Driver Service Kiosk by Flying J Travel Plaza

The stereotypical image of a truck driver in the UK isn’t great. In fact, when most people think of a truck driver it generally includes a middle-aged male who is tired, dirty, hasn’t showered in a week and uneducated. This concept is unfair and rather snobbish as many dont’ see the move truck drivers have made into the modern age.

For starters, the route of most trucks is tracked by a global positioning system, with music playing over a satellite radio and the driver most likely to be chatting on an integrated hands free mobile phone system.

And it’s not just the trucks that have gone tech savvy as technology has come to the truck stop. Today more and more drivers are stopping at self service kiosks before even ordering a cup of coffee.

Drivers today must meet a set of regulations set by the Government. From logging the amount of time they spend behind the wheel to maintainance of the truck. On top of this the rising fuel costs are forcing drivers to cut costs wherever and whenever they can.  

Because of this, more and more kiosk systems are enabling truck drivers to manage their time behind the wheel.

Flying J Travel Plazas is just one company that has deployed kiosks to serve its drivers. A Driver Services Kiosk provides fax services a fax mailbox, copy services and a driver load exchange board. The kiosk also offers calling cards for sale and even allows drivers to arrange for the delivery of flowers to loved ones back home.

They also act as an Internet kiosk providing access to the World Wide Web as well as a Scan & Go Express Fuel Desk Scanner which enables drivers to scan shipping documents and send them to the corporate office. 

One of the kiosks servers as a Truck Driver Kiosk, allowing drivers to obtain receipts for many of their transactions in the Pilot store without having to wait in line at the checkout. A second kiosk is also dedicated to human resources applications.

“Our driver customers depend on these services, as their truck is a moving business office and theny need access to technology to conduct their business and communicate with their home offices,” said Gary Barlow, president of Flying J Communications.

In September 2009, Knoxville, Tennassee based Pilot Travel Centres began deploying self service kiosks in its own locations around the country. Pilot operates 306 travel centres in 29 states across the US.

Some of the pilot kiosks allow customers free access to the Internet while drivers are on the go.

Petro Travel Centres needed a digital device to maintain a connection with their travelling customers and truckers. Kiosks were installed across 60 Petro Travel Centres across the US so that the Petro brand could communicate with 250,000 customer cardholders as they redeem gas purchases for coupons.

“When you think about it, this is the only way to communicate with a group of customers that is continually moving around the country,” said Brian Ardinger, chief marketing officer with Nanoation, the manufacturer of the Petro branded kiosks.

The kiosks are actively promoted on video trailers of DVD movies for sale at Petro locations, as well as special promotions for other Petro amenities. Each card reader features a touch screen, card reader, printer and durable enclosure all designed to maximise the ease of use, functionality and return on investment.

For more information about interactive kiosk systems that can provide different channels of communication for your staff, then speak to Protouch today. As the leading manufacturer and distributor of touch screen technology across Europe the team are expertise in deploying successful kiosk systems that benefit individual businesses needs and requirements.

Global Axcess Corp, an independent ATM provider with more than 4,500 machines, are branching out into the self-service market with a line of DVD-rental kiosks in 2010.

CEO George McQuain, who has largely been responsible for bringing the once-struggling Global Axcess back to profitability, says they have a unique opportunity to compete against the major DVD-rental brands.

“We believe there is a largely unmet addressable market for DVD kiosks that will not only allow us to penetrate the market but also allow us to displace incumbents,” McQuain said in December. “Our goal is to leverage our ability to deploy, manage, maintain and process transactions from a wider range of self-service kiosks beyond the traditional ATM. We believe our aggressive move into the DVD kiosk market has significant upside revenue growth opportunities for us.”

During 2009, kiosk revenue grew 94%, with the Redbox-dominated channel approaching $1 billion in revenue. Kiosk rentals were more than enough to offset a 3.2% decline in rentals from brick-and-mortar outlets such as Blockbuster and online sectors.

With stiff competition from 2009 sensation Redbox, Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes said yesterday that the future of the Dallas-based DVD rental company hinges on its ability to position the brand across multiple distribution platforms – or it might not be a happy ending for Blockbuster.

“The next 12 to 18 months are going to be very challenging,” Keyes said. “We are building a multichannel platform approach and at the same time we have brand new competitors (namely Redbox and Netflix) certainly taking some of the demand out of the market.”

“The great opportunity for Blockbuster is to adapt to the different use occasions, because that’s what these kiosks represent,” he said.

The CEO said Blockbuster has the option to close additional stores, a strategy he said the media blew out of perspective last year when it focused on the closure of 1,000 stores through this year while failing to mention the addition of 10,000 Blockbuster kiosks.

“The net increase for Blockbuster’s presence in 2010 was actually 9,000 additional points of presence, via kiosks,” Keyes said.

Most things that Barack Obama touches turns to gold, and now the US President is setting his sights on revamping the American medical sector via touch-screen technology.

The winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize has had his hands full in the last twelve months in attempting to solve the issues that plagued George W Bush’s administration but now, President Obama sees huge scope to improve his country’s health industry by embracing technological advancements.

