Self-service kiosks have gained popularity as a convenient and efficient tool for businesses to enhance customer experience. These interactive digital kiosks enable customers to complete various tasks independently, reducing and even eliminating the need for human assistance. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the features and benefits of self-serve kiosks, delve into the different types available, and explain why REDYREF is the ideal kiosk manufacturing partner for businesses seeking to implement self-service kiosks.
1. Convenience: Provide customers with the convenience of completing tasks on their own schedule and at their own pace, without the need for human interaction. They can be accessed 24/7, allowing customers to use them even outside regular business hours.
2. Efficiency: Streamline processes and operations, reducing wait times and increasing efficiency for both customers and businesses. Customers can quickly complete transactions or access information without waiting in line or relying on staff availability.
3. Accuracy: Reduce errors and increase accuracy, as customers input their own information directly into the kiosk. This eliminates the possibility of miscommunication or data entry mistakes that may occur with human interaction.
4. Customization: Able to display specific information and options based on a customer's preferences, making the experience more personalized. They can provide targeted recommendations or tailored content based on customer preferences or past behavior. The exterior of kiosks can also be customized to reflect a brand or company's identity using vinyl wraps and powder coating or painting.
5. Data Collection: Can collect valuable data on customer behavior and preferences, allowing businesses to make informed decisions about their products and services. This data may be used for analytics, marketing strategies, and improving customer experiences.
6. Increased Customer Engagement: Provide an interactive and engaging experience for customers. They can offer multimedia content, interactive maps, product catalogs, and promotions, enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction.
7. Cost Savings: By reducing the need for additional staff, self-service kiosks can help businesses save on labor costs. They can handle routine tasks, freeing up staff to focus on more complex or customer-centric activities.
8. Upselling and Cross-selling Opportunities: Can prompt customers with additional product recommendations or promotions, increasing opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. This can lead to increased sales and revenue for businesses.
9. Improved Queue Management: Help to alleviate congestion and long queues at service counters, especially during peak hours or busy periods. They provide an additional avenue for customers to complete transactions, reducing wait times and improving overall customer satisfaction.
10. Accessibility: Able to be designed to accommodate individuals with disabilities or special needs. They can offer accessibility features such as larger text sizes, audio output, and tactile interfaces, ensuring inclusivity for all customers.
The most important types of digital self-service kiosks vary depending on the industry and specific business needs. However, some commonly used and important types of self-serve kiosks include:
1. Retail Kiosks: Commonly used in stores to allow customers to place orders, browse products, check product availability, make payments, and even return or exchange items without the need for assistance from a sales associate. They enhance the shopping experience and provide convenience for customers.
2. Foodservice Kiosks: Utilized in restaurants, fast-food chains, and cafes to allow customers to place orders, customize their meals, and make pay for their orders. These kiosks can streamline the ordering and payment process, reduce wait times, and offer options for menu customization.
3. Financial Kiosks: Banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions use self-service kiosks to help customers to perform various transactions such as depositing or withdrawing money, checking account balances, transferring funds, and printing statements. These kiosks provide convenience and accessibility for customers while reducing wait times at traditional teller counters.
4. Ticketing Kiosks: Used in entertainment venues, transportation hubs, and attractions to allow customers to purchase tickets for movies, concerts, flights, trains, buses, theme parks, and more. These kiosks provide a self-service option for ticket purchases, reducing long queues and providing a quick and efficient ticketing experience.
5. Healthcare Kiosks: Healthcare facilities, clinics, and hospitals utilize self-service kiosks to allow patients to check-in, update personal information, schedule appointments, make payments, and access health-related resources. These kiosks improve patient flow, reduce administrative workload, and enhance the overall patient experience.
6. Informational Kiosks: Placed in public spaces, tourist attractions, transportation hubs, and shopping malls to provide visitors with information such as maps, directions, event schedules, and facility directories. These kiosks help users navigate their surroundings and find the information they need quickly and easily.
