genius, who gave one of the earliest versions of the much-recycled “the machines are taking over” quote. It was during a pretty obscure lecture given in 1951 that Turing suggested that humanity would “at some stage… have to expect the machines to take control” should they ever crack what he referred to as “the thinking method.” Seven decades on, the implications of machine intelligence, fearful or otherwise, seem more relevant than ever. It’s central to the psychodrama being played out between bill ..read more

In our last blog, we tackled the issue of the high shrink rates being reported at supermarket self-checkout points, as customers supposedly take advantage of ‘weak’ security. Our perspective is that the weakness isn’t something inherent in the technology, but rather in the way it is being deployed, without the kind of checks appropriate to a self-service POS. It’s an important issue worth an honest debate. But one of the reasons we felt the need to take it up is because of the spate of rather sensationalist news stories that have been appearing in the mainstream media, that seem less concerned ..read more

Nearly every business these days could be described as a hybrid operation. That’s hybrid in the sense of a mix of human and machine. The advance of digital technology means that the days when every process and interaction was handled manually by people are a long way behind us. But at the same time, a future where everything is controlled by AI-powered automation still feels a long way off. If it’s even feasible at all. It’s difficult to imagine the current status quo of people and technology working side by side to deliver products and services changing any time soon. That begs some important ..read more

Every industry has to take the rough with the smooth, and no technology is perfect. Recently, kiosks have been attracting the kind of attention no one wants from the media, who excel in picking up on a negative and whipping it up into something mildly sensational. The issue in this case? Self-service checkouts facilitate shoplifting. For example, mainstream media outlets including the BBC jumped on a study from the US that found 69% of consumers believe self-checkout makes shoplifting easier, and 15% admit to doing so. Another report cited by Business Insider concluded that thieves are 21 time ..read more

Ask people where they use self-service kiosks, the most common answer you will get is likely to be supermarket checkouts or fast food restaurants. Make a list of the top 10 answers, and we wouldn’t be surprised if they were all examples of indoor settings. But that doesn’t mean kiosks are for indoors only. In fact, most of us already use outdoor kiosks regularly as part of our daily routines. Pay-at-the-pump options at petrol stations, for example. Or drive-thru at previously-mentioned fast food restaurants. It may be the case that with a lot of outdoor kiosk deployments, people still don’t se ..read more

Self-service kiosks are having a transformational impact across customer-facing industries. Much of the buzz is focused on retail and the quick-service restaurant (QSR) sector. But that hardly scratches the surface of where kiosks are being used to reimagine the customer experience. Hotels, airports, cinemas, leisure attractions – you can also add more service-oriented sectors like healthcare. Anywhere you provide a service of some sort to guests, visitors or customers, kiosks can make a difference. That’s a testament to the flexibility of the kiosk concept. Over the past few years, we’ve seen ..read more

Customer feedback has become a familiar feature of the digital world. Buy something online, visit a website, download an app, you’ll often be asked to leave a review or share whether you were satisfied with the experience (or otherwise). There’s good reason for this. According to Zendesk, online customer reviews influence 88% of consumer buying decisions. But more generally, knowing what customers think about the service you provide is the best way to provide the service people want. You can identify and address issues, focus on strengths, make changes that real users want to see. This applies ..read more

Are we heading towards a cashless economy? Certainly, when you look at the growth in digital payments over the past decade or so, you can understand why a lot of people believe cash will become obsolete. And sooner rather than later. In 2010, more than half of all payments made in the UK were in cash. But by 2017, on the back of the surging popularity of contactless debit card payments, non-cash payments had overtaken cash for the first time. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the majority of commercial activity was forced online, cash accounted for just 17% of consumer transactions ..read more

Self-service ordering points changed the face of the quick-service restaurant (QSR) sector. Now we could be on the verge of another revolution. And it’s all thanks to voice-recognition AI – the kind of technology that lets you control your Alexa or Google Home devices without a screen, just by the power of your voice alone. McDonalds, a pioneer of the first QSR kiosk wave, is again in the vanguard, rolling out voice-controlled ordering kiosks in Seoul, and having already experimented with AI-powered Drive Thru. Although not always with the desired results. At the cutting edge of the technology ..read more