He has pledged to ensure that all medical records in the United States will be electronic within five years, synced through the touch-screen kiosks that are present in most US health centres – a plan sure to positively affect the healthcare industry as a whole and create opportunities for technology providers.

Patient check-in kiosks have existed in doctors’ surgeries for years, but their advantages have not always been fully utilised, as described by one industry exec:

“Healthcare has always been thought of as being sort of behind on IT technology,” Napua said. “But obviously with the infusion of the Obama initiative for electronic medical records, I think there’s a growing interest, to say the least, in trying to figure out a lot of these solutions in healthcare.”

Tesco is to open its first store with no staffed checkouts as part of a trial period – making it the first UK supermarket to be totally self-service only.

The Tesco Express store in Northampton will have four self-service checkouts, supervised by one staff member.

The supermarket claims the store will employ the same number of staff, it would if there were checkout staff, but in different job functions.

Tesco says that the trial aims to look at how self-service tills can provide a better service in smaller stores by putting its staff on the shop floor, closer to customers.

“The checkouts are supervised at all times to ensure customers get the same great service and the feedback has been good so far. New technology has a part to play in doing a better job for customers but we will always have staff on hand to offer that personal touch.”

Recently, Tesco also opened karaoke kiosks outside some stores to capitalise on the The X Factor fever sweeping the country, and give customers the opportunity to star in their own music video.

Demand for international air travel has finally started to improve year-on-year, indicated by results published in September, and self-service kiosks are being hailed as one of the key reasons why.

The global aviation industry was widely recognised as being on its knees, crippled by the weight of the recession and growing fuel costs, but self-check-in services are increasingly helping airlines cut costs and improve customer experience. And according to IATA’s 2009 Corporate Air Travel Survey, more than 50 percent of passengers worldwide want more self-service options.

Online check-in, kiosks and mobile technology are ushering in a new era of customer self-service, while self-service kiosks are increasingly becoming more and more popular, as proven by their increased usage. Kiosks are also working well in tandem with online and mobile technologies.

According to the SITA/Air Transport World Passenger Self Service Study, kiosk check-in usage is set to rise over the years and interactive kiosks will increasingly shift to the forefront of self-service. Kiosks not only benefit people who do not check-in online, but can also be used to provide multiple functionalities at the airport — like car rental or hotel check-in.

According to a 2009 SITA IT Trends survey, 80 percent of the airlines surveyed are planning to offer mobile check-in capabilities by 2012. In addition, IATA has targeted 100 percent Bar Coded Boarding Passes (BCBP) by 2010- thus ensuring a rosy future at airports around the world for kiosk manufacturers and self-service technologies…

We’re happy to announce our recent success at the Retail System Awards 2009.

Just last night at the prestigious awards ceremony at the Ballroom in the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, we won the ‘Best use of Technology in the Hospitality and Leisure Sector’ for our Cineworld Xen X5 kiosks.

Against the other impressive shortlisted companies, Reward, Pure 360 and Torex, we shone through with the award-winning Xen X5 Cineworld kiosk range.

The award recognised how the innovative Xen 5 kiosk had achieved business growth for Cineworld. With consumer expectations central to this category win, the judges were looking for a winner that employed effective and efficient technology; this was clearly seen in our kiosks.

The story: In 2008, Cineworld contacted us in a bid to automate the whole registration process of its Unlimited Film Programme with an eco-friendly kiosk solution. Membership to the programme entitles visitors to watch any film, any day, any time at any Cineworld Cinema from just £13.50 per month.

Cineworld rolled out our easy-to-use, self service Xen X5 kiosks that customers use to register without staff assistance. Wannabe members of the programme simply sign up by entering their details into the kiosk; an A4 receipt with a photo of the member on is then printed out which they can use as identification until their membership card arrives in the post.

The kiosks currently operate in 27 cinema sites including, Glasgow, West India Queys and Cheltenham and will be in most of Cineworld’s 75 UK sites.

In just 6 months the kiosks saved Cineworld in excess of 1,000 staff hours and increased new members by 100 per week, resulting in the number of Unlimited sign ups being increased by 10 per cent.

For more information about the Cineworld kiosks, and how a kiosk can improve your business, visit www.protouch.co.uk.

Every local church around the globe want to reach out to people and watch their congregation grow.

To fulfill this dream many are starting to realise that people nowadays require more ways to connect with them. And the route of this growth stems from the integration of technology finding new and innovative ways to greet, inform, entertain, educate and grow the congregation whether new or old.

And digital kiosks have been sign posted as the way forward.

Kiosks are interactive systems available for public use and can be used in a wide range of different ways. Already, churches use kiosks for event registration, children’s check-in, e-giving and as digital information and direction stands, similar to those found in shopping stores.

With the technology being straight forward and running off dedicated hardware, churches do not have to worry about hiring a computer expert to run them. All the information, both to and from the kiosk is sent over a standard network allowing content changes to be made from virtually anywhere, through a password-protected Internet connection.

