Kiosks are a booming form of self-service technology. Found at grocery stores and airports, sporting events and movie theaters, healthcare facilities, parking meters — or national parks — all kinds of kiosks exist, whether self-service kiosks, digital signage kiosks, check-in kiosks, pricing kiosks.

You get the idea. Kiosks are technological systems of remote devices designed to meet business needs with technology.

What kind of business needs? Kiosks support:

• Visitor management (i.e. visitor management kiosks)
• Reverse ATMs
• Smart vending, and
• Buy Online Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) smart lockers ...
• ... but there are countless other use cases for kiosks!

Interactive kiosk solutions can be powerful multipliers used to increase revenue, support customers, facilitate transactions, and more. Kiosks can serve a single-purpose or handle many functions for a business.  

As we reflect on what successful kiosk management looks like, there are four ways to reduce kiosk device downtime and simplify technical support operations with kiosk management software.

1. Leverage Remote Control to Reduce Onsite Kiosk Repair Visits

Remote control encompasses policy updates, software patching, security updates, firmware updates, and any other updatable kiosk software. Accordingly, remote control gives a technical support team (or kiosk product team) the ability to distribute software updates “over the air,” update device settings, manage kiosk lockdown / kiosk mode, update network settings (firewall, reboot / reset the wi-fi module), and more.  

‍Having remote access and remote control over the settings and software of your kiosks will significantly reduce the need for onsite assistance — a.k.a. “truck rolls” or dispatching repair technicians.

2. Prioritize Kiosk Security

‍You should remember that increasing the number of kiosks expands the risk of security vulnerabilities as each unattended kiosk becomes a potential access point.

Kiosk operators should employ traditional security tools (e.g., McAfee) alongside other cybersecurity products. Regardless of the cybersecurity product you choose, you must maintain uniformity across your kiosk device deployment:

• All kiosk software (including security products) must be managed, whether through policies, scripts, or other means.
• Kiosk management software must have the capability to detect all aspects of your kiosks' services, including the core settings of the kiosk computers.
• Prevent tampering or unauthorized changes to device settings. This is required to ensure end users cannot access files and background services that should be off-limits.

3. Configure Kiosk KPIs and Notifications to Support Kiosk Uptime

No two kiosk deployments are alike, and the daily operations and end-user activity on a kiosk device will vary.

Product and support teams should work together, adopting best practices for reducing kiosk downtime through remote monitoring and management. Additionally, it's important to track not only the issues within your deployment but also the successful strategies for troubleshooting and restoring health to your deployed kiosks.

The goal is to have a strong understanding of what supports kiosk uptime. To accomplish this, connected product teams responsible for kiosk deployments must configure key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs should translate kiosk device data into meaningful metrics that support your business needs.

→ Download the white paper Overcoming Downtime to learn what 200K tickets teach about resolving remote device downtime.

Use your kiosk monitoring and management system to measure and track performance — e.g. tracking open tickets, complaints, and phone calls about down or malfunctioning devices.

4. Future-Proof Your Deployment of Kiosk Devices

‍Invest in kiosk management software must allow for growth and adaptation. This may involve exploring beyond your current technology stack and utilizing third-party tools. For example, will you be able to plug in your kiosk fleet to APIs? How will your kiosk deployment integrate with point-of-sale (POS) systems in the field?

Future-proofing looks like keeping software up-to-date. Your kiosk management software should make it possible to do everything from updating firmware to updating user interfaces (UI), making these updates as often as makes sense for your business.

Find kiosk software providers capable of integration with existing systems — as well as remote monitoring and management capabilities that allow for automations. These remote device management platforms empower kiosk product providers to concentrate on their primary products and services.

Finally, be sure to think through the build vs. buy decision carefully. The answer is not always what you think. For example, watch how CEO Robert Chiti thought through the build vs. buy decision for OpenTech:

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Kiosk Management for Windows, iOS, and Android Kiosks

To successfully manage a large deployment of kiosks, you need effective remote monitoring and management (RMM) software that’s built for kiosk devices.

Every kiosk device is unique, making effective kiosk management software should enable holistic solution management. By collecting real time health data on key components such as software, hardware, and peripherals, your team will have centralized visibility into the entire kiosk system health and be provided with actionable insights if there is a problem.

Secondly, your kiosk management software should support multiple operating systems (OS). With the proliferation of Android devices and Apple iOS devices (iPads / tablets and smartphones), mobile device management (MDM) software is often seen as a viable solution for kiosks. But what MDM solutions fail to account for is that kiosks vary dramatically in capabilities, making use of peripherals and other devices that also requires device management. Additionally, many kiosk deployments still use Microsoft Windows. As a result, companies are now seeking kiosk management solutions that will support deployments of Windows devices as well as next generation Linux, iOS, and Android devices.

Third, kiosk management software must facilitate incident and ticket tracking for support. As part of continuous improvement efforts, an incident management system should assist operators in managing open tickets, RMA processes, and field updates. With kiosks positioned in increasingly restricted and remote locations, kiosk management software should also include monitoring capabilities that cover reporting and maintenance records.

Canopy Is RMM Software Designed to Streamline Management of Kiosk Devices

Canopy offers kiosk management software used by technical support, IT admins, and product teams to automate remote device management for all kinds of kiosks, from self-service kiosks to digital signage kiosks — as well as countless other connected products. Teams use Canopy to reduce downtime.

Canopy helps kiosk operators and product owners to reduce downtime and improve product performance.

At its core, Canopy collects data from endpoints, transforms that data into actionable insights (i.e. KPIs), and enables users to view and respond to this information within the platform, either manually or automatically.

KPI data shows you the real-time status of your kiosk deployment, and Canopy’s remote management capabilities allow you to take corrective actions or preventative maintenance to maintain the highest levels of product availability. Remote management actions include distributing software updates, initiating desktop sessions, tracking uptime performance, and automating issue resolution.

As a result, teams that use Canopy report 47% fewer inbound support calls and a 17% reduction in onsite technician visits to restore kiosk health.

Or consider how OpenTech Alliance was able to automate onboarding and provisioning of their kiosks, eliminating thousands of support tickets while reducing time spent by 50%.

How Will You Monitor and Manage Your Kiosks?

Investing in kiosk management software is a strategic move for businesses looking to enhance productivity, improve the uptime of their solution, and ultimately drive superior customer experiences.

If your team is looking to grow its kiosk monitoring and management capabilities, explore Canopy RMM — or learn how OpenTech's product manager Justin Johnson automates kiosk management, cutting onboarding time by 50% while reducing tickets and even empowering customers.