7. Interactive Wayfinding Kiosks: Found in large venues like airports, shopping centers, and convention centers and provide visitors with detailed maps, directions, and information about different points of interest within the venue. These kiosks assist in guiding visitors and enhancing their overall experience by providing real-time information.
While these are some of the most important types of self-service kiosks, there are various other specialized kiosks tailored to specific industries and business requirements. The key is to identify the needs of the business and its customers to determine the most relevant and beneficial types of self-service kiosks to implement.
As a leading manufacturer, REDYREF offers customizable, high-quality indoor and outdoor kiosks with over 100 years of combined experience. Our interactive self-service kiosks are designed to be easy to use, reliable, and customizable and can include a full range of features including touchscreen displays, payment processing capabilities, and data collection. We also offer a comprehensive support system post-purchase, including installation, maintenance, and repair services to ensure kiosks are always up and operational.
Self-service kiosks have become essential for businesses aiming to provide convenient and efficient customer experiences. With their convenience, efficiency, and accuracy, self-service kiosks can be employed in various industries. REDYREF stands as the ideal kiosk manufacturing partner, offering businesses high-quality, customizable kiosks designed to be user-friendly, reliable, and efficient. Interested in learning more? Contact us today!
Kiosks are a great way to boost any business and are an incredible asset -- if you can find the right manufacturer. Choosing the right partner is crucial to helping your business as not every kiosk manufacturer will understand your particular industry. Before choosing the right one for you, consider the following:
Digital kiosks have become a common sight in many environments, because they are suitable for a range of different applications. They are can be easier to maintain than many traditional forms of advertisements while also offering functionality not possible via other marketing avenues. In fact, self-service kiosks offer a range of benefits, including being:
When selecting a kiosk manufacturer, there are a few factors to consider.
Below are some of the key points to take into consideration before selecting a kiosk manufacturing partner.
The most important part of purchasing a kiosk is knowing exactly what you intend to do with it. Kiosks are capable of performing many tasks, so isolating and understanding what your needs are before moving forward with vendor selection should be the first order of business. Do you see a large influx of visitors in a specific location? Is your business equipped to handle a large volume of customers all at once? Understanding the problem your kiosk needs to solve is the first step to figuring out which manufacturer is right for you.
Similar to the first concept, but in reverse. Your audience’s needs are paramount, and if having a kiosk solves many of their complaints, you will see repeat business. The right kiosk can demonstrate that your business is adaptable and customer-centric. An example of this would be a quick-service restaurant that sees a large volume of customers that their limited staff can’t handle. The restaurant then installs a kiosk which streamlines much of the process, ensuring that the staff and the customers are happy. However, if a kiosk would not be viewed by customers as something that simplifies their lives, the opposite would be true.
Understanding budget limitations is just as important a consideration as anything else. If your company can only afford one kiosk, then understand that and be adaptable. This is one reason why it's so important to know exactly what you need the kiosk to do, and in what environment. Kiosks can be designed to do any number of things, but they certainly don't have to (and frankly, shouldn't) do all of them. In fact, many kiosks are designed so that they may later be upgraded if additional functionality is desired in the future.
As mentioned above, kiosks have a great deal of utility, but like any machine or computer, they have limitations. Knowing what's absolutely required in terms of functionality will help inform which components, integrations, and software are needed, and which you can do without. When purchasing a kiosk, understand what role they need to fulfill and take the necessary steps to ensure that it is designed to meet those specific needs. If a kiosk is meant for brand awareness, ensure that the display is large and the brand is consistently visible. If a kiosk is meant for NFC payments or transactions, ensure that it is configured properly in terms of components, integrations, and software.
Purchasing a kiosk should be viewed as a type of long-term investment. Generally, while the ROI can be substantial, it isn't usually instant. This means that it's in your company's best interest to ensure that the kiosk manufacturer selected doesn't just make the kiosk, but is also above to help maintain it over time so the maximum financial benefits can be realized.
