Queue Management in Business

Queue Management today has a whole new meaning.

There is no doubt that we are living in unprecedented times. Businesses need to modify the way they operate in order they can survive.

During the pandemic, social distancing is required to help stop the spread of this virus and to ensure everyone is kept safe.

At Hague Australia, we know that many Service Centres had to close. No longer can customers visit their local Government Agency to renew their licenses, students visit their Student Service Centre or Outpatients visit for their regular appointments

Businesses have modified the way they operate and at the heart of these changes, we see QLess being an invaluable tool in Queue Management within Customer Service Centers.

The Hague Queue Management solution (QMS) works across several different business sectors including Education, Retail, Government, and Healthcare. Hague QMS can help these businesses operate be it in a slightly different way than normal.

Hague QMS is a little different from traditional Queue Management in that customers, students, and patients aren’t required to attend a service centre or health clinic; they can book their place in a virtual queue via their mobile phone, business website, or even at home using the Home Kiosk.  Additionally, Appointment Booking is becoming more important in the way businesses operate today. Appointment Booking does not have to be face-to-face, it can be via a call-back, Skype or Zoom call at a predefined time.

Let us look at some industries that have deployed Hague QMS:

Education

In Australia, Hague QMS is deployed in over sixty-five locations and the majority of these are within the University space. Australian Universities such as UTAS, La Trobe, RMIT, Western Sydney University, and several others rely on Hague QMS as an integral part of improving the Student Experience.

As we all know, students live their lives on their mobile phones and so for many Universities, Hague QMS was an obvious solution as it offers fully interactive SMS (University to Student and vice versa) to keep both parties informed of service stats. Students book their place in a virtual queue or an appointment for another day. Once they are ‘booked in’, Hague QMS automatically keeps the student informed of their actual wait time (not just a guess).  A real-time wait indication is based on several factors such as the number of students within a queue, the number of staff serving, how long each service is taking plus several other calculations that are used to define the true wait time.

Within just three weeks of implementation, Hague QMS eliminated more than 2,812 collective hours of physical wait time. This equals 382.59 days, or just over a year of physical queuing time students would have squandered otherwise.

Director of Student Services, Australian University

Government Offices

There is no doubt that Government service centres have been hit the hardest. Whilst wanting to minimize customer contact, some Government Agencies have seen a huge increase in footfall through their service centres. Centrelink has not only seen increases in the thousands across their offices but their website was also hit by a huge volume of new claimants Click HERE to Read More

Government Agencies in Australia including Consumer Business, SA use Hague QMS to manage their customer flow and improve the customer experience. Also, several Councils use Hague QMS to get a better understanding of their customer inquiries and utilize real-time customer feedback, now they know what their customers think!

A real game-changer is Appointment Booking.  Customers can book a time slot with (for example) a DA Planner. Customers receive SMS and email notifications of their appointment as well as SMS reminders on the day of their appointment. This has helped to increase attendance.

As previously mentioned, several Government agencies are looking at Hague QMS Appointment Booking to provide a pre-defined appointment call-back service. This again reduces the need for customers to attend the Service Centre.

“Insightful analytics provided by Hague QMS allows us to adjust our counter service for even greater efficiency. By enhancing the overall operation, the number of customers served increased by 50%, while the number of no-shows decreased by 35%.

Healthcare

In the Healthcare sector, the Hague QMS Patient app is an invaluable tool that can be used to clear out congested waiting rooms, keeping patients separated is key at times such as these. Patients can use the app to virtually create an appointment or check in at an urgent care clinic from the safety of their car. Prior to them being seen, the app sends an alert to their mobile phone and they can go directly to see the receptionist or healthcare worker. Additionally, using Concierge adds that extra level of safety.

When we launched Hague QMS, our satisfaction rate was incredible. Over 95% of our patients reported that they love the new Hague QMS system. For so long the process of delivering patient care has remained the same: patients arrive at an office, fill out paperwork, and wait for the doctor. We have fundamentally changed how we deliver care.” 

Healthcare Network

Retail

For one moment, let us forget social distancing, lockdown, and all that is going on. Just think about the last time you went to your local mobile phone retailer to buy a new mobile phone. How your hopes faded fast as you see all the staff engaged at their desks and a further five people waiting…you know this is not going to be a great experience! Now add social distancing and believe me, from firsthand experience, it is even worse!

Hague QMS allows customers to join a virtual queue and then be kept informed of their wait times via SMS notification. The customers can push themselves back into the queue if they wish.

In larger Retail stores, Hague QMS technology can help keep customers dispersed throughout the store where distancing is easier to achieve.

Serving customers more quickly with the Hague QMS solution is going straight to their bottom line. Each store is seeing an increase of $1,200 in profits each month.  The return on investment for the solution through the reduction of no-shows and walk-away is more than 600%.

Vodafone

Logistics

The logistics industry must also continue operating, but bottlenecks causing employees to wait in line do not help with social distancing efforts. This can be especially dangerous when truck drivers who travel are forced to come into close contact with others. The Hague QMS app creates an opportunity for employees to wait in their trucks, outside by themselves, or anywhere other than a crowded room. Work becomes streamlined, and documents and instructions can be delivered via mobile phones.

Firstly, all truck lines have been eliminated. As a result, exchange areas are always now reachable because there are no hundreds of trucks blocking common areas. Additionally, traffic jams leading in and out of the port have been eradicated. Within the first year of the new queuing system, since truck drivers now avoid wasting hours a day waiting in line this will result in eliminating at least 730,000 kilograms of CO2

DP World

Want to know more about Hgaue QMS?  Email us at contact@hagueaustralia.com.au