Implementing an Automated Queuing System: 5 Signs You’re Ready

Technology is becoming a huge part of managing higher education institutions. With student queues an ever-increasing challenge for colleges and universities, we’re seeing more institutions embracing key technologies like automated queuing systems to control the flow of students, eliminate long lines at service points, ease the burden on staff, and improve the overall student experience.

While queueing technology promises a lot in terms of ensuring greater efficiency and productivity, the big question for higher institutions is how do you know you’re ready to implement one of the many queue management solutions available in the market. Below, we discuss the five main signals that you’re ready for this technology:

You’re Unprepared to Handle Inflows of Students

Higher education institutions deal with many students seeking services in the registrar’s office, health centers, financial aid offices, bookstores, library, food services, athletics centers, performing arts centers, and other student service points on a daily basis. If you’re not ready to deal with this inflow of students, especially during peak times like admissions and orientation, exams, and course enrollment, then you need to implement an automated queuing system.

Long queues across campus mean facing huge bottlenecks and unnecessary long wait times for students, leading to frustration and dissatisfaction. Having historical data that shows you the busiest times of the day, week, month, and year will provide your staff and administration with precise predictions for ensuring optimal student service delivery and improved overall student flow throughout the queues.

The key to fixing bottlenecks is by having an innovative and effective queue management system that collects data accurately and in a timely basis so students can book a place in line via virtual queuing from wherever they are and get notified when they move ahead in the queue. If your staff is always overwhelmed by students, then it’s time to implement an automated queuing system for higher education.

Your Service Loads are Out of Balance

Queues in colleges and universities vary. In one service point, such as the registrar’s office, lines are long during admissions and course enrollment but experience fewer student lines later in the semester. The same goes for other key service points like bookstores. In some instances, one of the queues at a student service point will be heavily backed up while another will not have more than a handful of students.

If you realize that your service loads at critical service points on campus are out of balance, it’s time to embrace the use of queueing technology. This will help you point out when you’re busiest, what departments face the biggest challenges in managing student flow, why queues vary in waiting time and number of students, and other details. Using this information, you can now proactively redirect student traffic to even service delivery across all queues.

Students are Complaining About the Queue

If you’re regularly getting complaints, groans, moans, or experiencing high numbers of students abandoning lines, it may be time to see how an automated queuing system can help your higher education institution manage long queues. The modern-day student values their time more than anything else, and the more time they end waiting in line, the more likely they’ll become dissatisfied with how you deal with long queues.

Colleges and universities rely heavily on student ratings, so you want to ensure they’re satisfied with the overall student service experience. Students not only want to spend less time waiting, they also want to get the best services when their turn comes. Administrators need to meet and exceed these growing expectations, and a virtual queue management system will help you improve student services, eliminate long lines, and help your staff deliver better services.

Students are Not Being Served Quickly Enough

More students flowing in and out of your queues generally translates to higher engagement rates and increased service delivery, but it’s not always easy as 1-2-3. You could actually be losing out on engaging students the best way possible or even increasing frustration among students, especially when they have to wait for too long before they get served. If your students are not served fast enough, implementing an automated queuing system is the solution.

If you’re not serving students fast enough, you could potentially be creating problems that can lead to an increase in student dropouts, a reduction in staff morale and productivity, and lower student engagement. Queue management technology can help streamline student flow across all service points so that students can simply schedule an appointment via your campus website or their mobile phones and engage in other activities during the wait time.

Students are notified when their service time nears so they can come and get served without having to wait in line all along. Virtual queueing helps disperse crowds, making wait time more pleasant for students while also cutting perceived wait times and letting students arrive when you’re ready to serve them. An automated queuing system allows students to track their wait time in real-time and even request more time to be served if necessary.

Your Staff are Uninformed and Less Equipped

Most often than not, higher education institutions aren’t aware when service times are out of acceptable target ranges. If your staff has no efficient way to react and stop potential student backups, then you need to invest in automated queue management and appointment scheduling software. With such a system, your staff can get real-time alerts regarding queue progress, student numbers, and scheduled services in a timely manner.

With the right data in their hands, your staff can then address student queueing issues before they get out of hand and anticipate demand for services across the learning institution. This means knowing what to expect, when, and where. At the end of the day, staffing allocations and resources can be directed to meet the growing demands for streamlined student services.

Explore QLess Queue Management Solutions

If you’re looking for an automated queuing system to manage long lines of waiting students, get started with QLess queue management for education. Transform your university or college campus experience by implementing our industry-leading queue management and appointment scheduling software to optimize efficiency and reduce wait times for students. Request a free demo or contact us if you have any questions today.