Similar to understanding your kiosk needs, understanding whether or not you need a custom kiosk solution is important. Kiosks are available in an almost limitless number of configurations and offer a wide variety of software to enable different functionality. If your company requires custom kiosk software or needs a specific kiosk enclosure design to fit a particular environment, it is important that you find a manufacturer that can manufacture custom kiosk solutions. Not all manufacturers have custom kiosk design and manufacturing capabilities, and they typically tend to be more expensive than stock offerings. Knowing this upfront is an important factor in choosing the right partner.
Before choosing a manufacturer, it is important to understand what benefits they will have for your business not just in terms of immediate financial gains, but also long-term as it relates to brand building. The point of kiosk branding is to create a look and design that is consistent in the public consciousness. The overall design should be consistent with what is seen in all of your marketing materials. As with any advertising, kiosk branding should be done in such a way that customers will positively associate the kiosk and design with your company.
As mentioned previously, self-service kiosks are a long term investment and as such, the ROI might not be as fast as you might expect, depending on the application. If it's primarily a way to market your business, and way to connect to your customer base, the return won't be as obvious as it might be if the kiosk is more transactional in nature. Having reasonable expectations regarding the financial benefits of your kiosk is important.
An important metric for measuring the success of your kiosk deployment is understanding what success looks like. One way to do this is to examine different case studies about kiosk use in similar environments to your own to get an idea of what the direct and indirect benefits tend to be. Remember that kiosks are a long term investment and can provide excellent ROI, but ROI can be measured in more than one way, and can mean different things to different businesses.
Kiosks provide a great deal of utility, but they are machines at the end of the day -- ones that are subjected to quite a bit of wear and tear over time. When choosing a manufacturer, it is important to choose a company that issues warranties and can provide post-deployment kiosk service and maintenance. Your kiosks will require routine servicing and software updates, so this step is important to lessen headaches down the road.
Kiosks provide an excellent asset to many companies but finding the right manufacturer with which to do business can be complicated. Understanding your company’s needs and what a kiosk can do for you is crucial before choosing a kiosk manufacturing partner.
REDYREF Interactive Kiosks has developed new, touchless employee and visitor management kiosks with built-in wellness integrations including contactless temperature monitoring and hand sanitizer dispensing. The wellness kiosk can be configured with a range of software. This includes applications capable of tracking self-reported employee health in order to verify their readiness to safely return to work, and building access control solutions able to flag potentially ill visitors and employees before they enter the facility. These kiosks offer organizations new ways to create safer indoor environments for all during the COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond.
Riverdale, NJ: As the world re-opens in the wake of COVID-19, there is an increasing demand for technology that will allow businesses to do so as safely as possible. REDYREF Interactive, a global leader in kiosk manufacturing and self-service solutions, is pleased to announce the release of its new touchless wellness kiosk to assist organizations in getting their employees back to work as safely as possible.
Developed as an all-in-one solution to address visitor and employee health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic, the contactless kiosk features a software application for employee health self-assessment, alongside hardware integrations such as contactless temperature monitoring and hand sanitizer dispensing. Other innovative kiosk software solutions include touchless building directories, “always-on” digital signage, virtual concierge applications, and building access control options that help limit the entry of potentially sick individuals.
REDYREF’s wellness kiosks are integrated with innovative hardware including contactless thermal imaging capabilities to check employees’ and visitors’ temperatures prior to accessing the building. A touchless hand sanitizer dispensing station is positioned below a digital display that can be programmed with messaging encouraging users to do their part by washing their hands frequently and using sanitizer when available.
One of the most unique aspects of the new self-service kiosk solution is the available building access control software that is able to flag visitors and employees displaying symptoms before they even enter the main facility. “Reducing building access for those individuals displaying COVID-19 symptoms creates a safer indoor environment not just during the current pandemic, but for all future cold and flu seasons as well,” says Will Pymm, REDYREF’s managing partner. “It’s an investment in wellness that will pay dividends into the next decade and beyond.”
