The Power of Cellular Connectivity for Self-Service Solutions
Growth of connected devices is increasing exponentially as more businesses digitally transform. Kiosk self-service solutions are a key part of this, enabling digital delivery channels. With a customer focus, KIOSK sought to strengthen their connectivity offering to ensure optimal field performance and uptime.
As more applications became increasingly data intensive and require adaptable connectivity, the ability to manage a scalable spectrum of connectivity-related requirements presented challenges – as well as an opportunity for a solution partnership. With OptConnect, KIOSK can now provide a robust connectivity solution for their customers.
About KIOSK
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Louisville, Colorado, KIOSK provides unparalleled expertise and sole source management of design engineering and manufacturing, application development, integration, and support services.
KIOSK is a trusted partner of Top 100 Retailers and Fortune 500 clients and offers end-to-end self-service kiosk solutions for industries like retail, hospitality, transportation, government, healthcare, and financial services.
Their Need
A majority of KIOSK’s deployments are in unattended or semi-attended third party locations, which can’t always rely on traditional connectivity infrastructure like Wi-Fi or hard line options (operators don’t own the end location). Additionally, it’s not cost effective for operators to install hard lines. Establishing a secure and private data connection with firm security protocols is vital when conducting financial transactions.
“KIOSK historically provided Service Level Agreements (SLAs) tied to hardware and software uptime, with connectivity as an outsourced option. If connectivity issues arose, it was oftentimes challenging to quickly identify the root cause. This led us to seek a full solution that could help control the entire solution stack, thereby enabling faster mitigation and resolution of connectivity issues,” said Tucker Lightsey, KIOSK’s Product Management Director.
“We sought to differentiate KIOSK’s connectivity capability for our self-service solutions to improve the customer experience and operational efficiency. Through our partnership with OptConnect, we gained a managed service that enables highly secure and reliable connectivity for our customers.”
Tucker Lightsey
Director of Product Management at KIOSK
The Solution
To start, KIOSK tested OptConnect devices on units in the field, eventually rolling out to a nationwide deployment of 3,000 units for a single customer. With a need for secure connectivity to transmit sensitive data, OptConnect stepped in to act as a gateway with no data stored - giving KIOSK and their end-customer peace of mind and security. KIOSK’s initial pilot was a success and after a couple weeks of onboarding, KIOSK officially became an OptConnect Certified Partner.
"We put OptConnect and their competitors next to each other, went through the pros and cons and pricing of each,” said Lightsey. “Everything OptConnect had to offer was the best fit for what we were looking to achieve for our customers and business. It was eye-opening to see that there was a company like OptConnect where we could bundle the hardware and connectivity plus layer on managed services to help solve the challenges we were experiencing. It allowed us to remove that burden from our Managed Services Team and bundle it all together to provide tremendous value to our customers."
The Future of KIOSK
From a cost perspective, KIOSK believes that OptConnect’s managed wireless connectivity is ideal for third party locations. When KIOSK can bundle connectivity into their Total Managed Services offering, they see opportunity to grow beyond third party locations. “Customers will appreciate the benefit of having their kiosks arrive in a plug-and-play state,” said Lightsey. “Everything else is taken care of from hardware, software, installation, support, service, application, connectivity. It’s a turnkey solution.”
KIOSK is excited about how this partnership helps support essential connectivity requirements and ensures a seamless customer experience.
Working with KIOSK
At OptConnect we believe in making communication simpler, faster, and easier. We created our Certified Partner Program to empower those who share that same vision.
“With a focus on managed services and first-class customer service, a partnership with KIOSK Information Systems has always been attractive,” said TJ Carter, Director of Parter Success. “Our two companies had the same goal in mind of delivering a superior customer experience. Through our partnership, KIOSK Information Systems can now offer a complete solution, including cellular connectivity through OptConnect. Ultimately, two respective experts in their fields combined to offer a simpler turnkey solution for secure connectivity.
“OptConnect’s solutions have brought tremendous value to our KIOSK’s business. Having an elevated and bundled solution synergizes with what we strive to provide our customers. Working with OptConnect has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for us.”
Tucker Lightsey
Director of Product Management at KIOSK
Kiosk Connectivity
OptConnect provides wireless network connectivity for kiosk systems of any size. Specifically, our neo2 router is perfectly suited for kiosks, micro markets, digital signs and other applications that require high speed connectivity and the peace of mind of redundant carrier connections. neo2 is a compact LTE Category 4 multi-carrier cellular router that comes with OptConnect managed wireless services and a license to Summit and its API. When you need the very best connectivity for your equipment, neo2 delivers twice the coverage with 2 carriers built right in.