Virtual Queuing – Service Queue Management for Social Distancing
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About the Author Nalaka is a Software Architect at Creative Software. He has two decades of experience in various roles related to software engineering.
Research indicates that people spend between two to five years of their lifetime waiting in queues to obtain services. That is between 17 to 43 thousand hours of an average human lifespan. The dominant cost of this is both physical and emotional stress. Prior to the inception of virtual queuing, we had no choice other than to be in the dubious position of finding the correct queue and physically stand in-line until it’s our turn to be served.
What is Virtual Queuing?
Virtual queuing empowers customers to access services without the need to physically wait in-line. It enables customers to wait anywhere, monitor their queue position in real-time, and receive notifications when it’s their turn to be served. Upon arrival, a customer can be identified by name, phone number, social security number etc. and placed in a virtual queue. The virtual queue is invisible in the sense that customers are not confined to a specific queue position, so they don’t know their position in the queue relative to others. A customer’s position in the queue is secured by a physical ticket printed by a ticket printer or a mobile ticket sent to the customer’s phone as a text message.
How does it work?
With a virtual queue management technology, customers can remotely get in-line through a mobile ticket – an online ticket that can be viewed on a mobile phone. The process starts with the customer checking-in by scanning a QR code or being assisted by a mobile concierge who is a staff member of the service organisation.
There are several ways a customer could “virtually” get in-line. The most common are, firstly customers use their mobile phones to scan a QR code which is posted outside the service premise (e.g. at the main entrance/door or window) and secondly, a web page or a mobile application presents a list of services from which the customer can choose a service and get in-line a virtual queue.
If a customer has confirmed an appointment in advance, initially he or she will receive an email or a text message when the appointment is created and enable the appointment for committing a self-arrival through the system. Then the customer will be able to “self-arrive” and get in-line for the appointment within a pre-defined time period decided by the system based on the actual appointment time.
Subsequently, customers can wait remotely (may be at the convenience of their home or car) and monitor their position in the queue through their mobile phones. They will be able to view queue movement progress on a real-time basis (i.e. how they move forward in the queue from one position to another, expected waiting time etc.) and also receive notifications when they reach a certain position (e.g. 3rd in-line) in the queue. When their turn arrives to be served, a staff member will send a notification to the customer through a virtual queueing staff app. Upon receiving this notification, the customer can visit the service desk and be served while maintaining a safe distance.
Next week: How can Virtual Queuing help Social Distancing?