The software enables companies to automate the process of monitoring COVID-19 and influenza symptoms for both employees and visitors. The system operates on a novel pass system based on a self-reported questionnaire. Employees at low risk for transmitting the virus are issued a patent-pending GreenPass™. The pass, in turn, is able to be integrated with onsite access control systems that allow entry only to those to whom the pass has been issued.
Other features of the platform include:
For companies that do not have building access control needs but still wish to enhance the visitor experience, a wide range of low-touch/no-touch software is also available, including building directory, wayfinding, and virtual concierge applications able to broadcast key public health messaging. Many of these applications allow users to send this information directly to their mobile devices without ever touching the kiosk itself, therefore decreasing touchpoints and helping to limit the transmission of potential pathogens such as viruses and bacteria.
When utilizing touchless technology is not feasible for a given business requirement, REDYREF offers optional “safer-to-touch” kiosk integrations as well. These combine lower-touch visitor management software solutions with innovations like antimicrobial film and hand-sanitizing wipe dispensers to help keep surfaces as clean as possible between users.
REDYREF offers kiosk solutions across markets and applications, including:
Although every industry has its own specific challenges related to the pandemic, the universal theme of adopting employee and visitor management technology that keeps public health considerations front-of-mind will remain paramount for the foreseeable future. And while it may be impossible to precisely predict what to expect from the post-COVID-19 new normal, what we do know is that organizations will be expected to incorporate the best technology to ensure this happens. Touchless, low-touch, and safer-to-touch wellness kiosk solutions, like those available from REDYREF, are available now to help companies do exactly that.
Find out more about REDYREF's new wellness kiosks. Download the presentation, read more on our website, or contact us now.
Since 1913, REDYREF has been a proud, U.S.-based kiosk manufacturer. Our facilities comprise more than 250,000 square feet of world-class design, engineering, fabrication and finishing space that allows us to control the entire kiosk manufacturing process from start to finish. This “all under one roof” philosophy enables the rapid prototyping and customization of kiosk hardware ranging from health monitoring and bill payment to QSR kiosks and outdoor digital directories, giving our customers both flexibility and room to innovate in a rapidly-changing market. REDYREF.COM
Riverdale, NJ (PRWEB) July 11, 2017 REDYREF Interactive has launched a new and innovative wayfinding software suite: enGAGE.Touch. The core of this system is the cutting-edge digital building directory module, which can be seamlessly integrated with additional software modules and semi-custom enclosures for environments that require more complex solutions.
REDYREF’s enGAGE.Touch digital building directories go further than just helping visitors to quickly locate companies, departments or personnel, says Will Pymm, Vice President and Managing Partner. “The new enGAGE.Touch Mobile Handover feature makes it easy for guests to transfer maps and directions from the directory right to their smartphone. Integration with Google Maps means wayfinding information is always accurate and up-to-date, not just within the facility, but also for those requiring assistance with the surrounding area. It’s truly an all-in-one solution.”
enGAGE.Touch electronic directory systems may be customized to meet a wide range of business needs, including support for multiple floor and campus maps. User experience is enhanced by allowing interactive directory search by multiple criteria, including employee, company, department, floor or room name/number. Updates are simplified by allowing editing permissions to be granted to multiple users, including office tenants.
With multiple opportunities for customization, enGAGE.Touch digital directory software is the premier choice for multiple deployment environments. From electronic lobby directories to educational campus signage, the easy-to-use, interactive directory interface enhances visitor satisfaction by reducing the stress of wayfinding, and tenant satisfaction by allowing anyone with access to manage their own data, reducing and often eliminating common data entry issues. Visitors and tenants alike benefit when critical building and campus updates and information are communicated digitally and able to be updated as needed.
enGAGE.Touch electronic building directory software was developed to be integrated with any of REDYREF's kiosk enclosures, all of which are designed and manufactured in-house. From custom, built-to-order digital building directories, to modular self-service kiosks from the semi-custom enGAGE line, REDYREF's kiosk enclosures can be tailored to the exact use case and environment. When combined with the new enGAGE.Touch software suite, guests are able to navigate a single office building or a large multi-facility campus using detailed floor and campus maps, ensuring they are able to reach their intended destinations on-time and without unnecessary stress or frustration.
