Unfortunately it's often inevitable and this is where a well designed Queue Management System can make life easier.
A Queue Management System ensures people are treated fairly. Customers feel relaxed knowing they will be seen in order.
A Queue Management System needs to be immediately understandable. The first time a customer encounters the system it should be obvious to them how the system works.
This is where good signage, large text, big buttons, bright displays and clear speech are vital. The hallmarks of a well thought out system.
Of course there are two sides to a Queue Management System, the side the public sees and the side the staff interact with. Whether the staff call customers for service via hardware or Virtual keypads the system needs to be just as easy to use.
Information is power and a good Queue Management System should be able to condense the vast amount of information it gathers and present the data in clear, concise, reports and graphs with the ability to export and share the data.
Clearly presented data makes the job of spotting trends easier allowing Managers to more accurately plan staffing levels.
Equally important is the Real Time ability, allowing Managers to know exactly what's occurring, minute by minute.
Queue Management Systems need have a very long life. Requirements change as time goes by and designs constantly evolve. It's therefore important any new features or products are backwards compatible. That way an existing systems can be readily expanded and updated preserving your investment.
These are the guiding principles which we followed when developing SmartSoft.
Developed by Alex and Clive Simmens, SmartSoft is a comprehensive suite of software programs that run under the Windows operating system and can be installed on one or more PCs to provide a complete, feature rich, easy to use, Queue Management System.
Applications for Queue Management come in all sizes. From simple systems with a single Queue to a complex systems with multiple Queues. SmartSoft is highly configurable and can handle a wide variety of Queuing applications.
Smartcenter is the Queue Management control centre. Used to configure the system, set up and maintain the user accounts, access reports and view the Queuing information in real time. If you have multiple SmartSoft sites using SmartCenter you can access them all from one location.
SmartMonitor drives the large, Customer LCD display screens. Easy for an end user to set up, with the ability to mix Queuing information with PowerPoint, Videos etc. This flexible program comes with superb speech and chimes and can simultaneously drive multiple displays all independently configured.
SmartPrinter is the Queue Management System print server and touch screen controller. Using the inbuilt ticket editor, with it's extensive replacement fields for Queue Length, Average Waiting Time etc., enables you to design exactly the ticket you need in seconds.
SmartKey is the Queue Management System Web based, Virtual keypad. Using a Web browser you can issue tickets, call customers for service, transfer customers between queues and record category information.