kiosk solutions
If you’re attending this year’s Kiosk
Summit you’ll most likely spend some
time walking through the exhibition
space, attending seminars and reading
industry publications such as this one
– all while seeking the perfect kiosk
solution for your pending kiosk project.
The solutions available can range from
turnkey to bespoke, with a large variation
in between, so how do you decide which
option is best for your organisation’s
upcoming kiosk deployment?
Turnkey solutions
Turnkey options are typically specific
to a particular vertical market and
are traditionally available for a unique
application or integration. For instance,
a turnkey point of sale kiosk may only
be available for one specific inventory
tracking and point of sale system. If you
don’t use that POS system, you likely can’t
integrate that turnkey kiosk to fit your
self-service or purposed device needs.
Even if the turnkey solution is exactly what
you need, the specificity of the solution
typically restricts you to only the vendor
and options preselected by the solution
provider.
There are, of course, some clear
upsides to turnkey kiosk solutions. Top
of the list: reduced time to market, the
ability to leverage vendor learnings/best
practices, and the benefit of not having
to do all of the research and decision
making for each component (decision
paralysis). Turnkey solutions answer many
unfamiliar questions and synthesize
the plethora of options for you. There
are turnkey solutions across a variety
of industries including marijuana cash
and inventory payment systems, electric
car charging kiosks, ATMs and parking
payment kiosks.
When bespoke solutions are best:
• When you need something that
integrates an existing, or newly
developed, custom application or
solution.
• When you want to pick each of the
components individually: device,
hardware enclosure, kiosk system
software, and peripheral devices. With
bespoke, you can select each piece
individually without being restricted to
predetermined components.
• When you have ‘part’ of a solution but
need the rest. If you’re repurposing
existing hardware, for instance.
• When your intended kiosk functions
will be extremely simple from a
software perspective. For a simple
kiosk deployment, you can combine the
components yourself without needing a
turnkey solution.
• When quantity is so high that it
becomes cost effective to develop a
custom solution.
As you begin your project, you’ll
want to determine what ‘constants’
are already in place. Do you have an
application or database with which you
need to integrate? An operating system
or computer hardware contract you wish
to utilise? These constants can eliminate
turnkey solutions altogether, or showcase
exactly how perfectly a specific turnkey
solution fits your needs.
Consider the many components
typically involved in a kiosk project – many
of which you’ll see represented at Kiosk
Summit, and among the many advertisers
of Kiosk Solutions magazine.
These include:
1. Application: Website, web app, digital
signage etc.
2. Kiosk system software: Security for
the application and OS, plus provides
device integration out of the box
3. External/peripheral device: for cash
or card accepting kiosks, or security
sensing features (EMV card reader
support, security mat support, barcode
reader support, etc).
4. Enclosure: A tablet stand or kiosk
enclosure
5. Device: Table, PC, Digital Display
To view your options, both turnkey
and bespoke, visit Kiosk Summit and sub-
scribe to Kiosk Solutions. Kiosk Summit
2017 will take place at The Business De-
sign Centre in London on 28 September
2017. To find out more and to register
for free visit www.kiosksummit.co.uk n
KIOSK solutions 37