Established more than 100 years ago, REDYREF Interactive is a vertically-integrated manufacturer and developer of electronic building directories, digital wayfinding solutions and self-service kiosks.
Interest in Digital License Plates is Gearing Up
Will digital license plates become the new standard with the dawn of the driverless car era? Compliance Innovations, a South Carolina start-up, thinks so, at least as it pertains to vehicle fleets, like the kind that will someday be owned by Uber and Lyft. The license plate is actually a screen, which can show plate information when the car is driving, but when parked, can be used to show advertisements or other relevant messaging that has been customized based on the vehicle’s location. It has already been approved for use in California and Florida, with Texas on the way, and at least six more states are reviewing this technology for potential future use.
Please Do Not Lick Your Fingers Before Using KFC’s New Self-Service Kiosks
Kentucky Fried Chicken is on the verge of launching a 5000 store roll-out of interactive kiosks with facial recognition across China. The kiosks feature artificial intelligence software that will allow them to predict what a customer may want to order. The deployment is coming on the heels of its successful test of the technology in Beijing. However, KFC will likely have to reckon with the fact that many customers may not want the facial impressions generated by the software stored in a database. Concerns about privacy are only becoming stronger with advances in technology, so it remains to be seen how users will react to this idea over time.
Shares of Panera Bread Company Hit Record High, Assisted by New Leaps in Self-Service Technologies
Shares of Panera Bread just hit a record high, and company executives firmly believe that success lies in the deployment of new customer-centric interactive technologies. Panera has invested heavily over the last two years in both in-store digital kiosks and in their smartphone app that helps customers place, pay for and pick up their orders easily and seamlessly. These changes also appear to be offsetting some of Panera’s labor costs, which would be especially impactful in areas with higher minimum wages, such as New York, Washington and California.
Think interactive kiosks and are right for your company? We’re happy to help you find out. Contact RedyRef today at (800) 628-3603 today or request a quote online and we’ll be with you every step of the way to ensure that your self-service kiosk program meets every one of your business’ unique needs and goals.
Cash collection kiosks have been around for decades, most notably in the form of automated teller machines (ATMs). However, in the years between the debut of ATMs and today, the need for new and more sophisticated cash collection kiosks has soared far beyond banking, and into such industries as gaming, medical marijuana dispensing and others where security is of paramount importance and average transactions are generally higher-dollar amounts.
Manufacturers like REDYREF are combining the best of new technology with old-school fraud protection to help their customers keep their kiosks secure. For example, a medical marijuana dispensary kiosk must be able to handle cash deposits, as many dispensaries only handle cash transactions. So kiosks have to be secure not just physically, but also technologically.
The kiosk itself must incorporate levels of fail-safes such as shutters and other physical barriers to prevent theft; on the other hand, it must also marry these measures to modern fraud-prevention features, such as cash tracking sensors, bill counter/handlers and sophisticated digital kiosk software that is able to recognize counterfeit bills and coins. This last issue is one of the more difficult for those in the security industry to deal with, as it’s only become easier to create fake currency over the last decade. Therefore, security specialists have to constantly stay one step ahead of criminals, rather than simply responding to problems as they occur.
There are devices available for use within cash collection kiosks that are able to analyze the UV signature of the ink on printed bills, or the precise density of accepted coins; these are two of the most common types of fraud prevention technology. There are also devices that can detect the metallic strip integrated into most American paper currency, analyzing its position and even chemical makeup. This is truly an area of research that seems to have no end in sight at the moment, and with the self-service kiosk industry continuing to gain steam, it stands to reason that security advances like the ones listed here will only keep coming.
