A little over ten years ago self service check in units began popping up across retail and supermarket stores. Firstly greeted with a sense of suspicion and an arrogance to why the work shouldn’t be done by staff, self check in systems have become a beloved friend to us all and often the first port of call before a manned self check out service.

Paul Denimarck, who handles strategic marketing for the self checkout division at Honeywell Scanning and Mobility, the data connections and wireless communications solutions company has suggested that self service systems can be divided into one of two types; stationary and portable.

“Stationary self checkout platforms are located at the front of the store,” he said. “A customer using a stationary self checkout platform brings their merchandise to the lane, identifies the items they are purchasing with the scanners and tenders payment at the same location.

“Portable self checkout platforms disperse the transaction process at different points – the customer identifies individual items using a bar code scanner at the point of selection, and then the customer takes the items to a separate location to tender payment.”

There are a variety of different types of self service kiosks available and all work for different types of stores.

Modular Kiosk: Most commonly seen in a supermarket store. They are stand alone units most often deployed next to a few more kiosks at a fixed station.

Carousel Kiosk: Often a lay-aside area for scanned items and a larger bagging area, which is usually situated on a rotating carousel which makes the bagging process easier.

Cashier Optional: This option allows the retailer to change from a self service option to a manned kiosk instantly.

Countertop/In counter: Ideal for retailers with a single cash counter, such as convenience stores, deli’s and food areas.

Kiosk/Mobile checkout: This are versatile units that can be placed anywhere in a store. Smaller than self checkout terminals and are ideal for grab and go services and products.

Touch screen technology is everywhere and it’s just getting bigger by the day. The multimedia interactive technology offers consumers a modern platform which allows them to say good by to the keypad and hello to a innovative and compact technology products.

Although it may only seem that the touch screen interface has been around and about for the past few years, research suggests otherwise. Dating back to the 80s the touch screen was a new and exciting technological device that has been developed and improved over the years to mix into our every day world; and that development has proven to be a huge success with mobile phones, kiosk systems, computers and many more technology products adopting a touch screen interface.

So to give you an idea of the world of touch screen and how it all began, here are a few touch screen gadgets from years gone by.

The BBC’s Tomorrow’s World programme in 1982 featured a very early touch screen computer. Unfortunately the exact model is unknown.








In 1983 Hewlett Packard’s HP-150 was the first commercially available touch screen PC. The screen was fitted with a grid of infrared beams which were in place to detect finger movements across the screen; however the IR sensors often became clogged up with dust and dirt and required regular cleaning.






In 1993, Apple was still leading the way in handheld devices with its Newton PDA. With handwriting recognition it was years ahead of its time and even now the device is commonly found being sold on Internet auction sites for large prices.

The first ever Smartphone was launched in 1993 with the IBM’s Simon. It featured a calender, note pad and fax function. Users could put their phone numbers using the touch screen interface.

In 1996 the Palm took over the touch screen market for over ten years with its Pilot series. The company then expanded its products to Smartphone technology getting rid of its operating system in favour of Windows Mobile.

The year 2000 saw the launch of Microsoft handheld ‘tablet’ devices. Bill Gates, founder, saw the potential of the touch screen device and launched the product with the Windows XP Tablet edition in 2002. Not many people bought the tablet PC’s due to the high costs.

2004 saw the introduction or touch screen Smartphones which have grown in popularity over the years. Handsets such as Nokia’s Symbian handsets, Windows Mobile as well as the Sony Ericsson’s UIQ phones have all driven the touch screen technology forward.

The launch of the Apple iPhone in 2007 hit the touch screen industry by storm. There was a lot of work that needed to be done to the device for it to meet to people’s expectations however the sleek and sophisticated design proved to be an overall winner which left many other mobile phone manufacturers struggling to play catch up.

2008 saw the touch screen industry move for a more commercial than home use. The new Microsoft touch screen controlled table was launched prices at a whopping £8,500. The new interactive system adopted a multi touch surface which allowed many users to interact at the same time.

And as we arrive into 2010 the iPad landed on our doorstep. The new multi-functional facility has received massive interest worldwide with 1 million units sold within a month of its launch.

