Insights about Self-service Kiosk

Another trend of technology which eases the human interaction with regards to the transaction especially in the business industry becomes more and more prevalent.  Self-service kiosk to some provides effective and efficient way of transaction in every corner of the business, to others it is a bane. In other countries, self-service kiosk industry is growing fast, widely used in hotels, grocery, retail chains and airports. But is the kiosk really increasing efficiency of consumers? Is the kiosk a bane or a boon?

Since it is widely known and use in many countries, they see the kiosk as a boon to them. For example, a kiosk replaces the front desk at the hotel. You can check in for yourself right away without having any interaction with the front desk attendant of the said hotel. And check out right away if you want to by yourself. However, studies show that most consumer still not convinced with the kiosk as a replacement for the front desk hotel attendant. Self-service kiosk is not a substitute for a service. People want to interact with the front desk clerk at the hotel, said Henry H. Harteveldt, VP and principal analyst of airline and travel research for Forrester Research. “They might have questions about the property. … They may have questions about their trip. The kiosk doesn’t replace that human touch for check in.”

There are some incident illustrates the reasons why some both love and hate self-service kiosks: When they work as planned, they are a happy convenience. When they don't work, they become the focal point for all that is wrong with customer service. Like in paying bills, they are very particular with the type of money. Kiosks are very choosy in money aside from that it doesn’t give you a change. However, we cannot deny that not all transaction can be done by this machine; there are transactions that need human interaction. And that real service from human is a lot different from the service given by the machine. Using kiosk will eliminate number of employees in a certain company.  No matter how we used this technology, it will sometimes be down.

For me, it is really not a just a bane or boon, whatever it is. I personally consider these both. In IT industry, it is a trend and another technology that we could look forward to, if it will be used widely here in the Philippines. But the saddest part is number of employees will loose their job. However, the reliability of real service cannot be replaced by this machine. Since we are surrounded by a fast and furious changing world of technology, one day, the whole business industry will be technology driven and do not need some human intervention. Aside from considering this as a pros and cons, let us try to realize that if this machine can actually do what human can do, still we humans are gifted with brilliant mind to think on what is right. If it could give us burden then we shall see another alternative to put into.