Video Intercom and Queue Management system installation: A thorough guide

A door entry scanner with a video camera to take pictures, a screen to show the pictures to the occupant, and a mechanism for opening the door are the fundamental parts of an all-in-one access and intercom system. 

Not all video intercom systems come with built-in reader capabilities; instead, external hardware must be installed in addition to the intercom to manage access.

The design of the door entry panel, the power supply, the number and location of tenants, and the connection all affect how long and how much it will cost to build a system. Scalability and weather protection should also be taken into account.

Video intercom installation guide:

Design of a door entrance panel:

Panels can be surface- or flush-mounted. Although flush-mounted panel installation requires more time, the result is more streamlined.

Power supply:

To provide the video intercom entrance panel with mains electricity, it might be essential to run a new cable. Power-over-Ethernet is the source for several systems. You may use an existing data network for this. The cost of installing a video intercom system can be significantly influenced by the number of base stations and the kind of power supply.

Wireless or wired connections:

Dedicated cabling runs to each tenant are needed for a hard-wired video intercom system, which might raise prices in a building with many residents. A wireless video intercom system lowers installation expenses, but it needs to have enough bandwidth and range to offer each renter a dependable service.

Amount of users:

All occupants must be able to be supported by the system. While some businesses provide different packages depending on the number of user profiles, other video intercom system technology suppliers charge a flat amount for any number of users set.

Additional intercom systems might be required if the building receives a lot of visitors to relieve congestion near the building's main entrances.

Weather defense:

The components of an outdoor video intercom system or an outdoor intercom system with a camera, such as door entry panels or gate-mounted devices, must be certified to IP65 standards for protection against rain and dust.

Scalability:

The system must be scalable if there is a chance that the number of inhabitants may increase. The only way to expand a wired system is to add more wiring. It is simpler to grow a wireless video intercom system to accommodate more users.

Arrangement with other systems:

Finding chances to integrate door video intercom with other systems, such as security and surveillance, delivery management, guest management, access control, and building management systems, is crucial when planning system installation.

The simplicity with which cloud-based video intercom systems may be connected with other relevant systems to provide a comprehensive property management solution is a significant advantage. For effortless integration across an infinite number of platforms and tools, the best Video Intercom Reader, for instance, is built on open APIs and mobile software development kits (SDKs).

ONVIF-compliant video platforms guarantee system compatibility, greatly simplifying integration. The ONVIF Forum created the open standard known as ONVIF. It aspires to standardize the IP-based security camera market to make it simpler for businesses to develop solutions that are interoperable with those of other manufacturers.

Costs of system maintenance:

To determine the overall through-life costs of various video intercom systems, it's critical to include charges for servicing and maintenance in addition to the original installation costs.

Defining Good queue management:

We won't bore you with the background information because you can read about the history of queues and queue management in our post here, so let's get to the point.

A digital queuing system is a practice of controlling waiting areas and customer flow to enhance customer satisfaction and increase productivity among service personnel.

The first half will undoubtedly have your agreement because it is essentially self-evident, but what about the last clause, "staff productivity"? - has queue management improved?

That is only one of the numerous positive side effects that efficient queue management may have on your staff and business.

Let us  give you an example of what may happen if the queue management system you choose is inadequate for the job:

You are at a competitive disadvantage if your queue management is poor:

If the line appeared to move more quickly at a competitor's store, 74% of your consumers would make a purchase there.

Conflicts result from inefficient queue management:

When waiting in line, 27% of customers find other customers annoying, and 19% of customers have argued with a partner or friend while waiting.

Poor queue management has an impact on buying:

It was discovered that increasing the line from 10 to 15 people reduced the purchase incidence from 30% to 27%.

Guidelines for efficient queue management include:

Provide choices for self-service check-in:

Customers can check in independently using self-service kiosks, which is one of the initial steps in the queue process.

Self-service is a key component of excellent customer service in general, not just in terms of check-in but also in terms of support issues.

Self-service customer check-in enables you to accomplish the following:

Quicker checkout:

By skipping the typical wait time and giving the consumer control, self-service kiosks reduce wait times.

Increased adaptability:

Customers can check the relevant service line and give more details about how they want the service to be delivered.

The reduced burden for employees:

Employees may concentrate on offering better service as walk-in consumers are no longer manually managed.

Decreased operating expenses:

Reduced workload translates into labor and time cost savings.

Describe how “wait times” appear:

Because wait times seem shorter when they are explained, this point is crucial.

In short, perceived wait periods are frequently unrelated to the passage of actual time. Customers may perceive a wait to be much longer than it is, even if they have just been in line for a few minutes. This is due to social and emotional factors.

To use an old illustration, minutes grow into hours as you wait for your date to show up; when you finally get to spend time with the date, hours turn into minutes.

Visitors will focus excessively on waiting if they have a bad overall experience, which will lower consumer satisfaction.

Because of this, you must guarantee that clients:

• Be aware of the anticipated wait times
• Recognize the cause of any delays
• Receive frequent updates and notifications

Increase agent effectiveness:

Without properly qualified service representatives who can resolve any problem quickly, queue management cannot be done effectively.

You need to ask yourself these questions:

• How productive are my service representatives?
• Is the time taken to complete a certain service step too long?
• Do all service representatives execute at the same level, or are there any that fall short?

When it comes to monitoring and evaluating employee performance, the goal should not be to penalize those who are not as effective as they may be but rather to use it as a mentoring opportunity.

A carrot always prevails over a stick in the never-ending competition.

Additionally, you must provide your workers with the resources necessary to be as effective as possible. Alerts for when a queue requires attention must be included in a queue management system.

For instance, assigning a visitor to a separate line is a frequent problem that any service representative may fix using a digital queue management system.

Let's say a customer made a mistake and joined the incorrect queue. That customer would have to re-join the line and essentially start again at a firm that does not care about queue management.