Counting people

There are certain rules that one always has to accept as a consumer of a service. Queues is one of them. There are moments where you imperatively have to hold the line at certain places and that’s standard procedure. The question for the owners and managers who run these places is not whether they can eliminate queues, which they can’t, or whether they can manage them better, which they try to with limited success. A better question is how they can change the perception that customers have of them, and hence how they behave if facing the prospect of one.

 

The ambition

The conversation then turns into looking for ways to break the random element of a queue as much as possible. Or, in other words, make both the provider of the service and the consumer thrive and enjoy, respectively, amid an unpredictable – in principle – environment that is smartly managed and controlled.

This is what we like to do. In this case, it is about addressing the opportunity to transform the business and customer experience alike.

 

Addressing it

The challenge that queues pose is not a new one. Neither are the potential technologies or tools to address it. The fun might therefore rely on how to put the existing different pieces together to come up with an innovative solution, using the frameworks that science provides.

Take a theme park as an example. Or a store, bar, or supermarket. Virtually represent the operations of a given site – the park – in real time. Much as autonomous vehicles use the vector space to get the most unified 3D model of the surrounding, uncontrolled environment.

Count the people. Know where they are in real time, the options they have, what can be attractive for them at that specific moment, what can annoy them, what to offer, how to offer, for how much, etc., and you will have the tools to regulate their expectations across the park in real time, manage behaviours, and offer unrivalled, personalized customer experiences.

These journeys are enabled by a set of technologies and processes that, properly blended, support the delivery of a new business model that leapfrog the site profitability at the same time it delights visitors:

Cameras and sensors for data capturing, artificial intelligence for image processing and real-time insight development, dynamic micropayments-based transactions, new app-based customer front-end, and other processes such as digital check-in, contactless interactions, etc.

 

Creating impact

Immediacy. Impulsive behaviours creating immediate satisfaction by providing valuable options to be traded for queues.

Double-digit revenue increase. Dynamic micropayments based on value-based pricing and upselling opportunities, offering the potential to increase customer revenues by a range of 30% to 50%.

Smart crowd management. Control of crowds in a post-COVID world.

No margin cannibalization. Growth is driven by new behaviours and not by discounts.