And the digital kiosks are so easy to use. People are able to interact with the information on the screen, print out name badges, tickets and event information without having to ask for help from staff or volunteers.

However, churches have found that having volunteers nearby is helpful for engaging in conversation once a person has finished using the digital kiosk.

And the kiosks can be outfitted with electronic card readers as an e-giving solution, or barcode readers for quick-scanning check-in or event registration.

One church took the world of kiosks a step further and installed giving kiosks in their lobby, which saw giving double. And every church that followed suit saw a large increase in donations, which many put down to the anonymity provided for people who feel uncomfortable making their donations public.

The bonus of this e-giving service is that it frees the time of staff members and volunteers to work on other jobs within the church.

Kiosks can come at different costs depending on the style, size and software you want, however the amount of facilities and services a kiosk can provide soon makes you realise that they eventually pay for themselves.

For more information about kiosk systems visit Protouch today.

Whitbread, the leisure group which includes Costa Coffee shops, Premier Inn hotels and the Beefeater restaurants, has recently announced that they are to focus on improving self service enquiries and bookings as the hotel chain faces a financial struggle.

Premier Inn is the largest division of Whitbread in number of sales and saw a 10 per cent drop in the first half of 2009 and a drop in like-for-like sales.

“We have widened our online booking distribution channels, bringing in new revenue streams and introducing new leisure customers to the brand,” Whitbread said in its first half results.

And long-standing Whitbread CIO Ben Wishart has been focussing on improving productivity and processes across the group including self service kiosks

and increasing web services.

Now this story is nothing new in the world of business as many companies are cutting back costs in order to keep expenditure low.

However, the budget hotel chain has picked up increased business traveller custom as all companies rein in costs, but has seen overall business decline.

Now it may be a long shot but earlier this year the hotel chain launched a trial of self check-in at five hotels across the UK. The innovative technology reduced waiting time for guests to under a minute and was a great asset to business travellers who wanted a quick and easy check-in.

Paul Canavan, Project Manager for Premier Inn commented earlier this year, “Premier Inn checks in over 23,000 guests every day across the UK, and as the UK’s leading hotel brand we continually innovate to meet the changing needs of our guests.

“Feedback has shown that business travellers like the time saving benefits that the kiosks

provide, whilst leisure guests benefit not only from this but also from the increased accessibility, interaction and level of good service they have with team members at the guest workstation.”

Bob Cotton, Chief Executive of the British Hospitality Association commented, “It’s great to see Premier Inn investing in innovative technology. These kiosks will undoubtedly increase the level of service offered by Premier Inn – delivering a fast, efficient and speedier experience at check-in.”

Now with business traveller custom picking up and kiosks proving a success for business guests then it doesn’t take a genius to put them both together.

We can’t completely say that this is the whole reason why the company has received profit in business traveller sales, but it must of made an impact if they keep coming back and using the hotel services again.

The health care industry has come on leaps and bounds of the past few years with the implementation of kiosks and hi-tech systems to improve the efficiency and quality of service the health system provides.

Doctor’s surgeries have installed touch screen kiosks to reduce the waiting time at the reception desk so staff can concentrate on other tasks in and around the surgery.

And in Boston an electronic ‘doctor kiosk’ is under development at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to improve the way the health care system works in America.

The self service kiosk promises to increase efficiency both inside and outside the physician office setting by gathering basic information from patients, such as the patients medical history, weight, pulse, blood pressure, and blood tests for glucose and cholesterol, and directing that information to a physician prior to an office visit. 

It will also be able to function as a virtual health concierge for managing chronic illness, prompting the patient to answer a series of important health questions such as ‘did you take your meds today.’

The whole process of investing money into health care technology is to increase the efficiency of the health care system and the patient health care process.

Many patients, however fret about the lack of doctor-patient time they will receive if a lot of their time in doctor’s surgeries and hospitals is spent in front of a screen.

One of the consistent problems with the continuity of care is the lack of resources and time that doctors spend with their patients after being diagnosed.

So although kiosks may ease the weight off staff when it comes to the mundane tasks of obtaining information and filing data, the care of patients should not be replaced by kiosk systems unless they receive offer better after care than what they have now.

Kiosks in the healthcare industry must make patients feel more connected to their health information-not less so. If patients feel that the increase of technology replaces their time with their GP rather than supplementing it, they will most likely reject it outright.

Yet these kiosks are designed to reduce the amount of paperwork a GP has to go through allowing them to be more efficient with their patient and spend more time talking than writing notes.

Nurses are there to assist the doctor and many often take up the mundane tasks the doctor does not have the time to fulfill.

However nurses are often overburdened with a whole host of work and their valuable skills are not used enough. They are trained in the medical profession and spend most of their time doing paperwork, which could be easily sorted with the help of a kiosk.

The kiosk can help collect patient data and allow the nurse to assist the doctor in anyway possible so the patient feels fully catered for and looked after while in their local surgery.

For a kiosk to work in the health care industry, it needs to do the job intended and try and not take over the initial job of doctors and nurses, and instead assist them in doing their job with ease and efficiency.