The global pandemic has brought up endless of dilemmas for businesses around the world. What’s the best solution for optimising profits and to keep the business running without causing serious harm to the customers and to help curbing the spread of the virus? With a curve rising exponentially across countries all over the world there is no definitive answer to that question, but what we all can do is to think of new innovative ways of doing business where technology can play a crucial part.
According to a poll, British people spend 47 days of their lives queuing. Queues and waiting times – whether they are for a restaurant, a doctors appointment, bank services, stores, collection services or any other customer faced environment – can cause a lot of frustration for customers who are trying to go about their days as efficiently and pleasantly as possible. The first impression is vital and acknowledging a customer as soon as they walk in is one of the key elements that will make them stay, but with long waiting lines this turns into an impossibility. Long, unmanaged queues indicates poor service and poor planning to meet customer demands and will affect the brand image negatively. In many instances this will lead to a customer leaving the queue and not returning to that business, equalling in reduced profits and long lasting impacts such as reduced customer satisfaction, reduced NPS score and reduced competitiveness on an already competitive market.
During 2020 another factor was also added to the list. With a pandemic still raging it’s important to avoid crowds gathered in a small place to avoid severe health risks – another crucial reason to find alternative ways to manage and disperse a queuing crowd.
With a digital queue management system in place there are plenty of opportunities to increase customer satisfaction as they wait. There are a number of systems available but with the rapidly changing market every business is facing it’s important to choose a solution that will allow quick adaptations to new demands in no time. Building the solution in a low code platform will allow those changes along with easy implementation of the functions that will suit unique business demands. Are you working in a multilingual environment and need to adapt the messaging with different languages to match individual customers? Does your customer prefer messaging through text or via email? With a low code platform this is adjusted without unnecessary costs nor development time.
With a digital queue system the reception team can easily send a message when the time is drawing nearer for a customer’s appointment, allowing that customer to step out and spend their time as they wish while waiting. The system does not only show a particular consideration for customers but also permits them to spend that waiting time the way they seem fit, all the while pressure is reduced on staff and the health risks are curbed.
During the course of the pandemic the necessity of being back in an office environment has been widely debated. While many have adapted to complete remote working, others are still required or rather prefer to be back in the office. By using a similar model to a queue management system there are simple ways of managing and controlling the numbers of people in the office at the same time – reducing health risks and reducing the spread. With a platform specifically designed for managers and admin personnel, it’s possible to send a questionnaire for the team members that will allow them to choose the dates they wish to be in the office. The data will be compiled and presented in an easy table with clean interface. If one day becomes overbooked the staff member will be notified and in that instance able to request permission for office access to a control group – whether that be HR department, management or admin personnel – who will be able to grant or deny the request. Where all features can be tweaked and updated to align with the current business landscape, the possibilities are endless.
Bosbec have built a pre-configured queue management system that is easily adapted to customer facing purposes and for internal office organisation. During the pandemic where things are changing by the day, it has never been as important to look after customers and staff to keep your competitiveness on the market. We know how important it is to quickly adapt and our solutions are made to help you thrive in times of change. If you are interested to learn about the technical aspects of our queue management solutions.
