Category: Blog

Budget constraints, limited resources, and competing priorities remain the leading challenge amongst healthcare providers across the continent of Africa. With this combination of pressures, comes the need to streamline workflows and increase efficiencies in hospital operations. There is empirical evidence that easing patient journeys is one such process that can help health providers improve the quality of their services. We shall explore how targeted innovations in queue management can be leveraged to deliver greater patient experiences. Queueing solutions   In the wake of COVID-19, there is an increased need for queue management systems that can handle patient flows safely and efficiently. The benefits that accrue from such an investment are significant. In the short term, it can improve productivity whilst substantially decreasing costs by ensuring that the right patient is at the right place at the right time. To do this effectively, hospitals need to visualize the patient journey with a view of eliminating bottle necks and make the process of seeking treatment efficient and intuitive. The more seamless an experience you can create, the better the customer experience will be. Mapping out the patient Journey   A patient journey is basically the steps that patients go through when they undergo a visit / treatment in the healthcare facility. Critically important in the understanding of patient journeys is that it consists of several stages (pre-, during, and post-visit), where each stage has one or more touchpoints. Through patient journey mapping, healthcare providers can identify pain points and work on the solutions to these problems. Many accredited studies have found that reduced queue times are critical and valuable to a patient’s perception of a hospitals. So, why is easing patient journeys important for hospitals? Below, I have summarized four reasons. Reducing costs A queue management system opens up opportunities to reduce costs throughout the patient flow by making every step of seeking treatment more effective. Improving the patient experience With a queue management system, you can achieve optimal waiting times, reduce perceived waiting times and improve the patient’s overall perception of the services in your hospital. Increasing staff satisfaction By streamlining the patient flow and making it more efficient and structured, a hospital queue system can increase staff satisfaction by simplifying the process of service provision. Collecting important data New generation queue management systems can capture important patient information – helping you to enhance performance while opening up opportunities for benchmarking. Conclusion In essence, the scope of a queue management system exceeds that of a simple queuing instrument. Whereas its main beneficiaries are health professionals, hospital management teams can reap the benefit as well in terms of patients’ insights and creating measurable efficiencies. A hospital queue system such as Q-SYS simplifies the work of administrators and what’s more, is that the changes in patient experiences happen almost right away.

The world today looks, thinks and behaves differently as compared to 6 months ago. COVID-19 has initiated changes across sectors and impacted lifestyles and livelihoods. These changes are a direct result of high transmission risk through contact and close exposure to COVID-19 infected individuals. Businesses are striving to restart operations from their commercial spaces as opposed to the virtual. However, the threat from the virus still looms large, and is here to stay until a vaccine is available. In these challenging times, it is imperative for businesses to adapt to the new normal to function with minimal risk. For businesses in the non-service sector, the risk is primarily for employees, and the potential few visitors. However, for the service sector, the risk is two-fold, with employees and patrons being at risk due to unavoidable direct transactions. In this scenario, streamlining crowds through optimal queues becomes critical for social distancing, especially in service organizations. Employing a queue management system facilitates a positive transaction experience for both patrons and staff, since there is no worry about overcrowded spaces or unnecessary contact. The following are some of the features of a queue management system that are in the spotlight for their functionality to aid social distancing and minimize contact during these COVID times. 1. Virtual Queues As the name suggests, virtual queues facilitate waiting sans lining up and elbow jostling in physical queues. With a queue management system, patrons are allotted staggered time slots and receive notifications regarding their status in the queue. Patrons can check the queue length and their position in the queue and plan their visit accordingly. This results in minimized waiting time and reduced crowds, and in turn minimal exposure. 2. Contactless Ticket Generation Once inside your facility, customers or patrons can collect their tickets from the reception without swiping or using touchscreen kiosks. This contactless ticket generation eliminates multiple customers touching the same surfaces repeatedly, a potential risk in coronavirus transmission. Likewise, employees need not worry about being in contact with surfaces touched by multiple customers or patrons. 3. Customization The queue management system can be customized based on the industry in which your business functions (for e.g., retail service), your business offering, your business location(s), business size, etc. Additionally, Counter Display Units can be tailored to share and display COVID-19-related messages, safety notifications or new guidelines adopted by your center in lieu of the pandemic. Adapting is the first step to surviving. We at Q-SYS have customized our queue management systems to meet the present day challenges to support your business during the new normal. Learn more with us.

