Safer Queuing With Clever Queue Management
Queuing at the supermarket checkout is a constant topic, especially during the current lockdown in Germany. After recurring relaxation of the measures, queues will quickly become a familiar sight again, even outside vital stores. They are not only time-consuming, but also pose a serious risk of infection in times of the pandemic: People gather in front of stores, boutiques, post offices and citizens’ offices, and despite distance rules and masks, infections cannot be ruled out. This is why there is a growing demand for methods and technologies to tackle the queuing problem.
The Queue as a Superspreading Event?
The necessary restrictions permeate all areas of life: Work, school, shopping or the citizen’s office. Home office, homeschooling and mail order are alternatives, but what about, for example, an urgent appointment at the motor vehicle registration office? This is often not easily replaced completely by an online process. To alleviate the queues of people on site, digital self-service kiosks and digital signage can provide support, e.g. in the form of a counter where documents can be printed out and picked up. Such technologies can be an effective tool against accelerated viral spread in public life.
Infections cannot be ruled out despite all precautions, as the following example shows: In the state of Michigan, a popular pub opened at half capacity and marked the spaces between waiting people outside the entrance with spacing stickers. In retrospect, 200 infections could be traced back to this queue. In public buildings, there are also often long waiting times (e.g. when changing/registering a residence), which massively increases the probability of being infected with the virus.
Get Your License Plate in No Time With Online Service
Once you’ve bought your car, you just want to get in and drive off. But before you can do that, the vehicle has to be registered, and in some cases that can put a damper on the euphoria. Car dealers already warn customers at the time of purchase that it can take several days until an appointment is available at the office due to corona conditions. Our partner Kommunix has been able to solve the waiting time problem at the Solingen vehicle registration office. Here, the process is faster and smoother thanks to online appointment allocation and on-site service, which has met with a lot of positive feedback.
Online appointment allocation was introduced in the Klingenstadt, as face-to-face visits to the city’s citizens’ offices are only possible by prior appointment anyway due to the pandemic. This allows citizens to conveniently book an appointment for the citizens’ office and the driver’s license and vehicle registration office from home. Online appointment booking combined with the consolidation of different services, such as the registration office and the motor vehicle office, into one location allows employees to shift their quotas as needed. This allows applications to be processed more efficiently and waiting times to be massively reduced.
The service improvements are also noticeable on site. The process is seamless: registration with an appointment at the window, direct forwarding to a free counter through communication via wall displays, and a freshly stamped license plate in your hands a few minutes later. And all this without a crowded waiting area with packed queues. The success is due to better organization. Even before the introduction, the city determined how long it would take to process a particular service so that it could plan the flow of visitors more accurately.
With the introduction of the online service and error-free organization, the fear of infection was certainly contained, which speaks for the effectiveness of this measure against queues. The successful implementation of the project is expressed in the satisfaction of the citizens of Solingen. According to head Dagmar Blum, no complaints have been received at the Solingen advice center of the NRW consumer center.
Do you also want to switch to digitized appointment allocation and digitally supported queue management? eKiosk offers you solutions ranging from waiting stamp issuance and payment solutions to self-service registration. Use our call systems in public authorities, hospitals, banks, doctors’ surgeries and many other places for modern customer management. Just contact us at sales@ekiosk.com or use our contact form!
Queuing at the supermarket checkout is a constant topic, especially during the current lockdown in Germany. After recurring relaxation of the measures, queues will quickly become a familiar sight again, even outside vital stores. They are not only time-consuming, but also pose a serious risk of infection in times of the pandemic: People gather in front of stores, boutiques, post offices and citizens’ offices, and despite distance rules and masks, infections cannot be ruled out. This is why there is a growing demand for methods and technologies to tackle the queuing problem.
The Queue as a Superspreading Event?
The necessary restrictions permeate all areas of life: Work, school, shopping or the citizen’s office. Home office, homeschooling and mail order are alternatives, but what about, for example, an urgent appointment at the motor vehicle registration office? This is often not easily replaced completely by an online process. To alleviate the queues of people on site, digital self-service kiosks and digital signage can provide support, e.g. in the form of a counter where documents can be printed out and picked up. Such technologies can be an effective tool against accelerated viral spread in public life.
Infections cannot be ruled out despite all precautions, as the following example shows: In the state of Michigan, a popular pub opened at half capacity and marked the spaces between waiting people outside the entrance with spacing stickers. In retrospect, 200 infections could be traced back to this queue. In public buildings, there are also often long waiting times (e.g. when changing/registering a residence), which massively increases the probability of being infected with the virus.
Get Your License Plate in No Time With Online Service
Once you’ve bought your car, you just want to get in and drive off. But before you can do that, the vehicle has to be registered, and in some cases that can put a damper on the euphoria. Car dealers already warn customers at the time of purchase that it can take several days until an appointment is available at the office due to corona conditions. Our partner Kommunix has been able to solve the waiting time problem at the Solingen vehicle registration office. Here, the process is faster and smoother thanks to online appointment allocation and on-site service, which has met with a lot of positive feedback.
Online appointment allocation was introduced in the Klingenstadt, as face-to-face visits to the city’s citizens’ offices are only possible by prior appointment anyway due to the pandemic. This allows citizens to conveniently book an appointment for the citizens’ office and the driver’s license and vehicle registration office from home. Online appointment booking combined with the consolidation of different services, such as the registration office and the motor vehicle office, into one location allows employees to shift their quotas as needed. This allows applications to be processed more efficiently and waiting times to be massively reduced.
The service improvements are also noticeable on site. The process is seamless: registration with an appointment at the window, direct forwarding to a free counter through communication via wall displays, and a freshly stamped license plate in your hands a few minutes later. And all this without a crowded waiting area with packed queues. The success is due to better organization. Even before the introduction, the city determined how long it would take to process a particular service so that it could plan the flow of visitors more accurately.
With the introduction of the online service and error-free organization, the fear of infection was certainly contained, which speaks for the effectiveness of this measure against queues. The successful implementation of the project is expressed in the satisfaction of the citizens of Solingen. According to head Dagmar Blum, no complaints have been received at the Solingen advice center of the NRW consumer center.
Do you also want to switch to digitized appointment allocation and digitally supported queue management? eKiosk offers you solutions ranging from waiting stamp issuance and payment solutions to self-service registration. Use our call systems in public authorities, hospitals, banks, doctors’ surgeries and many other places for modern customer management. Just contact us at sales@ekiosk.com or use our contact form!