IBM Corp. doesn’t expect to dominate the worldwide kiosk market. Not on its own anyway.
Giving new meaning to the adage “strength in numbers,” IBM plans to team with companies in a growing number of fields employing self-service technology to devise ways to make kiosks more prevalent and beneficial to businesses and consumers.
The company created the Self Service Alliance as part of its new Customer Services Initiative, which it unveiled in September. The initiative is designed to help businesses across multiple industries connect to today’s technology-savvy consumer, who — according to an IBM survey — is increasingly self-sufficient.
IBM hopes to broaden the possibilities of kiosks through the alliance, company officials said. Sixty-five companies representing 11 countries and 18 business sectors already have signed on to be part of the collaborative effort.
Among them are Polygon, a German firm that provides enclosures and resells Anyplace kiosks; St. Clair Interactive, a Canadian company enlisting a broad range of kiosk solutions; Mitropis of Slovania, which focuses on self-checkout; and Opera Glass Networks, an American company providing food and wagering solutions for the gaming industry.
That interest illustrates the ever-growing presence and need for advanced kiosks, said Juhi Jotwani, IBM’s director of marketing and strategy for retail store solutions.
By bringing together representatives from diverse markets and trades, IBM wants to hear industry concerns, issues and ideas it can use to develop self-service technology that can be streamlined across various fields.
“This is an inclusive strategy,” Jotwani said. “No one company can offer, end-to-end, everything on the kiosks. We’re working with all of them so the customer can have a choice of solutions, applications and buy what’s right for them.”
It was feedback from partner businesses that led to the advent of the Anyplace kiosk, said Bruce Rasa, self-service team leader for IBM’s Anyplace kiosk division who also served as part of the kiosk’s development and implementation team.
Rasa said IBM fields questions daily about its machines and software from around the world. They also receive pictures illustrating creative ways customers are using their self-service products.
The businesses that already have signed on to be part of the alliance, which is expected to grow as word of the initiative spreads, represent a solid number with which to work, Jotwani said. That enables IBM to generate plenty of ideas and feedback.
“The more ideas the better,” she said. “This is a very simple program. … Kiosks are so applicable in so many industries.”
Members of the alliance also have an opportunity to generate new contacts among themselves, foster new relationships and improve their businesses.
They will come together at least a few times each year, including later this year at a trade show in New York. IBM also plans to use partner conferences in North America, Europe and Asia as a way to bring together companies in face-to-face settings.
Members also can tap into a special Web site that will offer technical tips, questions and answers and contacts in the alliance.
“There will be a lot of communication back and forth,” Jotwani said. “To us, this is about building a kiosk-based community. We want to enable a platform to build a community globally.”
The alliance will be similar to other efforts IBM has used in other sectors of its business.
The company created the Blade Center Alliance to focus on wireless computer servers that use mechanisms called blades. Since its creation two years ago, membership has grown to 800 members.
Dialogue and meetings have led to innovations and positive changes, Jotwani said.
“We see value working with each other,” she said. “We’re determined to do the same thing for kiosk, and we will.”
IBM officials expect that the feedback and ideas that surface from the Self Service Alliance will shape the future of the self-service kiosk industry.
“We want to offer a world of solutions to our customers,” Jotwani said. “Not just the ones employed by IBM.”
Collaboration is pivotal, considering the development cycle of technology such as kiosks is roughly 18 months, Rasa said.
“We’re going to do this cycle again,” he said. ‘By listening to partners and listening to customers, increasingly, more creative solutions will appear.”
In the end, IBM wants to be at the forefront of the kiosk industry.
“We want to dominate this market, along with our partners,” Jotwani said. Employing an approach that includes multiple businesses, “that makes our solution more powerful and versatile.”
“We know with diversity and globalization, the more we know we can’t do it ourselves,” Rasa said.
