17 Million Brits Have Never Been Online!

We in the IT industry sometimes act as if everyone uses the web as much as we do. But the truth is that 17 million Britons have never been online. That is the challenge facing Martha Lane-Fox, co-founder of Lastminute.com and freshly appointed by the UK government as their Digital Champion.

Have those 17 million people chosen not to go on-line? Do they see it as irrelevant to their lives, too expensive or simply too daunting? I suspect that the last two of these are nearer the mark. In fact I think many of them feel left out and at a disadvantage because they do not use the web.

Ms Lane-Fox has hosted the first meeting of a task force to target the six million poorest Britons. There is a close correlation between social and digital exclusion. The poorest sectors of society make up a large part of the 17 million.

She has a tough job. Professor Bill Dutton of the Oxford Internet Institute thinks she is trying to convert those who have no desire to be converted: "The big question is how do you get people to experience a technology that they are predisposed not to be interested in,". I disagree. Who would not want access to cheaper car or household insurance? Who would not like to be able to find a job using the power of on-line searching technology? Who would not like to be able to correspond by emails with distant friends and relatives?

The UK government definitely wants to do far more business on-line. Currently 80% of its transactions are done with the bottom 25% of society, and moving these services on-line offers great cost savings. The Department for Work and Pensions (Jobcentre Plus) jobs website already has a pretty impressive one million searches per day.

And local government is following this lead. For example, Coventry City Council has put applications and bidding for social housing exclusively on-line. The scheme has driven more people to the Foleshill UK Online centre, one of 6,000 centres around the UK designed to get more people computer literate and using the web. "It is an internet-based service and unless you are computer literate it is not easy. It is a way of us helping people to help themselves," said Chrissie Morris, an advice officer at the centre.

By the way, both Jobcentre Plus and Coventry City Council use kiosks from NeoProducts to extend the reach of their on-line services. They recognise that one cannot migrate services to the web without catering for those without access. And the most cost-effective way of doing that is with kiosks. With a simplified touchscreen user interface; context-sensitive help, and good design, they make using the web easy.

One way to include those 17 million people in the digital revolution is to make the most popular and useful on-line services available on lots of conveniently-placed public access kiosks.

e-Choupal Shows the Way

e-Choupal has been created by ITC Limited to enable rural farmers in India to buy and sell agricultural produce like soya beans, wheat, and coffee. It does this by allowing them directly to negotiate the sale of their produce via a network of PCs and kiosks in 6,500 centres spread across 100 districts in 10 states. Previously, the farmers had to go through numerous and sometime corrupt intermediaries.

What a great idea and what a fantastic use of kiosks! Allowing shared public access to interactive technology is what kiosks are all about. And this is only the beginning.

Several rural job portals have recently been launched in India. They are expected to grow rapidly and play a vital role in the Indian government’s vision for inclusive growth in India. e-Choupal has already been identified as a platform to deliver these portals to rural populations. That make’s perfect sense. The infrastructure is there and the system has gained public acceptance.

Of course, NeoProducts can rightly claim to be the world-leader in developing kiosks for job broking. We have delivered national systems on a big scale (in the UK and Australia) and on a small scale in countries as diverse as Ireland, Malta and the Czech Republic. We hope soon to be working with partners in the developing world on systems like e-Choupal.

We will be explaining the benefits of using custom-designed touchscreen kiosks with very rugged components and casings - machines that will continue to deliver reliable service whatever conditions they are placed in and however much use (and misuse) they get.

Border Control Kiosks Meet Traveller Demand

The fourth annual SITA Air Transport World Passenger Self-Service Survey has found a 20% growth in adoption of self-service check-in options over the last year. It also concludes that passengers are demanding improvements in security procedures and airport dwell times as they check-in less baggage.

In partnership with Sagem, NeoProducts is responding to this demand by applying leading edge technology to improve Australian Border Security: SmartGates. As well as improving security, this system reduces the pressure on immigration staff and makes life easier for the weary traveller.

The SITA survey found that passengers are ready to give confidential data in order to get through the airport faster. There is 57.8% positive attitude towards registering with automated border control and security programmes compared to 48.7% in 2007. 62% of passengers would like to see shorter queues and security screening was the most chosen option when asked which step of the journey passengers would most like to change.

The expansion in the number of international travellers, coupled with the need for ever more sophisticated screening processes has meant that border security must innovate to manage higher throughput in a challenging environment.

The Australian Customs Service has embraced this challenge and is now a world leader in automating border security.

Australian Smart Passport holders can now self check through customs and immigration by scanning their passport and interactively answer entry questions at one of the 80 Smartgate kiosks. The traveller then proceeds to one of the automated gates where a biometric recognition system verifies their status and allows them entry.

