Kiosks With The VAR Touch

It's becoming commonplace to walk into a retail location and see some sort of self-service, customer-facing kiosk. Whether it is a self-checkout grocery lane or a bill payment machine, consumers are demanding more independence and convenience, and retailers are responding. POS (point of sale) VARs can get in on this self-service revolution by working as consultants who understand what makes kiosks click. "For every vertical market, there is an opportunity for a VAR to be an entrepreneur. Kiosks can perform so many functions, VARs just have to come up with an idea and capitalize on it," said Larry Loerch, touch monitor business manager at 3M Touch Systems (Methuen, MA).

Wanted: Kiosk Consultants
Before VARs can get a piece of the kiosk action, they have to understand who else is involved. A kiosk installation requires the work of several manufacturers. The machine could include a combination of peripheral hardware devices ranging from card readers and printers to touch screens and keyboards. Software companies or integrators also need to provide programming based on the end user's current systems and long-term functional goals. Finally, a kiosk manufacturer designs the enclosures that house the machines and ships them to the end user.

With so many companies working on the same project, end users need someone to play general contractor. If not, the kiosk deployment becomes a game of hot potato - each arm supplying its piece and quickly passing it along, until the retailer is stuck holding the kiosk without a main contact to turn to for answers. "Until recently, no one wanted to own the whole process or coordination," said Paul Baril, marketing manager for MicroTouch monitors at 3M Touch Systems. "Partner programs provide some direction for end users, but no real project ownership. In some ways, this has inhibited the growth of the kiosk industry because end users aren't sure what to do."

The challenge for a VAR is to truly understand what retailers are looking for and how a kiosk can successfully fulfill its goals. Unfortunately, what's best for the retailer might not be what is best for the VAR's pocketbook. "Working as an expert might mean telling an end user that their business plan for a kiosk won't provide the scalability they need in the long term. Or a VAR might have to convince a retailer that a smaller installation would give them the same results as a large one, but for less money," said Lawrence Dvorchik, managing director of KioskCom (New York), a kiosk-specific conference and information organization. "The key is to ensure that any kiosk installation is successful, because that will help the industry confidence to grow."

Touch Screens Included In 87% Of Kiosk Installations
As the use of kiosks increases, so does the quality of the installations. End users realize they cannot install consumer-grade hardware and expect it to survive in a harsh and unattended kiosk environment. The increased quality can be seen in better hardware configurations and software functionality. A hardware piece that is synonymous with self-service, and therefore used often in kiosks, is touch screen technology. According to a recent survey conducted by Summit Research Associates, a kiosk consultant group, 87% of kiosk installations include touch screens. VARs who resell touch screens for POS applications have to remember that a touch screen is simply the kiosk's input device. Therefore, a VAR may win a kiosk touch screen sale differently than a general POS touch screen sale.

The screens, however, do play a large part in ensuring the final product fulfills an end user's goals in terms of quality optics and viewing angles. "One of the true values a VAR can add when procuring a kiosk deal is to understand the complexity of a kiosk implementation as a whole," Loerch said.

The most common and affordable touch screen technology is resistive touch technology. A common kiosk touch screen is five-wire, a screen made of two layers (a glass substrate and a film substrate) with an air gap between them. These screens are designed to accept more than 30 million touches in the same spot and withstand temperature fluctuations. Another unique feature of a five-wire resistive touch screen is its ability to function even after the top layer has been damaged. This is not possible with four-wire, eight-wire, or capacitive models. "What end users are looking for is the most durable kiosk they can buy for the cost," said Sarah Black, marketing director at Bergquist Company (Chanhassen, MN), a touch screen manufacturer. "Optics and viewing angles are high on end users' lists for kiosks installations, which are determined by the films they choose." Matte films diffuse light, whereas gloss or polished films convert light into sharp pinpoints. The choice is dependent on the environment in which the kiosk is displayed. The amount of space between the layers, the screen's angle, and the housing in which it is encased could all change the way a screen looks to a customer. The specifics are determined by the kiosk's ultimate goal. "If a customer is really worried about fingerprints on the screen, for example, the best option would be to go with a matte film," Black said. "But if the installation was to be in a lowly lit area, we might go with something else." With so many choices and specifications to choose from, it's clear why end users are looking for an expert to help with their decisions. "You have to understand the business environment of that retailer and the product you are trying to sell into it," Loerch said.

Be Sure To Create Measurable ROI
End users are always looking for measurable ROI, and with kiosks it's no exception. But sometimes, self-service functions are very difficult to measure. "One retailer put all its eggs in an e-commerce kiosk basket. Its customers could purchase products through it, but after time, it didn't achieve the results the retailer was looking for, so the company pulled it from the floor," Dvorchik said. "That company made a mistake because a kiosk is too big an investment to just pull from the floor. That retailer should have re-deployed the machine for some other purpose, such as human resource or employee training functionality."

The main way to ensure an end user gets the most return from a kiosk installation is to create multiple functions on the machines. "If a kiosk is only used as a place for customers to collect information, then it isn't engaging the buyer. It also makes tracking the success of a kiosk more difficult when you don't know whether customer interaction with a kiosk prompted new sales," said Mark Littlefield, director, worldwide product manager for Elo TouchSystems, Inc. (Fremont, CA), a touch screen manufacturer. For this reason, end users are using kiosks for multiple purposes such as an extension of their loyalty programs, to create personalized in-store promotions, or for in-store training. (See the sidebar on this page for more ways to deploy a kiosk.) "Retailers are looking at kiosks because they can get more people in the stores, their employees can be more efficient, and customers can receive consistent messages," said Loerch. And with the proper programming, a kiosk will deliver a consistent message to users every time.

So, with kiosks popping up in every market, VARs can play a key role in successful implementations. It is just a matter of proper planning and coordination, with some entrepreneurial spirit.