Version 8.5 of KioWare kiosk software released with a ton of new features and enhancements. RFid scanners, Motion detectors and more.

Source: kioskindustry.org

Impressive new features to KioWare software. RFid and motion in particular I think.

From Yahoo Finance: SAN FRANCISCO, May 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Swyft Inc., a leader in automated retail and vending technology, announced a January 4th, 2016 close of US$3.5 Million in Series A equity financing. “Th

Source: finance.yahoo.com

Excerpt –  

Swyft was co-founded by Gower Smith, creator of the automated retail industry. “We are at the inflection point where automated retail is proven, however has not yet scaled. Just like when banks introduced ATMs, location numbers increased 10 times once independent manufacturers deployed low-cost machines. At ZoomSystems I quickly grew annual sales from zero to $100 million, but after handing off management, the company didn’t continue to lower capital cost to improve ROI. Our data showed that this was the key for scale to tens of thousands of locations and billions in revenue, which is our focus at Swyft.”

Automated retail provides more compelling unit economics than the $20+ billion US vending industry because it usually offers high-value merchandise, not just soda and snacks. Automated retail delivers the highest sales per square foot at typically 5-20 times the revenue of a vending machine, with many individual stores exceeding $1M annual revenue. It is more efficient than traditional retail because it eliminates staffing and real estate risk. Before Swyft, the technology lacked flexibility and operating costs were too high to scale.

The $3.5M funding has already enabled Swyft to release its low-cost hardware, flexible cloud-based software and a more efficient operating cost structure. This disruptive solution means lower capital costs, shorter ROI and the ability to scale to tens of thousands of locations. Swyft anticipates tremendous growth, with a projected market of over $1.5 Billion in the US and $5 Billion globally.

In healthcare patient check in there are efficiency variables/factors that you should evaluate and utilize to optimize your own patient flow.

Source: kioskindustry.org

Some good ROI numbers included in opinion article by Mike Masone. Thanks!

Gifts retailer 1800Flowers, which has recently made waves in artificial intelligence integration, is cementing its stronghold on mobile commerce with an IBM Watson-powered gift concierge that uses cognitive capabilities to tailor product suggestions for shoppers.

Source: www.mobilecommercedaily.com

1800Flowers has always been innovative. 1800Flowers is the first ecommerce brand in the gifting sector to use IBM Watson’s personal shopper platform

When General Payment Systems, Inc. (GPSI) made the move into courthouse payment systems, they needed a compact bill payment solution

Source: kioskindustry.org

Good writeup on various ROI factors managed in this bill payment kiosk for courthouse bill pay. 

Fourth Corner Credit Union for cannabis businesses says courts can’t rule on potential of breaking a law before any crime has been committed.

Source: www.denverpost.com

Half-a-billion people stored files on Dropbox. Well, sort of. Really, the files were in Amazon’s cloud. Until Dropbox built its own. And threw the switch.

Source: www.wired.com

The Internet of Things has investors pouring billions into developing the device interconnectivity technology, but are there security concerns?

Source: www.inquisitr.com

When you look back just five years ago, the business intelligence (BI) space looked completely different than it does today. Traditional BI tools primarily used by IT reigned and self-service analyti…

Source: www.business2community.com

With competition high and customers expecting top quality attention, business owners should know the trends impacting customer service.

Source: smallbiztrends.com

Self-service has become the name of the game for the modern consumer. People now prefer seeking answers on the web—it minimizes the interaction necessary to resolve an issue and fits in this era’…

Source: www.business2community.com

This morning, WhatsApp made the scope of the Apple-FBI encryption battle look kinda small.

Source: www.wired.com

BY ED RENSI – A $15 minimum wage won’t spell the end of McDonalds. However it will mean wiping out thousands of entry-level opportunities for people without many other options.

Source: www.forbes.com

Makes sense McDonald’s would use someone retired to say it since it allows them to stay at arm’s length.

Since 2012, Panera Bread has been driving growth in their restaurants and have invested in tablet kiosks (which is part of their Panera 2.0 initiative) to increase their sales and customer experience.

Source: www.linkedin.com

More ways to order sometimes means more orders. Panera ROI and stock is showing the effect.

Success in retail is often measured by revenue-per-square-foot and customer satisfaction. Find out how retail kiosks can bring you more of both!

Source: www.olea.com

Spar is trialling a new store concept with Holland & Barrett, mixing convenience with a focus on healthy food and lifestyle brands. Managing Director of Spar Debbie Robinson revealed that the trial is taking place at three Northern Ireland outlets when speaking at the 2016 Association of Convenience Stores Summit. The stores have proven potential, with £15.99-a-jar coconut oil having already become a popular item. According to Robinson, partnering with major brands is a way in whic

Source: www.retailgazette.co.uk

A number of other concepts are also being considered by Spar; Robinson referred to vending machines outside stores, able to cater to “the “many night workers who need services in the out of hours”, as well as improvements to services such as in store parcel collection and free wifi provision.