Behind every successful company and innovative product, there are always the people who work on the back of a company’s success re-creating, copying and conning their products and customers into thinking that their business is the real deal.

And as kiosk deployment has become just as common as having a television in the home, more and more people are jumping on the bandwagon to try and con consumers and business owners about their dodgy kiosk systems.

Just last week, the city of Washington DC reached an settlement with a kiosk leasing firm that agreed to stop harassing five African American churches for payment after they latched onto a deal that proved too good to be true.

Although this is the first case the city has filed against three equipment leasing firms and two kiosk salesmen and their companies, it is alleged to be involved in a complicated and incriminating  deal combining kiosks, con men and black churches. The con has spread from coast to coast with a number of churches hit by the scam including ones in California and Michigan, as well as the nations capital.

Kiosk Con Artist Michael J Morris

Press reports showed that Morris and Perkins embarked on their criminal business around ten years ago. Their plan was to visit African American churches around the country as executives of Urban Interfaith Network and Television Broadcasting Online (TVBO), companies based either in Washington or suburban Maryland. Morris and Perkins lived in suburban Maryland.

Mike Cox, Michigan attorney general, stated that both Morris and Perkins offered churches free kiosks that would be placed on site to provide outreach, education as well as Internet services to parishioners. In return, the kiosks would carry a advertising from a national sponsor that sought to reach the parishioners.

As an added inducement, Morris and Perkins told some of the churches that they would earn revenue of their own from the sponsor’s advertising. Churches were told that no contract was needed and all the legality stuff was simply a formality that didn’t need to be addressed but insisted that it still needed to be signed. So as pen went to paper church parishioners signed their contract without realising they had agreed to pay the full price for the kiosk.

Kiosk Con Artist Number 2 William T.Perkins

From the contracts, Morris and Perkins contacted equipment leasing firms and asked for loans to purchase the kiosks, using the church contracts as collateral. Once they received the loans – valued at as much as $27,000 per kiosk – the pair used money to get bare bones equipment from the churches and further made initial monthly leasing payments to the equipment  providers.

Peter Nickles, the city’s attorney general said, “The churches either did not get the equipment, or if they did, it wasn’t working, and if it was, the sponsorship deals never materialised.”

On another side of town, the leasing firms were led to believe they would be seeing monthly checks from the churches for the kiosk systems. There was usually little money to pay the lease fee already, and there was no sponsor for the kiosk advertising.

The deals continued to come in and leasing firms billed the churches for the kiosks with some of the contracts having full access to the churches finances.

“The firm could draw down from the bank account of the church. They charged the lease payments. In one case the firm took $60,000,” said Nickles.

After a while the churches contacted the authorities and Michigan arraigned Perkins and Morris in October 2009. Michigan plan to begin its case against them in Detroit’s 3rd Circuit Court at the end of September, a spokesperson for AG Cox said.

Perkin’s and Morris’s attorney, LaRene & Kriger of Detroit, didn’t return calls.

The case caught the attention of Nickles and California attorney general Edmund G. Brown Jr who found that after the churches learnt of the alleged scam, there was still a continual attack on the parishes by equipment leasers enforcing the terms of the leases, filing lawsuits against the churches to collect payment, interest and late fees.

These equipment leasers in April 2009 were charged with defrauding the churches. One of the companies – Balboa Capital Corp settled their case in Washington just last week, agreeing to stop collecting on the leases with several of the churches and to pay two of the churches $4,000 in total. Balboa wrote in their legal filings that it was “not complicity in the alleged scheme” and agreed to the settlement to avoid litigation costs.

Nickles said he will continue to pursue the other two lessors and as the cases go on, the churches have worthless equipment situated in their parishes that have completely gone to waste.

Going to the airport is never a relaxing and stress-free experience. From the arrangements of getting there to the baggage allowance, there is so much to consider and the whole drama from the airport is enough for you to need a holiday for three weeks.

Airports and airlines are continually searching for new ways to improve their customer service to ensure that their passengers have a safe, enjoyable and stress-free trip.

The introduction of self service kiosks over the years has increasingly helped improve efficiency, reduce costs and simplifyed a customers journey as well as improving passenger satisfaction and loyalty.

