It is a common and well spread rumour in the ATM industry that manufacturers are moving towards a wireless connectivity.

Many companies are jumping on the technological band wagon to distribute them, providing their business with advantages for its future success; that will benefit them and their customers.

Wireless connectivity is nothing new in other industry sectors, with wireless internet routers, laptops, mobile phones and its presence in cars; whereas in the ATM World it is a fairly relative newbie.

However, consumers’ needs in the ATM sector could soon be met with the ‘cutting of the cord’, to reap the rewards.

Invest in it now and boost your business with wireless connectivity and gain;

-          Faster transactions

-          Fewer dropped calls

-          Greater flexibility

-          Higher customer satisfaction

-          Cost-effective

Money is tight these days due to the economic climate and with time affecting money, wireless connectivity could solve these dilemmas as it is easy to upgrade, fast and reliable.

Most ATMs are tied to banks etc. by hardwires, that being power cords and phone lines. It can have its disadvantages though due to the requirement of regular manual checks and the possibility of running out of money or paper.

Wireless connectivity only requires a power cord so it can be deployed pretty much anywhere and moved from one end of a store to another; saving moving and perfect for store rearrangements or expansion.

It only takes one day to be installed whereas a hardwired ATM often takes weeks and enables portability, which can be critical when it comes to setting up equipment at special events e.g. exhibition.

And its router which is fitted within it transmits data faster, speeding up the processes.

So who knows what the future is of ATMs? You can be sure Protouch will be one step-ahead, as Europe’s number one manufacturer and distributor of touch screen equipment.

We have already talked about the advantages of installing a self-service touch screen kiosk in previous posts, but what are the differences between touch screens PC, monitor and kiosk and how do you know which to use for your business?

Fundamentally, there are three main types of touch screen unit. These are;

• Touch screen digital signage.
• Touch screen monitors and PCs.
• Touch screen kiosks.

But what are the differences between them?

They are all an interactive touch screen but the unit itself will differ. Kiosks tend to be larger and floor standing whereas monitors and PCs are usually smaller, a desktop, and would be mounted to say a wall or table.

Monitors require an external PC, whereas a PC is the whole package and is housed within the touch screen, not needing any external wiring.

Kiosks too have PCs inbuilt and have a complete solution.

The best locations and uses of each unit are as follows…

Digital signage

This is best used to display public, non-personal information; for example in the corporate, educational or exhibition sector. They are ideal for presentations, meetings, events, advertising and timetables where a level of interaction is required. In addition, as many people also learn best visually interactive digital signage can be more stimulating and aid in the learning process.

Monitors and PCs

These are suited to be used personally by staff in sectors like retail, corporate, hospitality for transactions, ordering and reception duties. They can incorporate or be linked up to barcode scanners, card readers, customer display screen and printers.

Whether serving a customer or entering back office data, members of staff are able to quickly and conveniently capture and process information via the touch screen. The small footprint and lack of need for keyboard and mouse or even pen and paper means a monitor or PC is particularly beneficial in compact areas.

Kiosks

These are ideal for customer facing applications such as payment kiosks, ticketing kiosks and information kiosks and can be used across all industries. You can find them in airports, restaurants, health clinics, leisure parks and cinemas etc. They are hugely in-demand due to the fact that they offer multiple services in a really easy and accessible form.

If you want to purchase a touch screen kiosk for your business, visit Protouch today.

42" Clever Dual Touch Screen

You can install many different sized touchscreens for your industry to suit your needs, and virtually any application can be configured to a touch screen of any size. 

But some applications lend themselves best to a particular screen size. Starting with the large touch screen we’re going to look at which size touch screen would be the best option for your business.  

The key benefits of a large touch screen include:  

- attention grabbing  

- maximises branding  

- provides more visual space  

                                                                             - information to a wide audience  

                                                                             - group interaction  

In what environments should you have a large touch screen?  

Exhibition

If you are displaying information for advertising, marketing or exhibitions; a large screen would suffice for it to be big and eye-catching. Large screens are ideal for displaying and showcasing new products and services and the benefits are tremendous.   

Furthermore, it allows the interaction with visitors; giving them a sense of involvement and ensuring interactive product demonstration. They will feel a part of the exhibition and more responsive to your services as you have included them.  

You can deliver information; provide Internet access, show stand finders, registration points and survey visitors.  

