Using self-service technology to reduce customer waiting times

An important perceived benefit of self-service technology has been its potential to reduce customer waiting-times. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine under which conditions the introduction of self-service technology in a service delivery process could reduce actual waiting-times and improve service levels. A simulation study showed that waiting-times and service levels in a hotel check-in process were influenced by the number of resources available to customers, the number of customers arriving to receive service, the processing speed of the self-service kiosk and the failure rate of the self-service kiosk. Specifically, results showed that longer self-service kiosk processing times and higher failure rates led to longer waiting-times, especially when customer demand was high. The authors recommend that service providers considering self-service technology implementation pay careful attention to the design and performance of the self-service technology.