For passengers, their primary goal is a quick and hassle-free journey avoiding crowded check-in areas and long check-in queues – not to mention slow security screening and inefficient boarding processes. Passenger satisfaction at this stage purely relies on how quickly and easily they can get their boarding passes, how simple it is to check their baggage and how much control they have had over the process.

An empowered passenger is a happy passenger and letting them take control of their whole travelling experience will truly benefit you as an airport or airline.

If you have deployed a kiosk system into your airport don’t just expect that it will work miracles. It is all about where it should be installed, how many you need to install and how the kiosk connects to the airport infrastructure.

With a kiosk system you can expect to see;

For Airports

• Reduced costs per passenger,
• Less airport congestion,
• Increased passenger flow without the need to invest in new buildings,
• New service opportunities – for example, shared or managed infrastructure,
• The chance to help passengers better manage disruptions,
• An opportunity to measure the landside/airside space needs and create a customer-friendly landside dwell area, delivering new revenue opportunities,
• The potential to delay capital expansion.

For Airlines

• A reduced and flexible cost structure,
• Competitiveness in commodity factors,
• Improved customer service,
• New service opportunities – e.g mobile check-in

For Passengers

• Empowerment,
• Reduced stress levels,
• Hassle free journey,
• Less queueing
• Better value for money.

For more information on how a kiosk system can benefit your business visit Protouch today, the leading distributor and manufacturer of touch screen equipment.

We’ve been shortlisted in the Retail Systems 2010 Awards for the category ‘Best Use Of Technology In The Hospitality And Leisure Sector.’

The Protouch, Xn Leisure and Aberdeen Sports Village leisure centre joint entry is shortlisted for its innovative ‘Virtual Receptionist’ kiosk solution that has provided Aberdeen Sports Village with an automated booking, ticketing and payment system.

The ‘Virtual Receptionist’ has propelled Aberdeen Sports Village to the forefront of the technological, self service arena within the Leisure industry with 80 per cent of Aberdeen Sports Village members now using it as opposed to the reception desk. 

Protouch Xn Leisure Kiosk

Not only has it leveraged Aberdeen Sports Village resources by turning receptionist staff into Customer Service Ambassadors, it has allowed staff to offer more quality time with their customers as well as greatly enhancing customer experience by increasing the speed of transactions and efficiency. Customers can now check in for activities, collect tickets and make future booking enquiries quickly and efficiently, eliminating the need to queue. 

The Xen X4 wall mounted kiosk offers a 19″ touch screen, RFID smart Card Reader, receipt and ticket printer and branding while running a booking and on screen payment application that provides fast track entry and a secure monitoring system using membership cards linked to turnstiles, barriers or doors.

We look forward to the awards ceremony due to take place at the prestigious Grosvenor House Hotel London on 28 October 2010 where the winners will be announced.

About Xn Leisure

The leader in Leisure Management Solutions for over 28 years, Xn Leisure serves over 5,000 users and is the technology partner of choice for the Leisure Industry. Offering a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise Xn Leisure is engaged in a programme of continuous strategic investment in people, systems and processes. 

We are pleased to announce the release of our brand new company video.

In our motivating and highly informative 9-minute video, you will see the capability that Protouch has in developing a kiosk that meets with your business needs. We tell the story of our highly popular Xen Kiosk Range, highlighting its key design features as well as the benefits that a kiosk system can bring to your business.

Meet our staff members who talk you through the vital stages of producing the right kiosk solution for you; from the design and creation of a reliably engineered and versatile kiosk solution, to the final stages of kiosk deployment and aftercare.

The innovative promotional video features our award winning kiosk deployment for Kiddicare and explores its success. Speaking to staff at Kiddicare, the video highlights how valuable customer service is to your business and how successful your company can be if you consider deploying a kiosk system.

See our impressive portfolio of clients that also includes Cineworld and its nationwide rollout of kiosks, plus our awards and the accredited bodies that we are affiliated with – proving why we’re the UK’s no.1 supplier for touch screen and kiosk solutions.

Click here to check out the video on YouTube as well as all our other videos about our kiosk collection and how they can benefit your business.