Even though technology does its best to keep up, cash handling is never likely to be a simple process. However, it is a necessary one for many businesses in this day and age. Because it takes many levels of precise coordination in order to ensure transactions are secure, the key to success is partnering with an experienced, vertically integrated manufacturer like REDYREF. Contact us today at (800) 628-3603 today or request a quote online and we’ll be with you every step of the way to ensure that your cash collection kiosk meets every one of your business’ security needs for its unique deployment environment.
In terms of choices, digital building directories offer such an embarrassment of riches anymore that it can be hard to know where to start. Digital static? Digital non-touch, non-static? Interactive touchscreen? Wall mount, desk mount or floor mount? What about screen size? Refresh rate? Software? It’s no wonder we have so many clients interested in making the switch from old-style strip or paper directories who come to us frustrated from just trying to wrap their heads around the available options, not even counting other innovations such as 3-D mapping, interactive wayfinding and mobile integrations.
Therefore, we thought it might be a good time to get back to the basics, in order to give those considering investing in digital directories a jumping-off point from which they can begin their exploration. Let’s start with the differences and benefits of touch vs non-touch directories, and how they are best deployed in different environments.
First, it’s important to understand the terms touch and non-touch for what they actually are and do. A non-touch digital directory can be one of two things: either a static screen that always displays the same information, such as office numbers and locations, or a screen that rotates through a set series of different informational “slides”. The entire screen can change, or just sections of the screen, but in both cases, both are considered to be non-touch digital directories.
On the other side, we have digital touchscreen directories, which offer different levels of interactivity, depending on the complexity of the software. Some simply allow for one- or two-button operation, giving users the ability to “page through” different screens, and return to “home.” Others function more like a tablet, with full-screen touch capabilities, offering a more fully interactive and even immersive user experience.
While it may at first glance seem that interactive touchscreens would be the most practical choice, offering more opportunities for customization, it is the environment in which the directory will be deployed that should be of primary concern and have the most influence on whether a touch or non-touch display is chosen. Next week, we’ll address the reasons why the three Ss — setting, situation and surroundings — are so important when considering what kind of directory to purchase, and take a look at a few use cases to better illustrate why and when touch or non-touch digital directories may be most appropriate.
Is your business ready for what’s next in interactive wayfinding? As an end-to-end manufacturer of vertically integrated self-service kiosk solutions, we invite you to submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today to find out how RedyRef can help you give your customers a best-in-class, digital wayfinding experience.
Traditional printed, handwritten or analog building directories may still exist — there are plenty of examples in current deployment — but as digital solutions have become less expensive and more efficient over the last few years, even small businesses are beginning to make a welcome change to digital directories and wayfinding.
For those struggling to decide if it’s the right move for their company, it’s an understandable dilemma. After all, creating a digital directory system that increases efficiencies and solves problems for end users can be tricky; it requires balancing several different factors, ranging from design and engineering to software development. Just knowing where to start can feel like a project in and of itself. This means choosing the right partner is critical to the execution of a successful digital directory rollout for businesses of any size.
Starting with a company that has a full range of in-house capabilities, such as engineering and fabrication, can go a long way toward eliminating frustrations from the directory development process, as it creates instant efficiencies. Project management is handled by one point of contact, streamlining communication from design to deployment, saving time and money, while eliminating many of the pitfalls that stem from the participation of multiple players — in particular, communication failures that often translate into expensive mistakes.
Once a partner is chosen to create the new digital directory experience, it’s important that they conduct a thorough interview to understand both the client’s and end user’s needs. For instance, what does the client see as being the primary problem with the directories as they are currently deployed in a given environment? Is it that they require updating frequently which takes too much time? Are they not accessible enough? Do they not have the ability to showcase enough relevant information?
From the perspective of the end user, what types of information is important? How do they use the directory now, and what changes might make them more useful in the future? Are the convenient/easy-to-use/accessible? The answers to these questions will inform not just the UX and therefore the software development, but will also assist the industrial designer with creating the overall concept, and the engineer in bringing that design to life.
