Queuing software that manages citizens’ waiting experience: City of Richland
The City of Richland is a municipality that handles utilities, business licensing, city payments, and other related services.
The problem
In charge of the citizen experience
The City of Richland provides a lot of different services aimed at a wide spectrum of the population. On any given day, the City of Richland experiences hundreds of visitors, all wanting to resolve their particular problems.
Prior to partnering with Qminder, Richland did not employ any queuing system to manage their visitors.
Over time, it became apparent that manually managing the line was taking up precious time. It was decided to find a digital queuing solution that could:
Automate the check-in process
Offer flexible management of visitors
Store customer data for later use
The Goal
Swift, smooth issue resolution
The City of Richland wants to provide fast, efficient resolutions to their visitors’ problems.
The solution
Learning the new system
The City of Richland started using the Qminder queue management system on a recommendation by the City Manager.
One of the deciding factors was the system’s iOS compatibility and the ease of setup. The latter was proven when there were no issues with connecting new devices or onboarding the staff.
The City of Richland decided for a simpler queuing layout: they have one waiting area, three iPad, and a TV to show their waitlist in real-time.
This is how it looks from a customer’s perspective: they walk in, sign in on an iPad, join the virtual line, check their queue status on the TV, and then are called up by a front-desk agent.
The success
Flexibility and intuitiveness
Overall, it was noted how Qminder provides a better customer experience.
One of the biggest selling points was the user-friendliness of the interface — not only from the perspective of visitors, but for the staff as well.
Flexible visitor management options allow the clerks to rearrange the visitor line on the fly without any service interruptions.
If a visitor has joined the wrong line, they can be moved to the correct line in just a few clicks. This drastically reduces the possibility of human error as well as frustration.
Learning points
The City of Richland proves that simplicity drives the experience. Their easy layout results in significantly reduced wait times and, as a result, improved satisfaction.
The public sector at large is still to come to grips with the fact that visitor experience matters. The City of Richland, with its use of modern queuing technologies, paves the way for the rest.