Protouch and XN Leisure produced a ‘Virtual Receptionist’ that propelled Aberdeen Sports Village’s self service levels to 80% and won a Retail Systems Award 2010.
The Challenge – Improving Reception
In order to enable Aberdeen Sports Village to provide a fast and efficient service we looked at the busiest part of its Leisure operation “Reception”. Reception is the first point of contact for information, for bookings, for payments and for interaction with customers. Making these processes faster and more efficient, while at the same time ensuring the management information is as detailed as possible was a key factor.
Aberdeen Sports Village is a partnership between Aberdeen City Council, the University of Aberdeen and sportscotland. Through sportscotland's National and Regional facilities strategy, the Aberdeen partners submitted a bid to develop a regional facility in Aberdeen, and from this initial bid, the vision for the Sports Village was born. The state-of-the-art £28 million facility sees a host of sporting amenities previously unavailable and unseen in the north east. Included in the complex is: full size indoor football pitch, indoor running with throwing/jumping areas, games hall, squash courts, fitness suite/gym, exercise studios, sports science facilities and dining/conference areas. The external running track and football/hockey pitch have recently been enhanced by a new stand with seating for 500.
The Objectives - Running a self service booking and payment solution
In 2009, Aberdeen Sports Village had a number of objectives to be achieved in order to run a self service booking and payment solution: to ease the strain at peak times on the front desk; to enhance customer experience by fast tracking members' entry to bookings and activities and reducing queuing time; to provide customers with a convenient self-service solution that allows them to easily check in for activities and collect tickets, make future bookings or enquiries without staff assistance; to collect customer feedback on service.
The Solution – ‘Virtual Receptionist’ Kiosk
XN Leisure and Protouch worked to together to implement an innovative ‘Virtual Receptionist’ kiosk solution that automated the whole booking, ticketing and payment process for Aberdeen Sports Village.
The kiosk offers a 19” touch screen, RFID smart Card Reader, receipt and ticket printer and branding while running a booking and on screen payment application that provides fast-track entry and a secure monitoring system using membership cards linked to turnstiles, barriers or doors. The intuitive design makes it easy for customers to work through the booking process and takes the pressure off reception desk staff that were usually required to do this. Having completed their booking, customers can start enjoying the leisure facilities immediately with their membership card being activated to utilise the access control around the building.
The Results – Enhanced Service, Automation, Profitability
The ‘Virtual Receptionist’ has automated the whole booking, ticketing and payment process for Aberdeen Sports Village and is now used by 80 per cent of its members. It has leveraged its resources by turning receptionist staff into Customer Service Ambassadors and has greatly enhanced customer experience by increasing the speed of transactions and efficiency with which customers can now check in and make bookings.