The Smartgate kiosks were designed by Neo for Sagem, who deliver the complete system. So now one of the first things that a traveller entering Australia sees is a kiosk from NeoProducts.

Why Kiosk Design Should be Left to the Experts

I love the technology behind Intel’s latest foray into retail self-service. Their grocery checkout terminal concept allows shoppers to send grocery lists to their mobile phone and retrieve and scan electronic coupons. The touchscreen interface also provides customers with useful information, like a recipe look-ups. The kiosk provides effective cross-selling opportunities for the grocer and reduces transaction time by giving the consumer the choice of self-checkout.

So far so good. But the kiosk they have designed is far from ideal in my opinion. It breaks lots of rules of ergonomics and would be very difficult for some customers to use - particularly those in wheelchairs.

As a company specialising in self-service systems, NeoProducts has years of experience designing easy to use and very accessible kiosks. Its Affinity model set a new standard for this back in 2001. Its side-mounted screen, with plenty of leg-room underneath, is perfectly pitched for both standing and seated users, and can be reached comfortably without stretching. Thousands of these kiosks have been in heavy daily use since then without any usability issues emerging.

But the lessons of this seem not to have been learned by newcomers to the world of kiosks. Intel!...we should talk.

HMV Rollout Kiosks from Neo

HMV, the UK and Ireland’s leading specialist retailer of music, DVD/video, computer games and related products, has introduced self-service kiosks into its stores to improve the overall customer experience in a deal with YESpay, a global payments services company, and its partner NeoProducts.

Customers will be able to use the kiosks to locate stock, view sample clips as well as ordering content for home delivery. They can also download MP3 tracks for immediate take away on a media or a storage device. YESpay’s EMBOSS Chip & PIN payment service integrates with the self-service kiosks, enabling faster, easier and more secure payments.

Following a successful trial, the retailer will rollout transactional kiosks throughout its entire store network.

Dave Elston, Ecommerce Manager at HMV, said: "The technology accepts all UK credit and debit cards, allowing prompt payment and delivery of goods securely. With customer demands increasing and people wanting to buy music in new ways it’s important to ensure that with new shopping methods, payments are met securely."

"This technology will allow us to offer customers a means of ordering and paying for products that were either not available in store or by offering easy payment for audio downloads. Eventually the aim is to roll-out further to all stores, gradually increasing the quantity of kiosks in any given store. We saw over 27,000 product searches conducted over the Christmas period, which we believe have contributed towards physical product sales in stores."

Stuart Kitching, Account Manager at YESpay International, commented: "Our work with HMV is a perfect example of how electronic payments can be exploited to interact and engage with customers in new ways. These kiosks are also an innovative way of allowing customers to listen to music before they choose to make a purchase."

Carey Liddy, Project Manager at NeoProducts, added: "Self-service kiosks present an opportunity for retailers to engage with potential and existing customers differently in a way that can ultimately improve a retailer’s long term performance."

e-wrap Launched in the Championship

Hot on the heels of its Premier League debut at Aston Villa, e-wrap makes its first appearance in the Coca-Cola Championship.

West Bromwich Albion became the second football club in Europe to launch e-wrap. Fans of the Baggies are now able to personalise their mobile phones, Nintendo DSs and iPods with some great designs.

To help Baggies fans stand out from the crowd, e-wrap has designed exclusive and unique West Brom wraps, one of which is shown here on an iPhone held by Albion centre-half Leon Barnett. There are 18 other designs to choose from.

e-wrap is the latest electronic device decoration and protection technology - high-quality vinyl skins in a wide range of designs for most mobile phones and other hand-held devices. The customer selects their preferred design and device using a NeoProducts touchscreen kiosk. An e-wrap in their chosen design is then cut to fit their device.

e-wrap Launched in the Premier League

NeoProducts launched its exciting new product e-wrap for Aston Villa at their home game with Fulham in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday 30 August.

e-wrap is the latest electronic device decoration and protection technology - high-quality vinyl skins in a wide range of designs for most mobile phones and other hand-held devices. The customer selects their preferred design and device using a NeoProducts touchscreen kiosk. An e-wrap in their chosen design is then cut to fit their device.

Aston Villa have commissioned their own e-wrap design. This will allow their fans to be the first in the Premier League to show their elegance on their mobile phone.

It is possible to e-wrap almost any electronic device from phones through to games consoles and digital cameras in lots of exciting designs. But custom designs (like Villa's) can be added to the range with ease.

For more information and to become part of a genuine world first retail revolution, please contact:
Jurgen Strack
+44 (0)121 486 4302
+44 (0)7855 430662
Press release on prlog.org