Originally published in American City & County.
Originally published in American City & County.
Originally published in BusinessWire. Read here.
It’s voting season in the U.S. With election day only a few weeks away, on November 3rd, early voting has started in over 20 states. Unfortunately, long voting lines and hours-long wait times are creating delays, frustration and unsafe conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, postal service delays are causing issues with mail-in voting. With over 25 million ballots already cast, the November 3rd election day is expected to be busy. So what can governments do to help their citizens? They need to prioritize health and safety–including shelter from increasingly cold weather–and the ability to disseminate timely information to all voters. New technology investments can encourage, and allow, more citizens to exercise their right to vote safely and easily.
Working in a government office can be taxing on people, especially when dealing with citizens who have complicated cases or who become easily frustrated. Combine that with archaic processes, and staff burnout can run rampant. When you provide your employees with modern calendar and scheduling software, they have the tools to do their job more efficiently and can even enjoy a smooth workflow.
With Amazon and online shopping, the world has become increasingly reliant on a globalized supply chain. But when most of us think of overseas shipping and ports, we still envision it as old-school and out of date. That’s because much of the technology used in ports hasn’t changed over the years. But that doesn’t mean they can’t modernize. And queue management software is a great place to start.
After months of planning and preparing for the new normal, colleges across the U.S. have started reopening their doors to staff and students. But in some instances, reopening schools in the fall has come to an abrupt halt. It shouldn’t come as a great surprise considering the rise in cases across the country, but many schools are experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases among students and staff as they resume in-person learning. And after the fiasco at the University of North Carolina, schools are abruptly changing their reopening plans.
With the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, many DMVs across the country were forced to close their doors. For months, transactions were postponed or limited to drop-boxes and mail-in forms for certain requests. As social distancing measures are starting to relax and businesses are opening up again, DMVs must now look at new methods to promote healthier environments for both their staff and customers. Booking appointments ahead of time is one way many DMVs are dealing with their soft re-openings. And customers are rushing to fill time slots at their local DMV. Online appointment scheduling with the QLess system is an automated solution that relieves employee stress and reduces the number of missed appointments.
All around the country, states are starting to re-open businesses and government offices. Some areas are also starting to see a rise in the number of daily reported cases of COVID-19, so as we reopen, it is important to continue to promote social distancing efforts and maintain a high standard of cleanliness. If DMVs were to simply return to business as it was before the pandemic with overcrowded waiting rooms, we could see a negative health impact stemming from that atmosphere. Implementing a DMV appointment and queue management system is an excellent way to keep business flowing while limiting customer-to-customer contact.
This article was originally published in AviationPros
This article was originally published in American City & County.
Throughout the pandemic, citizens have been increasingly reliant on governments to help them learn about the impact of the virus, feel financially secure and understand the rules around social distancing and other health concerns. This has caused government services agencies to be increasingly busy, both online and in-person. Luckily, throughout the pandemic, government services have been able to lean on technology to keep them running. New digital apps, platforms and tools will be instrumental as governments begin to reopen services.
How many times have you arrived at a scheduled appointment, only to find out that the person you’re meeting is running behind? You're forced to wait minutes, maybe hours, for something that you expected to happen on time, which results in your entire day being uprooted. We’ve all been through this. Doctors, dentists, lawyers — they’re all guilty of this minor, but frustrating, offense.
At QLess, our mission isn't just to eliminate lines and improve the customer experience – it's to do all that in the most cost-effective way possible. Sure, if cost weren't a consideration, you could just hire more staff or redesign your waiting room or store to account for service delays. But those aren't options for a responsible operation. With QLess' scalable, easy-to-use platform you can solve problems that are costing your organization major revenue at a price that you can afford.
Still skeptical? Check out our new ROI calculator. Walk through this simple and free resource to see how you can potentially increase productivity, improve customer satisfaction, and manage sustainable growth with QLess.
When it comes to improving the customer experience, execution is everything. It’s one thing to offer a digital queue manager; it’s another thing entirely to provide a platform that solves some of your most pressing business needs while also improving the customer experience.