While customers are waiting in queues, they mostly have little else to do apart from, well, wait. And for the new-gen customers who thrive on instant gratification, waiting is frustrating – be it in banks, retail stores, government offices, or other outlets in the service industry. Here’s where queue management systems that utilize Digital Signage play an important role by reducing the perceived waiting time and customer impatience, and subsequently enhancing the overall customer experience. In addition to the simple play on the customer psyche by employing visual engagement to reduce perceived wait time, digital signage also offers other benefits for consumers and organizations and facilitate a positive transaction experience: 1. Informs Customers Digital signage improves customer experience by relaying relevant information through visual display. These could be related to the queue status and counter availability, product or service features, promotional offers, public awareness information or other content. The content can be customized according to the industry – for example, retail stores display products that result in impulse buys. Banks and government offices can display updated guidelines to ensure customers/users are in the right queues with the right documents. 2. Engages and Entertains Digital signage enables organizations to broadcast programs that engage and entertain customers, thereby reducing the perceived wait time. Customers waiting in a queue are the ideal attentive audience, ready to watch and absorb visual content. Visual entertainment – travel programs, documentaries, content relevant to the particular industry or business, etc. are usually apt to keep customers occupied and dim the impact of the queue length and the monotony of waiting. 3. Allows Organizations to Advertise Awareness creation about products, brand, brand value, etc. is the first step to enhancing revenue and business. Digital signage is the perfect platform for businesses to create this awareness. Organizations can leverage the idle eyes of waiting consumers and display product-related information that can help in up-selling and cross-selling. Other relevant information about the organization such as inception, core values, vision, etc. can be displayed to create a deeper connect with customers. 4. Improves Employee Efficiency Customers are aware about their queue status and counter availability through display screens hence they do not need to approach employees to address these queries. Displaying counter information and ticketing status streamlines queues and allows service counter staff to focus on their core tasks. By checking interruptions and distractions, employees at the counter are able to offer quality customer service, faster. Employees who can focus on the core task at hand are less perturbed and more likely to engage in a pleasant exchange with waiting customers. Considering the multiple benefits of a queue management system with digital signage, isn’t it time to make the switch now?

Ever had a bad experience waiting in a queue? Be it someone jumping the queue or getting serviced before turn, you likely remember how enraged you were at the incident. While the specifics might fade over time, how you felt will likely remain with you. It is this feeling that forms the crux of customer experience in today’s competitive industry, and acts as the key differentiator in customer loyalty. Efficient queue management creates a sense of fairness and order. It eliminates the temptation to ‘book’ a spot or form multiple lines that lead to the same counter. Worse, you won’t have to wait in a long queue just to reach the counter and realize you were in the wrong queue! Therefore, intelligent queue management is a significant step towards enhancing the customer experience journey. Let us focus on 5 reasons why queue management can make or break your business: 1. Enhances Customer Experience Electronic queue management systems enable real-time updates to notify customers regarding their queuing status, approximate wait time and service counter number. Entertainment/advertisements reduce perceived wait time, and electronic queuing allows movement while maintaining the position in the queue. These simple yet considerable measures improve overall customer loyalty. 2. Creates Opportunity for Feedback A comprehensive queue management system facilitates a platform for customer feedback. Customers can share feedback about their experience through the feedback feature in the queue management system. Administrative decision makers or business owners can use the feedback effectively, and employ insightful inputs for better organizational decisions. 3. Streamlines Operations Your employees can gauge the number of customers waiting to be serviced, and open more service counters if required, using information from the queue management system. Service teams can be optimized and employee efficiency strengthened by accurately determining average customer footfall in advance. When employees are able to anticipate customer volumes and predict service times, their stress levels also reduce. 4. Provides Insightful Data Queue management systems make available data about customer footfall, percentage of customers serviced per counter, average service time, etc. This data can be analyzed to determine employee and team efficiency, center/branch performance, comparison of teams and centers, and more. Subsequently, it results in better operational decisions such as space and resource optimization. 5. Bolsters Professionalism Customers know you take them seriously when you value their time and offer repeat-worthy experiences. Automated waiting and service counters augment professionalism vis-à-vis paper-based systems. Agile queue management systems allow display of product features, up-selling and cross-selling. In a comprehensive queue management system such as Q-SYS, a single server acts as the central access for all customer flow management information. The advanced server ensures ease of accessibility and flexibility. Crafted with multiple functionalities, Q-SYS queue management systems are customizable and suitable for versatile business and commercial environments. Invest in the right queue management system for your business and garner multiple benefits!