Protouch Kiddicare Kiosk Collection

Well maybe not 1000 but it can sure seem that way if a kiosk is deployed professionally. There are a great many ways in which you can deploy a kiosk system you just have to ensure you have the correct equipment and software as well as a company that you can trust to help you along the way.

To give you an idea of the different ways in which a kiosk can work for you, here are a few different ways a kiosk can be deployed and beneficial towards your needs and requirements.

Payment System

If your kiosk is deployed in strategic locations such as shopping stores, entrances to shops, supermarkets as well as train stations and air port terminals then you can provide your customers with a convenient, instant access bill payment system. 

Internet Kiosk

An Internet kiosk is an ideal way to entice customers into your store. If they can receive free access to the Internet the more likely they are to come in and further browse in your store. 

Information Kiosk

If you are providing information, help or advice through your kiosk, such as a way finder then you need to make sure it is positioned in the right places which is of use to the user. For example, if you have developed a kiosk system which allows users to learn about a product then there is really no point having the kiosk on the other side of the store away from where the product is being sold. A successful kiosk is always placed in a prime position for the customer.

Checking In/Update of Information

These types of kiosks are great for doctors surgeries or hospitals whereby the patient can update their information or check in for their appointment. This type of kiosk frees up staff members time and allows you to reduce the administration costs which can be time consuming and more costly than what they need to be.

IKEA kiosk by Protouch.

More and more business are moving into the self service industry to reduce staff costs, expand their revenue and improve their customer service. They may set companies back a little bit of money when it comes to the manufacturing and deployment, but once this has been organised and the budgets have been set, kiosk systems are sure to improve the way your business is run.

To give you an idea of why kiosk deployment is successful, here are a few tips in how to go about deploying the kiosk and what you need to do to ensure that it is successful.

When deploying a kiosk it should cover these seven steps to ensure it is a successful business move.

Engage

The first stage is to grab the customers attention. Use digital signage, kiosk enclosures, banners and staff to help promote the kiosk. Large screens in stores directly grab the customers attention and engage passengers to look to see what services or products they are offering. Make sure the kiosk cover is designed to your branding and stands out in store. Don’t just put it in the corner, make sure it is in a prime postion for everyone to see.

Inform

Consumers will only be interested in information if it is to the point, clear and concise. Reams of writing and no illustration will instantly deter them away from your kiosk. A kiosk is meant to speed things up so make sure that you get to the point so customers can get on with their day and feel happy with the customer service they have received.

Xen X5 kiosk from Protouch for Kiddicare stores.

Interact

Interact with your customer throughout the process. Make sure that they can follow a step by step guide and don’t feel stuck along the way. It is highly important that you make sure the whole process is simple and that your customers feel engaged with the whole process and not left to feel confused by how the system works.

Transact

If your kiosk allows customers to purchase products and services, then a good technique is to provide related services and products that they may be interested in when it comes to purchasing their items. This is a great way of selling without harassing the customer.

Fulfill

The fulfillment of the order needs to quick and precise. Don’t leave the customer hanging around for their receipt. They have made their purchase and wish to leave as soon as possible. Once the transaction is processed don’t make them click through thousands of pages to sign off. The quicker the service is the more likely they are to use it again.

Maintain

Don’t just leave your kiosk to rot away. Make sure you update it regularly and keep it in tip top shape. Add additional products and services and make sure that it is always running smoothly and keep the software updated.

Customers

The customer knows best so make sure that you listen to their feed back about the kiosk and whether you need to make changes to suit their needs and requirements. They are are the end user at the end of the day so you need to make sure it is directed to the type of information and services they want.

We are proud to announce the launch of our brand new German website, www.protouch-kiosks.de.

The new site will promote our top kiosks and touch screen equipment in a bid to expand our already reputable brand across Germany and other European countries.

As the UK’s leading supplier of touch screen and kiosk systems, we are keen to broaden our presence in the industry to show how our services can create a faster, better and more economical way to do business around the globe.

The new German website focuses on our Geode touch screen monitors and award winning Xen kiosk series while replicating the innovative sales tools used on our current English website.