Queue management vendors vary widely in this respect.
QLess may not be the only queue management solution out there, but our cloud-based platform is the easiest to use, manage, and implement.
Click here to learn how QLess stacks up to other queue management platforms.
Few things are as much fun for kids as a trip to the local museum. Whether it’s checking out dinosaur bones, moon rocks, or art, it’s a great way to have a fun and interactive learning experience. But what’s not so fun is waiting in line. It’s a drag for adults, but if you’ve ever seen a three-year-old have a full-on meltdown standing in a queue, you know that it’s a million times worse for children.
The fires that raged across Sonoma County in Northern California in late 2017 killed 42 people, but the damage didn’t stop there. Thousands of homes were destroyed, wineries and other businesses were leveled, and cattle and horses were killed as well. It was the deadliest series of fires in California history, and in the aftermath thousands of people needed help. Unfortunately, this led to long lines of devastated citizens in government offices around the county who had lost homes, belongings, and pets.
This past winter was an absolute disaster for Americans who had to get on airplanes. A January storm grounded nearly 2,000 flights and more than 5,000 more were delayed. A month later a nor'easter caused more than 2,500 planes to remain on the ground – including half of the flights scheduled to depart from Newark, one of the country’s busiest airports. In total, tens of thousands of flights were delayed by bad weather, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stuck in airports wondering how (or if) they would reach their destinations.
And every single one of those people had to get in a line to get even the most basic information.
Congratulations to Houston’s McGovern-Stella Link Neighborhood Library for being recognized as a recipient of the 2017 National Awards for Passport Acceptance Facilities and Agents!
We’ve all seen those ticket machines labeled “PLEASE Take A Number.” These internationally recognized symbols of long queues are the best way to signal to visitors that your waiting room is about to live up to its name. They’re out-of-date tools for an obsolete system.
Technology is making all aspects of our lives easier and more efficient, and the same goes for waiting your turn. Here are the top 7 reasons to scrap the take-a-number system:
Today’s consumers have endless options when it comes to where to spend their money, so the savviest businesses (from retailers to doctor’s offices) know they’ve got to set themselves apart from the pack. The most impactful and low-cost way is to deliver stellar customer service. People remember when they get it, tell others about it, and honor it with repeat business. Just as true: people don’t hesitate to bail when service is poor. Below are five ways to help ensure that customers stick around:
Watch this complimentary webinar to discover the 5 best practices to improve government operations.
Hosted by Dr. Alex Bäcker – technology solutions expert, TEDx speaker, and Gold Stevie winner for IT Executive of the Year – you will gain insights to create a great citizen experience and get a closer look at technology that will make you a hero – both at your office and with your citizens.
As an expert in government procurement, Alex works closely with agencies – such as the Michigan Department of State, the Nevada DMV, and the Texas Department of Public Safety – to oversee the deployment of SaaS solutions and cultivate 5-star reviews.
Deserved or not, if there’s anything synonymous with horrible customer service, it’s the Department of Motor Vehicles (or really any government office). People complain about interminable waiting times, poor communications and instructions, endless bureaucracy in getting the most routine tasks accomplished, and uncaring or downright rude workers. But the worst part is that society seems resigned to the notion that it won’t change, because it needn’t; there’s zero competition and there’s even less incentive for workers to go over and above.
But is there hope for improvement? And how?
Picture a line of frustrated and footsore citizens stretching around a city block on a cold autumn evening. Some people see that line and head home, realizing they can’t afford to wait hours just for a chance to vote and let the government hear their voice.
This is not a scene from some former Soviet dictatorship, but a look forward at the upcoming United States Presidential election. The choice that America makes this coming November is an important one, yet some of the citizens making it will spend hours waiting their turn to vote.
True story: I had to visit the DMV this week to register my car. As an employee of a queue management software, I resent lines a little more than the average person because I know there is a solution that eliminates lines and waiting (ahem, QLess).
