Queue Management

By Author: Nilesh Sabe
Total Articles: 60
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In India, queue management is utterly disorganized, resistant to technology, lacking in customer service, and last but not least, a poor margin business for “software solutions.” Time is extremely valuable in today’s fast-paced society when everything happens quickly. Excessive lines and waiting are major sources of annoyance for people in public locations like banks, hospitals, restaurants, etc. We haven’t made any technological investments to offer ourselves a strong platform that can deliver real-time information regarding public spaces.
What is queue management?
The process of controlling customer experiences as they wait in line is known as queue management. This technology calculates your company’s queuing demand so that your workers can be informed in real-time and change how services are provided. By offering a variety of options, such as appointment booking options, virtual and linear queuing systems, queue management mobile apps, and other more complex approaches, robust queue management software promotes a seamless customer journey. To manage queues, a queue management system is employed. In ...
... a queuing area, people gather in lines at various times and places. Queuing theory is defined as the development and propagation of queues.
A queue management system is a collection of tools and supporting subsystems that improve customer experience across a range of industries, including banking, healthcare, retail, education, government, and telecom.
Advantages
The queue management system has long been established. Customers collect a ticket when they enter a bank, post office, telecom store, etc. and move to the service counter when called; there is no longer a physical line-up. The majority of queue management systems nowadays are ticket-based. With this improved service system, people no longer wait in lines. In some sectors and nations, queue management systems have a 100% penetration rate; they are a requirement for these sites.
various queues
Structured queues
Here, people form a line in a predictable, set place, like at the checkout counters of supermarkets and other retail establishments like banks or airport security. Structured queues are frequently referred to by numerous titles in the field of facilities management, such as “Queue Managers,” “Crowd Controllers,” or “Public Guidance Systems.” Frequently, ticket ranking for a service (with or without a numbered ticket) is managed by queue management systems with identification, allowing for a calm and stress-free waiting experience. Planned reception by appointment and remote rank allocation on or through Short Message Service are two more options that can be added to the list of options. The addition of a human staff member to deliver a system, monitor structured queue lengths in order to direct individuals in a queue, or make adjustments to speed up service is a more basic (or in some circumstances, supplemental) manual element of structured queue management (e.g. fetching more cashiers). These methods are employed, for instance, in UK supermarkets where the addition of a “host” function or Customer Service Manager may take place.
Unorganized queues
When a line of individuals forms in erratic and variable places and directions. This is frequently the case in several types of retail, in taxi lines, at ATMs, and in many other circumstances at peak demand. Physical barriers and guides are employed in the busiest areas to direct people into a queue as they arrive.
Online, virtual, and mobile queues
Enabling clients to examine real-time wait information on their mobile devices and choose a justification for visiting your service facility. Customers don’t have to spend a lot of time waiting in a waiting room and are free to continue with their day. While they wait for their turns, customers can wait somewhere else. When it is their turn, individuals can get notifications by SMS, apps, or emails, and when they are prepared to be seen, they are called forward for service.
Real-time queue data statistics and user comments can be included in mobile queues, particularly online ones. One example of a queuing system that can offer real-time information on the queue and estimation of waiting time is Qiwii.id.
Customers must download apps to their phones in order to join a mobile line. The real wait time for a person’s first visit may increase due to the installation process. Customers may end up with hundreds of apps on their devices because there are numerous options for queue apps and not all businesses utilize the same app. From the perspective of the user, the all-in-one app for several businesses and institutions might be a preferable choice. Only clients who frequently visit the same location can benefit from a mobile queuing app for a particular business or institution.
Techniques for measuring and managing queues
There are several methods for measuring and managing queues:
Physical obstacle
They sought to direct queue formation and arrange it in the most effective way possible.
Signaling devices and signage
Customers of that business must enter and use a free-standing kiosk to select the purpose of their visit in traditional queue management systems. Customers are managed using these types of systems by using LCD screens to display their wait times and queue positions. These seek to inform those waiting in order to promote effective queue formation and flow and to establish service expectations.
Newer technologies are perceived as being more customer pleasant because they enable customers to view queue data and join a queue before visiting the service centre. Customers who use this technology do not need to stand in a physical line or wait while viewing LCD screens in a small space. Solutions that communicate with consumers via their mobile phones, inform them of their position in the line and, when ready, call them forward for service. These kinds of solutions increase organizational efficiency and enhance client satisfaction surveys.
Automatically measuring lines in queues
These make use of a range of measurement technologies to forecast and gauge line lengths and wait times as well as give management data to support service levels and resource allocation.