opinion
Avoid kiosk project fails
The kiosk industry is growing , but the road to self-service success is littered with the remains of past projects that didn ’ t quite make the grade
By Kiosk Industry Group
Good news for the health of the kiosk industry continues to roll in . A research report issued in early March by Transparency Market Research , projects the global kiosk market will expand at a combined annual growth rate of 10.9 % over the next seven years , topping $ 30.8 billion by 2024 .
A report issued just a few days later by Stratistics MRC is even rosier . It predicts that the market will reach $ 88.34 billion by 2022 . Another report , from IndustryARC , predicts that growing competition at the retail level will boost demand significantly .
Despite those predictions however , not every self-service kiosk deployment is going to be a success . Some operators seem to be determined to wrestle failure from the jaws of success , either through a lack of clarity on what function the kiosk is supposed to perform or not , viewing the deployment from the standpoint of the end user .
So to help those considering an investment in self-service kiosk technology , here are a few suggestions about what not to do when planning a deployment :
Include all stakeholders
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Obtaining input from stakeholders in the project may seem a hindrance in the beginning , but is advantageous in the long-term . Invite all key groups within the organisation to offer their input says Janet Webster , president of Washington D . C . -based consulting company Creative Solutions Consulting .
Webster explained : “ You will be surprised at just how many areas are affected during kiosk deployments ,” adding . “ It ’ s better to let the groups know up front instead of having an issue later .” Getting input from stakeholders might have helped the Mayo Clinic avoid a spectacular fail when the Rochesterbased health care facility deployed health information kiosks in the Mall of America in Bloomington , in 2011 . Francie Mendelsohn , president of Washington , D . C . -based kiosk consulting firm Summit Research Associates said . “ You could go and look up information , let ’ s say on psoriasis or heart disease or whatever , and the kiosk would print out information for you .”
Unfortunately , while the idea was good , the execution was lacking . Instead of offering a single page summary of
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