One of the key issues in US elections today is the mechanics of voting. It’s a hot topic that pundits from all parts of the political spectrum are commenting on – and it often comes down to the fact that voters in many areas have to wait in line for hours to cast their ballots.
As filmmaker Michael Moore recently wrote, “People have to leave the house and get in line to vote. And if they live in poor, Black or Hispanic neighborhoods, they not only have a longer line to wait in, everything is being done to literally stop them from casting a ballot. So in most elections it’s hard to get even 50% to turn out to vote."
“Support Our Troops” is a common sentiment in the United States, but the men and women who have served in the armed services often don’t get the support they need. A prime example of this is the Veterans Administration (VA), the government department responsible for providing services to people who have served in the military.
In the wake of the surge of complaints about long waits in Transportation Security Agency (TSA) lines and Veterans Administration (VA) facilities, our brave CEO offers a solution to the problem for both government agencies within 90 days:
In our latest webinar, CEO Alex Bäcker unveiled the top 4 predictions for 2016. More than 85% of our attendees found the presentation insightful! In case you missed it, watch the recording here:
Are you using the latest technology to improve public perception of your government office? Agencies are rushing to adopt a wide range of technology improve front office tools for citizens and harness data.
Sure, no one wants to stand around in line, but that doesn't mean you aren't willing to wait. The reason why there are long waits for anything is because it's something you have to do or something that's worth the wait. Here's a line that some people are happy to finally be able to join:
Last week Alex Backer made a quick stop at the Huffington Post Live studios for a chat with host, Marc Lamont Hill. They discuss the birth of QLess, long lines and working to end those lines. Alex also talks about what it's like being the CEO of a growing start up.
Recently we posted the great reviews that one of our healthcare clients was receiving due to improvement in their waiting system, among other reasons.
We just conducted a thorough data analysis to look into whether not having people waiting in a waiting room for service relaxes DMV staff and makes them less efficient, or more. It turns out that QLess has reduced the average transaction duration at QLess DMVs throughout Kansas. The decreased stress on staff from facing happier customers rather than people tired from standing in line seems to have a dramatic improvement on productivity. Since launching QLess, each of the QLess offices average transaction durations has gone down, from 31% for Andover to 76% for Wichita.
If demand was evenly spaced across time and space, and assuming that every customer eventually gets served --not always true as our data shows that up to 50% of potential customers leave during their wait for service--, there would be no wait times. Yet demand inhomogeneities mean that wait times can be hugely different across locations, creating long waits at one while others are empty. QLess provides a simple solution for this by alerting your customers of real-time wait times at each of your locations, increasing demand for lower wait locations while reducing demand for higher wait ones, thereby smoothing demand across supply. The effect of this load balancing was staggering at Johnson County's two QLess locations: the month that QLess launched, average wait time at one location was 250% that of the other location's. By the next month, both wait times were within 1% of each other!
Last week, as we inaugurated our first Black U.S. President for his second term, we also honored the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--a man who had a dream, and who against all odds succeeded in helping to make that dream a reality. The coincidence was fitting, and for many (myself included), inspirational.
LOS ANGELES, CA – October 30, 2012 – QLess, Inc. is proud to announce that it has been selected to provide its patent-pending Mobile Queue Management platform for several new driver license mega centers being opened by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The first mega center opens its doors in Pflugerville on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.
“QLess DMVs have been winning national awards for years and saving citizens decades of waiting in line. The Texas DPS is now taking that to a whole new scale, and will enable DPS employees to more efficiently serve their customers, while improving customer convenience, which is a top priority for the department,” said QLess CEO, Dr. Alex Bäcker.
DPS mega centers will leverage the QLess technology platform to help DPS employees more quickly and effectively serve customers at these driver license offices. The Mobile Queue Management system will offer customers the convenient option to “get in line” without going to the office. Customers will join the virtual line online or via any phone. QLess will also provide customers interactive options allowing them to make adjustments to their place in line – for instance, if they are running late, they can push themselves back in line. Walk-in customers will use the self-service check-in kiosks and will have the option of returning later, closer to the time they will get served, notified by QLess via text or phone call as their turn approaches. This level of interactivity is unique to QLess, and allows for an unrivaled customer experience, effectively giving customers back lost time.