One of the greatest advantages of using a fully-vertical manufacturer is that once the design is finalized, the rest of production should be seamless — parts are fabricated, various hardware components integrated and the unit as a whole finished via a range of processes that may include anything from powder coating to printed graphic “wraps”. The most complete kiosk providers — like RedyRef — can also customize software to create the best-possible functionality and user experience, then deliver the digital directory right to its installation point.
If the simple, turn-key scenario presented here seems impossible, then you haven’t met the team at RedyRef. If your company is ready for digital directories, we invite you to contact us today at (800) 628-3603 and let us show you the difference choosing a vertically-integrated kiosk manufacturer can make to the entire kiosk development process.
Last week, we began a discussion around interactive kiosk usability, because although they are experiencing massive growth across multiple industries, there are still plenty of kiosk programs that ultimately fail. And those failures are generally related to poor UX. As we said previously, there are some key factors that are universal to designing a best-in-class experience for end-users. This week, we continue to expand upon our list of considerations for creating self-service kiosk usability that translates into successful deployment in the field.
Check back next week for our final kiosk UX blog installment. In the meantime, if your business is ready to enter the brave new world of interactive kiosks now, RedyRef, an end-to-end manufacturer of vertically integrated kiosk solutions, works with companies of all sizes to ensure the success of their self-service kiosk programs. Submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today for more information.
The EMV liability switch has caused concerns for foodservice professionals and operators on several different levels. Last week, we talked about how chip readers (and the inherent delays they can cause) affect overall customer satisfaction. This week, decided to focus more on some of the operational issues that have surfaced over the last six months.
Interactive kiosks are not new to the foodservice industry, but right now, they appear to be having their moment in the sun, so to speak. With restaurants like McDonald’s, Applebee’s, Taco Bell and Panera all rolling out some version of a self-service kiosk over the last couple of years, all eyes are on them as the industry wonders if they’ll be a big hit, complete miss or fall somewhere in between.
One very positive aspect of utilizing self-service kiosks in food service environments is the lower cost of implementing the new chip-based (non-PIN) EMV systems in these types of environments. Because -- for better or for worse, depending on who you ask -- U.S.-based companies are not required to integrate PIN-entry devices (PEDs) into their EMV chip readers, it makes it much less expensive to deploy them.
In truth, putting chip and pin-based EMV readers into fast food and quick service restaurants is a little like gilding the lily for the most part, anyway. These aren’t high-dollar transactions. The average order at most quick service restaurants like Burger King or Arby’s is only around $5 -- not exactly the most-attractive target for those hoping to commit credit card fraud. These lower-dollar transactions add up to a smaller necessary investment when it comes to the type of EMV reader required.
We spoke with Rob Chilcoat, president of North American operations for Unattended Card Payments, Inc. (UCP), and an expert in EMV technology, to learn more. “If the client doesn’t have an expectation of accepting PIN debit, SNAP, or EBT,” he said, “then you can use a much less costly device such as the OTI Trio which doesn’t have all the security bells and whistles that come along with an unattended PED.” Based on current pricing, this can amount to a savings of as much as $1000 per reader, compared to the other more high-profile brands.
“Really, using a PED is more relevant in high-tech vending situations, selling iPads, for example, where you want to take that extra step to verify a customer’s identity using a CVM (cardholder verification method),” he added. “An unattended kiosk where a thief can use a stolen credit card to purchase high-value goods that can be fenced for cash are most at risk, because no CVM means anyone can use a stolen credit card there.”
While the EMV liability switch has certainly caused its fair share of headaches to QSR outlets, at least the additional pain of high-priced chip-and-pin readers has been kept at bay. For now, anyway.
RedyRef, a provider of vertically integrated kiosk solutions, is helping food service companies of all sizes navigate the complexities of the liability shift. Looking for assistance? Submit a request for proposal online or call (800) 628-3603 today for more information.