Visit any airport worldwide and you are guaranteed to find self service kiosks situated at entrance, front desk, car parks, terminals, food counters etc.

The deployment of kiosks in the airports has enabled people to have more control of their travelling to save time waiting in long queues to check-in.

Before the installation of the kiosks, the Government and airport staff were keen to ensure that the usage of kiosks would still ensure the safety of passengers and staff travelling around the world.

A lot of time and energy went into making sure that the kiosks were safe to use and equipped with hi-tech security when people were checking in.

And now the airports have gone kiosk mad. 

“You can do everything with ticketing kiosks, from upgrading your seat, changing your flight, checking your bags or adding an infant on your boarding record-all of which you may have done with an (airline) agent in the past,” said Tania Ladic, spokesman for NCR Corp, the manufacturer of ticketing kiosks for 21 airlines, including American United, Delta, Northwest and Continental.

And according to studies led by NCR checking in at the counter with a ticket agent takes an average of four-six minutes for domestic and international flights, respectively and less than one minute for both when using a kiosk.

“The advantage for passengers is the speed at which you can check in, whether from home or at the airport,” Ladic said.

“The airlines are looking for hassle-free experience for customers. The kiosk automates the check-in process and makes it a faster experience because the customer clicks in what they want. The kiosk doesn’t forget to ask you if you want to upgrade your seat.”

And the more they continue to grow, the more companies jump on the bandwagon offering efficient services to travellers.

Rental cars, accommodation booking and insurance companies are implementing kiosks into airports so travellers have a wide range of services at their beck and call.

Many people have worried about the implementation of kiosks and how they will affect people’s jobs now they are no longer required. However Ladic sees this differently and instead a new way of staff adapting to a change in lifestyle.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean fewer agents,” Ladic said. “Agents are assigned to watch the kiosks and provide assistance when needed.”

Lisa Montoya, American Airlines customer service agent at Tulsa International, said that the younger generation are able to use the kiosks with ease as they are so computer savvy.

“About 75 per cent of people require assistance,” Montoya said.

“If you print your boarding pass from home, scan the bar code (at the airport) recapture your itinerary and pay by credit card you are in and out within 15 seconds.”

For more information about how a kiosk solution can improve the efficiency of your business visit Protouch, the leading distributor and manufacturer of touch screen equipment in Europe.

A recent study by founder of Summit Research Associates, Francie Mendelsohn, says that the kiosk industry will see a massive growth in 2010, after recent reports stating that the installation of kiosks has languished.

Kiosk installation is no longer about getting the users to understand the technology as millions of proven that they understand how they work and even prefer self service.

The main area of focus is keeping the consumer confident that they can do better than the shop assistant and that the applications the kiosks have installed give consumers more and different options.

In her detailed analysis of the DVD kiosks industry, Mendelsohn warns that the application will be eclipsed by the digital delivery of films in upcoming years. While the whole Hollywood/DVD saga is going on, consumers are looking into the future and wondering whether digital distribution will ever overtake the rental market.

Video Business recently reported that Sony Home Entertainment and Universal Studios both already offer video-on-demand service in the home through cable pay-per-view provider iN Demand, and both studios are working with others in Hollywood to provide a Web-based VOD service soon.

MOD Systems got their foot in the door on the digital download front with an upcoming pilot deployment of kiosks that allow users to download movies to an SD card, which they then plug into their televisions. While this is a step in the right direction for the industry, however not everyone owns a TV with SD slot cars and built in media players which may make the solution totally impractical on a larger scale. 

Although companies are working in the right direction, the process of installing self service systems needs to fit naturally into a consumers shopping experience.

The Summit report also states that airline self service will continue to grow, moving closer to the idea of mobile capabilities. Already, Canada and Asia are offering the technology and one US carrier is testing it at present.

Recent data from SITA, a provider of communication and IT solutions for the air-transport industry, 44 per cent of passengers indicated positive feelings towards mobile self check-in, and 66 per cent of self service check-in users said they would prefer an electronic boarding pass over a paper version.

Here, airlines are trying to figure out where they can charge a fee in this self service process, while travellers are wondering when they will finally be able to head to security with their boarding passes on their smart phones.

However, us consumers don’t have to worry as kiosk manufacturers have landed on something big so to provide an easier way of travelling, shopping, etc on a daily basis.

Dominique El Bez, SITA’s director of portfolio marketing, said, “It is not about doing the same thing from a different channel, it is about doing things differently.

“Kiosk providers have to adapt rapidly and must consider the kiosk as a component of a holistic self-service transformation.”