A self-service kiosk project is intimidating. Often, this is a first-time project for many companies and the scope can present a daunting challenge. Simply attempting to get your arms around all of the potential issues is nearly impossible if you are new to the technology. Even experienced industry veterans admit they have difficulty identifying each of the key components.

It is important for any project, but especially true for self-service kiosk implementations, to consider all facets before initiation. These include creating clearly defined goals, creating realistic success metrics, building the appropriate team, understanding the customer expectations and deploying successfully.

For the past few months, a team of experienced kiosk professionals has been busy compiling a Kiosk Best Practices Guide. The team is comprised of representatives from kiosk manufacturers, software development companies, field services organizations and, most importantly, end users. Our objectives included:

• Creating a central document for successful kiosk design, development and deployment practices.
• Establishing a non-commercial resource that encourages input from all corners of our industry.
• Ensuring this is a living document and one that will actively recruit input for improvement and new ideas.
• Lay the foundation to include the integration of best practices guides for the mobile and digital signage industries.

We hope you will find the guide helpful and educational. But, we need your help to make it even better and more useful. We are actively seeking input from all facets of the industry and encourage you to submit new ideas and additional documentation that we can include in the document. Please keep in mind this is a community-driven document and we want to avoid commercials for specific companies or products.  

Please submit your suggestions to . Our review committee is meeting on a monthly basis and we’ll review your submissions for inclusion in the document.

We encourage hearing your feedback and urge you to submit suggestions, corrections, and new ideas. It is through our collective effort that we will grow and improve this document and make it better for everyone.


Bill Lynch is vice president of Reevex and chair of the Kiosk Best Practices Sub-Committee of the DSA Self-Service Kiosk Council.