Using kiosks to channel communication

One of the hottest channels for communication today is the information kiosk. These free-standing devices are being used to provide information and services to employees, customers and others. Using touch screens, multimedia presentations and net' worked services, kiosks can extend the reach of communication to locations that could not justify the cost of a full-time communicator.

But before choosing this new channel, beware of the pitfalls that can undermine its effectiveness, obviating the potential benefits and discouraging usage. One corporation's experience provides helpful dos and don'ts for anyone considering information kiosks.

Nortel is a global manufacturer in the highly competitive telecommunications equipment industry. In 1990 it decided to use kiosks to deliver information to plant floor employees, who typically don't have desktop computers. Although the corporation has extensive technical expertise in computers and communication networks, its first effort, which offered employees a selection of corporate videos, was a failure. After initial curiosity, employees ignored the kiosks.

Convinced that the concept was sound, a team of technical experts made revisions. This time, they decided to deliver services as well as information to employees. With the new design, employees could check their personnel files to update such data as their home address, emergency contact, educational background and the like. At the same time, other information, such as company news, also was made available on the kiosk.

The initial results of the new kiosks, dubbed InfoPAL, appeared to justify the team's confidence that this new mix of services and information would overcome employee apathy. Employee usage started out higher than before, and responses to the on-screen questionnaire indicated their favorable reaction. But after several months, usage declined precipitously, and the questionnaire, which was linked to usage, failed to indicate where the problem lay.

Bolstered by new members with communication and marketing backgrounds, the team tried one last time to make the kiosks work. This time they reconfigured the kiosk, renamed the Information Station, and found the right combination, with consistent high employee usage and favorable survey results.

What made the difference? This time, the team based its design on three success factors that proved critical: time, novelty and notification.

Time Is of the Essence

The team found that the first determinant of success is the amount of time the employee needs to use the kiosk: the more time required, the lower the likelihood of success. People today have many demands on their time, so any task that is time-consuming is less likely to win acceptance.

Many factors affect how long it will take an individual to use the kiosk. The first is the length of the information itself. It's a mistake do put information on the kiosk that takes too long to absorb. The initial Nortel kiosk played five-to 10-minute-long videos, not realizing that employees would not like standing that long in front of the kiosk watching a video.

A second potential problem is the options most kiosks offer. How information is organized and categorized in these options is crucial. If they are clear and obvious, most users will go straight to the information they desire. But if the categories are confusing or too numerous, the user will be forced to search for what he or she wants, wasting time.

A third time trap is providing the user with too many layers of choices to make. Every time a user must make a choice, he or she "descends" another level into the information content. The deeper one goes, the easier it is to become lost or disoriented, especially for a new user. A good rule of thumb is to avoid having the user go more than three levels down before getting to the desired information.

A final time-waster that is easily overlooked is time waiting to use the kiosk. People may wait in a queue to get cash from an automated teller machine, but they rarely value information as highly. Make sure you have enough kiosks to serve the intended population adequately. Nortel followed the rule of one kiosk per one hundred employees.

Many organizations have developed information kiosks assuming they would be "launch and forget" communication. No matter how interesting or entertaining the information, users will eventually tire of it if the contents aren't refreshed. The second success factor Nortel's experience revealed was novelty: the more frequently information is updated or new information added, the more likely employees will continue to use the kiosk.

The first service Nortel installed on its kiosk -- verification of employee records -- was initially popular. But once most employees had verified or corrected their home addresses, they had little or no reason to return. And, as psychologists have repeatedly shown, if people fail to get a desired "reward," they will soon be negatively conditioned.

Nor is it sufficient to update material over intervals that are too long. Once a user believes no new information will be available, he or she is unlikely to check the kiosk to see if something new has been added. Nortel puts new information out at least weekly.

That also means that the kiosk should be designed so that information can be easily and frequently refreshed. The best way to do this is to connect the kiosk to a network, so new information can be added remotely. Kiosks that provide information from a physical medium such as a compact disk require time-consuming manual updates.

How does a user know when new or updated information is available on the kiosk? To ensure that users don't make fruitless trips to the kiosk, there must be some way to notify them that new information has been installed on the kiosk.

Nortel's development team established a goal that "No employee ever goes unrewarded when using the Information Station." It established a separate bulletin system for the kiosks: A series of television monitors placed in high-visibility locations throughout its plants. Whenever new information is added to the kiosk, a notice appears on the bulletin monitors, alerting employees and inviting them to check the kiosk. For example, when a senior executive wanted to send a special word of thanks to all employees, the letter was posted on a special section of the Information Station, and the bulletin monitors were used to alert employees. As a result, virtually every manufacturing employee saw the notice, a better outcome than would have occurred had the letter been printed and tacked on a bulletin board.

Just like the information kiosks themselves, notification screens need to observe the success factor of time. For example, passersby cannot easily read scrolling text on a screen; they are likely to catch only fragments of the message. Likewise, full-motion video requires a user to stop and view the entire message. Serial communication such as these fail to take into account other demands on users' time. Bulletins on Nortel's system are limited to a single screen that can be read in four to six seconds.

It took Nortel three separate tries to identify and employ these success factors. But the effort was worth it: employee usage continues to be high, and employee surveys show a consistent 80 to 90 percent favorable response. Any communicator planning to employ kiosks will have to address these criteria if he or she wants to achieve similar levels of success.

Michael D. Brandon is director of internal communication, Nortel, Nashville, Tenn.

COPYRIGHT 1995 International Association of Business Communicators
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