Corporate  

A large interactive touch screen can be hugely beneficial for use in meetings and multimedia presentations. It can play a great ice breaker for new employees who in the past may shy away from getting to know the rest of the team in ‘Welcome’ sessions. In this instance, there can be more of a relaxed atmosphere so the person can really get involved, let their guard down and interact with the rest of the personnel.  

With regards to presentations, many learn best visually and it can certainly aid in the learning process, as presentations can be easily printed out onto to notes for your staff, so during the meeting rather than spending all their time writing notes and missing to what you’re saying, they can be fully attentive.  

Education

Simply put, bigger is better. The larger screen provides more visual space to display more information and topics in the classroom and make it clearer for the children to understand. If it stands out and is easy on the eye, the pupils will be more willing to read it and interact in class demonstrations and participations, as it is more user-friendly.  

It is ideal when doing work for spider diagrams and mind maps that require a large amount of white space to learn more efficiently; and for pictures and drawings.  

And many children, although all different, learn information best visually. This is especially the case for those who are young or disabled, for example autism.   

Museum/Gallery  

If the surrounding environment in which you are wanting to place the kiosk is of great space and structure for example a museum or gallery; a large screen kiosk would fit in well with the larger buildings rather than go a miss and look lost and out of place.  

It also provides the opportunity of displaying an interactive artwork or exhibit, reducing the bridge and gap between the art and audience, increasing audience participation and involvement.  

Leisure Attractions  

The advantage here is with arcade machines and interactive games. Nowadays, as technology has grown at a rapid rate, consumers want the biggest and the best in the game sector. That means the best technology, best games and increasingly more interactivity.  It makes it more fun, life-like and adds depth to the consumer’s interactive experience.  

Also, the large screen can help those who are lost as a visual map for them to work out where they are and what part of the leisure-park or attraction they need to get to. They can interact with the kiosk and see where a restaurant is, where the toilets are and where that brand new hotly-anticipated ride is at!  

A large screen further lets you display the opening times, ticket prices, show times and special visitor messages.  

To browse the ranges of large touch screen  kiosk at Protouch, visit today at www.protouch.co.uk.

Matalan, the leading clothing and homeware retailer, has picked our self-service Xen X4 EPoS kiosks to use in its’ new pilot multi-channel retailing in-store.  

The pilot is being deployed in Matalan’s new High Wycombe store and will provide an additional means for customers to purchase products and services across the entire Matalan range.   

They were looking to provide in-store access to their entire product range including the extended lines that can only be found online.  

By incorporating our transactional kiosks they are able to display products that cannot currently be found in-store. In turn the kiosks also accommodate customers without internet access and enhance the shopping experience of customers who come to the store.   

As a result, it will allow Matalan to drive incremental revenues in-store by increasing average basket size and cross/up selling.  

Ross Williams, Ecommerce Trading Manager, said: “We are always looking to improve our customer’s shopping experience, by giving in store shoppers the option to buy from our online range, they benefit by getting new products sooner, and also by being able to select from our full range.

“We recognise a shift in our customers shopping behaviour, and are looking to use technology to service customer requirements however they wish to engage with us.”   

We are providing the total solution; hardware, software and a managed service with support and maintenance.

The Xen X4 kiosks feature a keyboard and 80mm receipt printers running a secure browser version of their website. Customers simply browse the website as they would at home then add their desired items to basket and proceed to check out where they can pay and arrange in-store collection or delivery.  

The kiosks were launched at the store opening yesterday, on November 18th.

Protouch are the UK’s leading supplier of touch screen and kiosk systems and winner of Retail Systems Awards in 2008, 2009, 2010.

Visit us at www.protouch.co.uk.

Interactive technology is fast becoming an essential commodity and popular trend in all industry sectors due to the need to provide easily accessible information and services in a compact form.

Touch screen technology has beem embraced by business owners and government officials and used for automated back office and staff facing systems. 

Now that self-service is also so integral within business, touch screens have evolved and more and more sectors, from retail to transport, are seeing the value of providing the customers with self service touch screen kiosks. 

You can install virtually any application into an industry and there are many factors and considerations to cover. You need to bear in mind who will be using it and what height it should be i.e. can it be accessed by a wheelchair user?  What is its purpose; are you displaying information for advertising and marketing or is it simply for human resources? 

But, out of all the factors and considerations there are a few that all units share… 

The common Factors:

• Screen size – 15-19” for privacy – no one wants their information presented to passers-by.