These include interactive videos that demonstrate the key functions, features and benefits of the highly successful Xen kiosks. Plus the kiosk configuration tool created to allow visitors to personally customise and design their own kiosks online to suit their needs.

Once customers know what they’re looking for our in-house design department is also able to create bespoke laminate designs for customers’ kiosks as well as providing a 3D rendered kiosk image to provide the best possible insight on how the kiosk will work.

Thomas Borck, the leading sales figure who is heading the German and European leads from the new site, said, “The launch of the new German Protouch website is very exciting and will be a great support in expanding business across Germany and Europe. Our sales tools and support are invaluable in establishing successful customer relationships and in supporting our reseller network.”

Thomas has worked as an International Sales Manager of Kiosks and Digital Signage Systems for more than 6 years. During this time he has spotted and worked with companies that want to expand their product range with new products in order to fulfil customer requests and offer a more competitive portfolio.

To view our new site visit www.protouch-kiosks.de or alternatively visit our English website on www.protouch.co.uk for all the information you need about installing a kiosk system into your business.

University of Scarborough touch screen kiosk

As young adults take the next step of heading to university, the whole experience can be fun, exciting and sometimes daunting.

The idea of being independent, finding your own way and making new friends can be a tough challenge for first years.

One of the biggest struggles people have during their first time at university is being sensible with their funds. A huge loan comes into their bank account at the beginning of the term and in a month or two it’s already being spent.

Many campuses these days offer their students a university campus card which they can use to store credit on and use in and around the student bar, cafe and shop as well as purchasing equipment and stationary for their studies. These types of campus cards are a great way for students to spread their money and know they have funds to get them their lunch and all their books for their time at university.

However, the development of these top up university cards come with a challenge. It’s midnight, all of the administration offices are closed and a student is working late in the library. They need to print off some documents via their student card but they have no credit left on their student card. What do they do and how do they top up?

The answer to this problem is the deployment of top up kiosks around campus which can allows students to easily add money to their card without having to wait around for the administration office to open.

For example, Washington State University deployed a kiosk to allow students to add money to their flex cards without having to visit the office, calling home or speaking to university employees.

The payment systems allows a simple credit/debit card transaction to reload student accounts.

“The kiosks are there when they need them and are generally problem free,” wrote Ben Aichele of WSU.

The kiosk not only allows students to add money to their cards, they also act as a daily bulletin for students during their busy day.

Advertisements are on rotate via the screen display featuring daily campus events which sometimes go unnoticed around the campus. The kiosk has been deployed in areas where there is high volumes of traffic such as outside the dorm rooms, dining areas and library.

And it’s not just top up kiosks that work well in university campuses too. Way finding kiosks are a great way for visitors to find the department or person they need to see rather than taking a whole host of confusing directions from the receptionist which you never remember anyway.

You can display your campus map via the kiosks so that families and guests visiting the university can easily navigate around the area.

The University of Scarborough deployed Internet-based kiosk which provided access to information such as timetables, events and maps of the campus.

The hi-tech kiosks were deployed around the campus and were well received by students.

“The kiosks around campus have gone down really well with students, so the next step was to roll out that service to mobile devices such as mobile phones and laptops. Every student has a mobile phone these days and they are increasingly using them not just to communicate, but also to organise their lives. The Pocket Campus is a great way to make sure they are accessing the kind of information they need, wherever they are.”

The mobile service complements the existing touch screen kiosk on campus.

Third year student Ben Kay said, “This new technology will make it much easier for me and the other students to access information and keep in touch with what is going on at the University, wherever we are on campus.”

The University of Nottingham deployed a kiosks to provide students with extra music not found through the school’s library services. This allowed music students access to more materials crucial to their education and repertoire.

“I am told that the students much appreciate the availability of the Naxos recording library as an adjunct to the extensive numbers of CDs,” stated Nicholas Sackman of the University of Nottingham.

The computers are locked down to only display the online music library, eliminating the need for supervision or help navigation around the music site.

Both of the universities listed have conformed with the growing need for self service and have adapted to modern trends in technology.

Students are able to interact with other students, get their work done effectively and efficiently without having to wait for office hours to be open.