“We are committed to ensuring Texas driver license customers have a quick and efficient visit to our offices, and using the QLess system will give our mega centers the technology needed to take a major step in advancing our goals of providing effective and efficient service to our customers," said DPS Director Steven McCraw.
In order to deliver a seamless experience for both staff and citizens, QLess worked in close partnership with DPS officials throughout the entire setup process. The result will be a Mobile Queue Management experience that is convenient for both the Texas citizen and for DPS staff.
With the announcement, QLess continues to advance towards its vision of liberating people from the act of waiting in line. Texas is in good company, with QLess locations in California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, as well as around the world, from Barcelona to Winnipeg and British Columbia to Melbourne and Vienna.
The Pflugerville announcement further solidifies QLess as the world’s premier provider of Mobile Queue Management and Mobile CRM. The QLess Mobile Queue Management platform is unique in many ways, not the least of which is that it works in any industry where people wait in a queue, allowing for rich ecosystem experiences when QLess merchants are in close proximity to one another. QLess can also be localized to operate in any geography and in any language, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, German, French, Catalan, Dutch, and Arabic.
In addition to enjoying increased customer satisfaction, QLess customers gain access to an entire suite of QLess Analytics tools, which allow for rich data capture and analysis of customer and staff metrics unavailable anywhere else.
QLess is dedicated to letting people live more and wait less. QLess Mobile Wait Management dramatically reduces waiting in line or on hold by letting people join a mobile queue from their phones, roam freely and get notified as their turn approaches. QLess also notifies hotel guests when their room is ready for check-in. QLess is the first true mobile CRM and boasts a powerful analytics & SMS surveys suite for brick-and-mortar merchants. QLess serves retail, government, education, hospitality, healthcare and everywhere people wait, and has saved millions of users well over a century of waiting. Customers include T-Mobile, Vodafone, the largest college districts in the nation, Rolex/Tourneau, DMVs and leading healthcare providers such as the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about QLess at www.qless.com.
About Texas DPS
For more information about the Texas Department of Public Safety, visit www.dps.texas.gov.
Johnson County's DMV is closing their offices for a week starting tomorrow, so there's a rush on their two offices today. As I write this, they have 925 customers waiting in their virtual queues for service. The lobby at each office can accommodate abut 120 people. Imagine, for a moment, if Johnson County did not offer QLess service, to allow customers to use their cell phone to manage their spot in line. Imagine how crowded both offices would be. Imagine yourself crowded into a standing-room-only environment, waiting for 4 hours for service. Then imagine that someone at Johnson County asked you for feedback on your waiting experience. Ok, now you have your non-QLess base-line. :) QLess sent each customer that queued by phone at Johnson County today the following SMS once they were done with their transaction:
Check out this great customer feedback from QLess users at the Johnson County DMV.
According to the U.S. Postal Service, December 19 and 20 will be the busiest mailing days this year for holiday cards and packaging. Many people will be sending their packages in hopes of reaching their destinations prior to Christmas Day. But with big demand comes big, frustrating lines.
750,000 residents use the Providence, RI DMV system annually and most note long lines as the reason for the negative public image it has. So what do you do to solve the biggest problem they have? You bring in an insurance company to teach sensitivity training to the workforce of course. It all makes perfect sense, just combine the bureaucracy of the insurance industry with the great taste of a government run DMV and you've got a recipe for success. Instead of fixing the problem, utilize significant funding and resources to train a workforce that likely already has low job satisfaction and high turnover. Perhaps they didn't know that QLess is ending long lines and improving the customer experience at leading DMVs across the nation. If you're one of those unfortunate Providence customers, let them know there is a better way... with QLess :)
When it comes time to be heard on an issue that is sensitive to public policy and personal convictions, the governing body has an obligation to listen to its constituents and gather information and insights before rendering decisions. Municipalities small and large face issue ranging from smoking bans to permitting to budget. This week in Manhattan, the sensitive topic of hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as Fracking, comes to light in public hearings that are expected to draw extremely long lines of people waiting to be heard. And guess what happens when people endure long lines and tireless hours waiting to be heard in these public forums? You guessed it. They get angry. Let's put an end to the disorderly and ring in a better way to let voices be heard with QLess.