• Attractor screen – to attract the user and promote the service clearly and concisely.
• Journey – the process the user has to go through to complete their desired outcome should be seamless and intuitive.
  the full water for elephants movie
  watch yogi bear
• On screen design – simple design with buttons large enough to touch
• Branding / messaging – outside messaging make the customer aware of the kiosk.  

The common Considerations: 

• DDA compliance – height of screen and accessories, on screen colour options, location – the idea is that all users can use the kiosk
• Additional panels for screen and sound privacy – depending on the function of the kiosk the user may require a high or low level of privacy.

• Accessories – what items will aid the user? Keyboard? Phone? Microphone?
• Touch screen technology – depending on where and how the touch screen will be used, it will require a different type of screen technology such as Surface Acoustic Wave, which provides great screen clarity or Resistive which can be operated by a number of touch methods such as a finger or stylus.

For more information on kiosks, visit Protouch today.

Interactive Touch Screen Payment System for Kiddicare

Touch screen self-service kiosks can have an immensely positive impact on your business and bring many benefits to both your employees and customers.    

But how do you know when your environment needs a kiosk?    

We’ve put together some situations that you can to look out for…    

- Staffs are stretched to their maximum and too busy to answer all of your customers’ needs which decrease customer satisfaction. Touch screen kiosks can assist your customers so your staff can concentrate on other tasks.   

- Customers can’t find what they’re looking for, but are avoiding asking or waiting for staff assistance and simply leaving. Introducing automated processes through self service kiosks you can keep customers in your environment for longer.    

- You operate in antisocial hours. Having a self-service kiosk reduces the need for man power during this time and in turn lowers the need for anti-social wages and security welfare for your staff.   

- You need to save on staff and build costs, but can’t cut service levels. Kiosks can offer cost and service efficiency where employees and build installations can’t.  They can be faster, cheaper, space saving and more reliable.   

- Your environment is missing valuable products and services, but you don’t have much space to dedicate to a new build. Kiosks can operate in minimal areas, even on a wall and showcase multiple items.

We have helped a wide range of businesses across a plethora of industry sectors introduce self-service kiosks and touch screen technology into their business that is tailored to their needs and customer requirements.     

For more information on touch screen kiosk visit Protouch today, the leading distributor and manufacturer of touch screen equipment across Europe.

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has sued United Airlines on the claim that their airport kiosks, which use touchscreen technology, cannot be used by blind passengers.

It seems the nation’s oldest organisation of blind people and three blind individuals in California, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

The pressure group alleges that the airline is violating the California Disabled Persons Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act because the services it provides through its’ kiosks are not available to the blind.

The self -service kiosks in which they are arguing about presently provide flight information and allow passengers to check in for flights, print tickets and boarding passes.

The NFB maintain that audio interface, a keyboard or interactive screen reader technology could easily be added to the touchscreens as many other airlines have done.  

Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “The airline industry has an unfortunate history of discriminating against blind passengers, and now United Airlines is repeating that history by deploying inaccessible technology that we cannot use.”

The Air Carrier Access Act requires airlines to provide special services for passengers who aren’t physically capable of using kiosks, such as assistance from staff in using the kiosk or allowing the passenger to come to the front of the line at check-in.

In a rebuttal statement, the airline said: “United Airlines is committed to providing quality service to all of our customers and to remaining in full compliance with the Air Carrier Access Act. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”  

Mike May, CEO of the Sendero Group, a manufacturer of technology for the blind, has supposedly said “it is easy” for United to make its kiosks accessible. He said: ”There is simply no excuse for the long wait and inconvenience that other blind United passengers and I continue to experience at airports.”

We recently reported how Italian banks have installed ATMs that are accessible for the blind and visually impaired in Rome.

Touchscreen technology in the business industry is ever-growing and the supply and need for them is expanding.

Protouch are Europe’s number one manufacturer and distributor of touch screen equipment.

According to a report by Gartner, who deliver global technology research, touch-enabled devices will increasingly become more popular and commonplace in industry sectors in the future.

We saw ZDNet Asia blog featuring these report results and had to include them in a post, because as Europe’s number one manufacturer and distributor of touch screen equipment, we care about the future of such devices.

Amongst a growing market for applications that cater to both consumers and users, touchscreens are emerging as the dominant user interface for large screen handsets and are said to be included in over 60 per cent of mobile devices shipped in Western Europe and North America in 2011.

Gartner’s report, which was published in March and April, reveals that touch-enabled devices will also make increasing use of techniques such as haptics to enhance user experience.

Figures revealed that by 2015 more than half of the PCs purchased for users aged below 15 would be touchscreen-enabled.

