A slow switch to the self-serve revolution

WASHINGTON - At airports, supermarkets, and big-box retailers, "customer service" in recent years has meant self-serve - aided by touch screen kiosks.

As digital kiosks become more user-friendly and capable of handling more complicated tasks, health-care providers, fast-food chains, and other businesses say trading face-to-face encounters for face-to-monitor transactions improves service and saves money.

Yet the complexity of human decision-making and service expectations in different industries means any possible self-serve revolution is more likely to be a gradual transition.

International Business Machines Corp.'s kiosk orders have quadrupled in the last four years.

Numerous airlines use its customer kiosks. Caribou Coffee and Cheesecake Factory employees use them to manage recipes and to enhance order speed and accuracy. The Virgin Megastore in Times Square has 150 kiosks that process 450,000 music previews per month.

Still, "none of the players in this market have even scratched the surface" of the multibillion-dollar potential, said Juhi Jotwani, IBM's director of marketing and strategy for retail stores, even though consumers hooked on text-messaging and interactive Internet gaming now expect greater control over their purchasing experiences.

An April report by consulting firm Summit Research Associates estimated that 800,000 customer kiosks, not including ATMs, will be installed in North America by the end of 2007, and that the total will hit 1.2 million by 2009.

North American consumers are forecast to spend more than $525 billion this year at self-checkout lanes, ticketing kiosks, and other self-service machines, including postal kiosks, according to IHL Consulting Group. That figure could reach nearly $1.3 trillion by 2011.

NCR Corp. said that about 40 percent of its $6.1 billion in 2006 revenue was from self-service hardware, software and services.

Consumers now accustomed to ATMs dispensing cash and to self-check-out aisles in supermarkets and home-improvement stores expect self-service options in other parts of their lives.

Mike Webster, NCR's vice president and general manager of self-service, is targeting the health-care market. More than 100 U.S. hospitals use NCR technology, and the Dayton, Ohio, company plans to expand overseas by the end of the year.

NCR's Web-based "patient portal" allows people to schedule appointments, view lab results, and update insurance information or family history.

The Heritage Valley Health System in southwestern Pennsylvania said check-in and registration times dropped to two minutes from nearly 10 since it began using NCR products last year.

The change cost Heritage Valley $750,000 over four years, and David Carleton, the company's chief information officer, said he was pleased with the return on investment.

Yet many retail outlets remain kiosk-free, with consumers preferring to try on clothes and ask sales associates for help. Fast-food executives say they are waiting for better, more flexible technology.

Gap Inc.'s use of consumer kiosks failed because shoppers were being left alone for too long, and many preferred talking with salespeople, said Praveen Kopalle, a professor in Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business.

"This technology is very useful when customers immediately see where the benefit is, where the convenience is, and where it's more personalized," Kopalle said, citing simple tasks such as withdrawing cash or placing a fast-food order.