In the vending and micro market industry, we focus a lot on products. Do you have the right mix for your location? Are you using data to understand how a certain demographic shops? Do you need to add different types of nutritious products?

Source: www.vendingmarketwatch.com

One element that rarely gets mentioned is refreshing your unattended retail … That is not why consumers visit the vending machine or micro market.

Biometric Employee kiosks in Namibia use Biometrics from Fujitsu to provide better access for employees in a sometimes challenging environment.

Source: kioskindustry.org

Biometric employee kiosks and technology used in Namibia by SAP with help from Fujitsu. Automation extends to employees.

Good article. What Starbucks tells us about automation and the future of jobs.

Source: www.vox.com

A Starbucks barista isn’t just doing a job that could be automated in the future. We’ve known how to build vending machines for coffee for decades, and with a bit of effort they could probably automate the sale of pastries too. Starbucks could lay off all of its baristas and make its stores fully automated.

But Starbucks isn’t going to do that because they know customers aren’t just coming for the coffee. The ritual of ordering coffee and having a human being prepare it is an integral part of the Starbucks experience.

Thin Client RFP Opportunities listed by date of interest to thin client community. Thin Client Bids appear in goverment and local listings, all public.

Source: thinclient.org

New VMware bids Washington DOT included.

For restaurants in California and New York—and, ultimately, across the country—the recently approved $15 minimum wage bills represent a new reality for an industry that’s historically been dependent on lower-wage workers.

Source: www.qsrmagazine.com

Negative point of view on impact. The accountant does agree that it will increase automation.

Three new features on KI all directed at automated self service and impact of minimum wage. Panera’s and McDonalds and Wrestling with wages feature article..

Source: kioskindustry.org

Three features this month with opinion piece on self service automation and minimum wage.  Automation wins eventually. What do you think?

The home furnishing brand’s latest promo features proof of purchase that lasts as long as the item.

Source: www.psfk.com

25-year warranty hard to lose with this receipt made of stainless-steel.

From Yahoo Finance: SAN FRANCISCO, April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Gower Smith, the founder of ZoomSystems, has been appointed CEO of Swyft Inc., a technology company revolutionizing the high-end automated retail industry

Source: finance.yahoo.com

Swyft’s clients have the option to lease the hardware, lowering the capital expenditure required to enter the automated retail channel.

“Swyft offers its partners extremely low monthly fees to deploy and manage the network,” said Hashim.

“High-end automated retailing has been proven to be the most profitable per square foot retail method,” said Smith. “Many automated retail stores generate annual sales exceeding $1 million per store.”

Swyft anticipates a market potential of $1.5 billion in the US and $5 billion globally.

Martine Reardon is leaving Macy’s after 32 years. Will Setliff, a key marketer at Kohl’s, also resigned on Tuesday.

Source: adage.com

Major marketing channels in the news with Macys and Kohls

Definition of kiosk and many of the different types includes RMU, Retail Kiosk, ATM Machine, Bill Pay Kiosk, Kiosk Software and more.

Source: kioskindustry.org

New writeup on definition of kiosk. Includes all types.  Can you contribute any new iterations and examples?

Good data on ROI for patients using patient portal and impact on payment.

Source: www.beckershospitalreview.com

1. Following patient portal adoption, healthcare practices experienced improvement in self-pay yield. Practices that increased portal use rates by 20 percent over 12 months experienced a 4.8 percent increase in self-pay yield.

2.  Improvement in several financial metrics pre- and post-implementation was notable.

Average patient pay yield (8 percent improvement)
•    Pre-implementation: 63.9 percent
•    Post-implementation: 68.9 percent

Patient accounts receivable (16 percent improvement)
•     Pre-implementation: 83 days
•    Post-implementation: 70 days

Accounts sent to collections (21 percent improvement)
•    Pre-implementation: 2.9 percent
•    Post-implementation: 2.3 percent

3. Portals also increase patient loyalty. Patients with access to a portal are 13 times more likely to schedule a return visit. Over 18 months, practices that adopted portals had an 80 percent retention rate, compared to a 67 percent retention rate of practices without portals.

Review of video conferencing marketplace by Gartner

Source: www.gartner.com

Summary

Web conferencing is emblematic of the dynamic blend of content and collaboration in the digital workplace. Conferencing markets converge as audio, video and Web mix with persistent spaces to enable faster decisions and remote teamwork.

Strategic Planning Assumptions

By 2019, WebRTC will be utilized for 15% of enterprise voice and video communication, up from less than 1% today.

By 2020, 30% of meetings will be facilitated by virtual concierges and advanced analytics.

Market Definition/Description

Web-conferencing products are real-time collaboration tools that support interactions over a network between participants in multiple meeting formats. The types of meetings and communications that fall into the category of Web conferencing include webinars, remote training, online meetings and audio communications. Some vendors segment their product lines to target and scale to each of those use cases, while others offer broad solutions that can be fitted to each purpose.