Craig Skinner, Senior consultant at Ovum, said in a phone interview with ZDNet Asia, that there will be more demand for portable touchscreen devices as opposed to “fixed” devices such as desktop PCs, particularly in the office.

It also states that worldwide sales of touchscreen mobile devices will exceed 362.7 million units in 2010, with sales growing by 97 per cent. These devices would account for 58 per cent of all global mobile device sales by 2013.

Back in September of this year, we reported that TAT – The Astonishing Tribe – came up with a video to where they thought touch screen technology would be in years to come. The video was to show case their research and user feedback at the Open Innovation Experiment.

The video showed the adoption of multi-screens, mirror screens, expandable screens, e-ink screens and transparent screens.

So it seems the future of touch screen technology is definitely looking bright! So get your business involved with a touch screen kiosk from Protouch today.

Carnival UK, the Britain’s largest cruise ship operator, is piloting our kiosks at sea.

Starting on the Cunard brand, the global cruise company is deploying the Xen X4 kiosk across its iconic cruise ships.

They will be used initially to run a cash depositing system for crew members to administer on board accounts and provide an information portal.

Until now Carnival has found it difficult to remove inefficient cash on board processes.  As one of the largest vacation companies in the world with a fleet of 11 UK Ships, and 96 ships globally, the mixture of cash and other processes is unnecessarily taking its toll on man hours.

With the new automatic system, crew members will be able to use the kiosks to top up their accounts without the need for staff assistance. They simply insert their Personalised Crew cards to check their card balance, top up their account, check currency crew exchange rates and also view personal details.

Julian Banasiewicz, IT Projects Manager at Carnival UK, said: “The business response towards the kiosks has been very positive with the kiosks taking £40,000 in the first 3 weeks at sea. We are very pleased to continue our relationship with Protouch across our iconic Cunard and P&O Cruise Ships for further rollouts, and hope to extend the functionality of these kiosks in the future.”

We are providing the total solution; hardware, software and a managed service with support and maintenance.

Carnival UK elected for the Xen X4 kiosks featuring note acceptors, 80mm receipt printers and magnetic stripe card readers.

The kiosks were launched on new ship Queen Elizabeth for its maiden voyage on October 12^th. A successful trial will see Carnival UK rollout out the kiosks across its high profile P&O Cruises and Cunard, brands.  Future initiatives include a review of Passenger facing functions to extend the use of our kiosk technology to automate passenger processes on board.

If you are looking to deploy a kiosk system into your business then we recommend that you have a look at our critical guide which looks at the things businesses need to consider when deploying a public facing kiosk. You can access the Kiosk Guide here.

For more information visit Protouch today.

From Left: Hayley Meenan-Wilkin, Head of Web Operations, Tesco.com Centre: Mike Woods, Sales Director, Protouch Right: Darrel Boxall, Managing Director, XN Leisure

We have won the Retail Systems Award for the third consecutive year. 

We previously scooped awards in both 2008 and 2009 for best use of technology and EPoS innovation of the year, and this year we were awarded best use of technology in the hospitality and leisure sector.   

Tom Quarry, Managing Director of Protouch is delighted by the achievement. He said: “We are very proud to have won a kiosk technology award three years in a row. This is fantastic recognition of our capability across the self service industry”.   

We received the award in partnership with XN Leisure and Aberdeen Sports Village Leisure Centre for their ‘Virtual Receptionist’ kiosk solution during the awards ceremony held at Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane on 28 October 2010.   

“The award went to a project that is helping a company to control costs, increase profitability and efficiency while at the same time increasing the standard and quality of service,” announced the Retail Systems judges.   

The 2010 judging panel included: Luke Phillips, Head of Information Systems, Kurt Geiger; Sharon Peters, Programme Manager at Retail Systems, Marks & Spencer; Hayley Meenan-Wilkin, Head of Web Operations, Tesco.com; and Scott Thompson, Editor for Retail Systems.   

Now into its fifth year, the Awards look to recognise excellence and innovation in the field of information technology within the UK retail sector.   

The ‘Virtual Receptionist’ automated the whole booking, ticketing and payment process for Aberdeen Sports Village and is now used by 80 per cent of its members.   

It has leveraged Aberdeen Sports Village resources by turning receptionist staff into Customer Service Ambassadors and has greatly enhanced customer experience by increasing the speed of transactions and efficiency with which customers can now check in and make bookings.   

For more information on our touch screen kiosks, visit us today.