I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to exercising your right to vote, we have a better job as a nation to do in making sure people are both aware of the issues and able to actually make their vote count. That said, when people make the effort to do so with pride and conviction, shouldn't the government at least be prepared? In yet another case of voter administration challenge (just wait until the next election phase really comes into full swing), people were denied a right to vote, actively being discouraged due to long lines. See the full post here. Let's make it easy on people in the future Mississippi, let's make sure every willing voter gets to cast their interest -and that it is counted, not discounted. It can be done with QLess.
We all see waiting as a painstaking activity that decreases consumer productivity and morale while hurting customer service and margins. Often times however, the repercussions of waiting are far more unfortunate. Without sharing a commentary on world politics, waiting in line poses serious health and security concerns. In this recent story from Lahore, people waiting to retrieve their pension funds, are forced to endure conditions unsuitable for anyone and the toil of waiting in line to collect this benefit yields the most unpleasant of all results. Government services worldwide can benefit from making the experience of a customer collecting benefits, renewing licenses, filing documents and the like far less strenuous with QLess. The world would certainly be a better place if we alleviate these types of situations.
Just wanted to share a Letter to the Editor of a newspaper that was forwarded to us here at QLess. We've redacted the pieces that identify which DMV is involved, so as not to exacerbate the situation. But it's great to hear that concerned citizens, when faced with long waits imposed on them by their local government, are speaking out and telling them to get QLess to respect their time!
One of the cashiers at the Johnson County DMV shared this story with us this week, and we thought it was a great example of how QLess turns a mundane experience like waiting at the DMV into something as exciting as birthday cake! :)
" I am very excited to use all the features of this system and am so relieved to see customers using it with ease." --Cyril Wrabec, Missouri DMV
QLess at JoCo DMV named 2009-2010 Technology Solutions Award Winner by the Public Technology Institute. "The program,...an entirely new technological approach for the public sector, ...ability for customers to "place themselves in line" by providing their cell phone number either in the office, online or by phone". The awards recognize 9 winners in each of 5 categories nationwide. The best part of it is our customers nominated us for this.
The % of those using their cell phones to queue up via the QLess home kiosk who show up for service is equal (if anything, a little higher) than that of those doing it on-site at the DMV, validating the model of remote or off-site queueing pioneered by QLess.
Today we got our favorite kind of call: a customer referring a prospective customer. One of our DMV customers referred the manager of an employment services office to us. Nothing better than pleasing a customer enough to get a referral. Thanks, Amy!
The Johnson County DMV is now using QLess Web Services to display the current wait times at both of their DMV locations on their home page. They're also using QLess Kiosk to let customers enter the virtual line from home!
QLess has launched the first DMV where you don't have to wait in line. Using QLess mobile queueing, Johnson County's DMV in Kansas respects its customer's time. The launch has been a huge success and uptake of the mobile queueing option by customers has been very significant.--Alex
Last year, QLess was awarded the DMV contract for a city. Today, we got awarded the contract for an entire county and a much more sophisticated system. Once again, QLess beat several companies long entrenched in the queueing industry. Once again, a government has recognized that the time for a paradigm shift in wait management has come. Congratulations to Tim and Joe for a job well done. Even before this new contract is accounted for, QLess quarterly revenues have grown rapidly and consistently every quarter even in times of recession since our launch. We are confident this is only the beginning. Join us in eliminating standing in line from the face of the Earth.
John Barker, the IT Director of a DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles/Motor Vehicle Registration) QLess customer, sent us this note today after QLess was rolled out to their users. Thanks, John!
City of Nashua's DMV selected QLess this week to solve their queueing needs after a competitive process.
