How Local Government Can Save Money Using Touchscreen Kiosks - By: S.Roberts

Government departments walk a tricky tightrope of trying to reduce their expenditure which increasing the level of service they provide for an ever-expanding population, which is no easy task. You would expect, generally to improve a situation, it will cost money. However touch screen kiosks can help Government departments by improving the level of service available to the public whilst reducing cost, and thus saving money. Sound too good to be true? Here is how a Local Government Can Save Money Using Touchscreen information Kiosks.

National Indicator 14 (NI14) is a government target for local councils, which aims to reduce avoidable contact between the community and local authorities. Internet kiosks can help provide a framework for NI 14 to enable residents to access services, support and get updates using a self-service approach.

Interactive touch screen Internet kiosks are either free-standing units or are wall mounted. The latter being the most space saving, requiring only a small amount of wall space to accommodate the kiosk. The kiosks are Internet compatible and can hold large amounts of information and well as being able to access information from approved websites from the Internet. Some Internet kiosks can also be provided as deskmount for wheelchair access and even portable devices for outreach work.

Because the kiosks have access to large amounts of useful information that is generally required in that particular government department, the kiosk behaves like an additional member of the team. However this team member has no recruitment or training costs. Furthermore the benefits of using technology to 'self-serve' are that they work morning to night everyday and all week without needing a break and without fatigue.

Additionally they are very good at dealing with difficult customers or regular visitors who need reassurance. Difficult customers can take up considerable amounts of time. Time that could be used to serve two or three less obstructive clients. Allowing the kiosk to deal with such client's means that the customer is less likely to tie up members of staff time being drawn into situations of conflict. The kiosk thus helps with avoidable contact situations enabling your staff to concentrate on more complex issues.

Local Government internet kiosks can also be interactive in that they invite a customer to use them and then ask the user a series of question to find out how to best serve them, and to display relevant information depending on the data gathered from the questions that were asked. Or the kiosk can ascertain which forms that the client will need to complete, and which evidence will need to accompany the form if any.

Government Internet kiosks are also able to collect information about customers online with onscreen forms and therefore saving on paper and pre-printed forms. Additionally this is also labour saving because the kiosks can ensure that all the relevant fields are completed, which means that forms do not have to be sent back to the customer for further information.

Kiosks are also friendly to people who are hard of hearing, visually impaired or disabled with the aid of audio and hearing loop adapters as well as having easy wheel chair access to get close to the kiosk for use.

The council kiosks can be found in housing, family and social support, finance and customer services as well as many other departments in local councils. NHS and the Police service can also make use of Internet kiosks by providing 24-7 coverage for customer services and feedback from the community.

Touch screen kiosks represent a positive and affordable technology solution to keeping service levels high while reducing costs.

About the Author

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