Video Conferencing Kiosk: The Intelligent Answer to Document Verification Challenges

By Panashi

Verifying customer identity can be a time-consuming task due to several reasons. The complexity involved in document verification, the practical difficulty involved in document collection, the unavailability of touchpoints, the sheer number of applications to process – all these aspects make customer identity verification a herculean task.

Of course, there are digital channels like mobile apps. But when it comes to the document verification UX, these digital channels lag behind. This means that the UX of digital channels has to be uplifted for an improved customer experience.

If you are into service sector like banking and finance, government or telecom sector, I’m sure, you can easily relate to this scenario.

A video conferencing kiosk can serve as a feasible solution to tackle this age-old challenge. And this blog lets you know how.

Read on to understand the immense marketing and promotional capabilities of these versatile machines.

Parts of a video-conferencing document verification kiosk

A self-service kiosk for customer verification is loaded with several key components to streamline several vital tasks. The hardware components of the kiosk system are listed below.

Interactive display – The responsive and interactive touchscreen facilitates seamless remote interaction with the verification agent via video chat. It also helps the user easily follow the instructions and perform the submission of documents.
High-resolution camera – Of course, a high-resolution camera is a crucial component of the video conferencing kiosk. A high-resolution camera with a decent specification is needed for customer identification and real-time video call.
Document scanner – performs high-resolution scanning of physical user documents, so that agent may instantly verify the information once it is uploaded by the user.
Printer – Once the verification of documents is completed, the document printer prints the confirmation receipt for the reference of the user. The user may collect the receipt for future use. If needed, the document printer can also print the copies of the verified documents.
KYC devices – The video conferencing terminal is loaded with KYC devices passport scanner, fingerprint scanner, Civil ID reader, facial recognition feature etc.
Digital signature pad– The document verification kiosk is equipped with a digital signature pad, so that the customers can offer their digital signature easily via the kiosk terminal.
Card reader – Verifies user ID cards or banking cards, once they are submitted by the user.
Passport scanner – Scans the passport of the user instantly after submission.
Barcode scanner – gathers customer information on ID cards reducing human errors.
Payment devices – the machine is equipped with cash acceptor, cash dispenser coin devices to accept customer payments.
A4 printer – to print relevant documents for customer reference, if necessary.

When it comes to software side:

Kiosk client – The application running through kiosk terminals.
Agent application – You may market your company values, branding messages, CSR initiatives etc. via the kiosk interface.
Agent service – A Windows service that facilitates kiosk-agent communication.
Terminal Management System (TMS) – The central admin panel that control and monitors all the activities of the kiosk system.
Kiosk client listener – A Windows service that perform administration and maintenance tasks.
Kiosk server – Tesponds to the kiosk client’s requests and messages.

Video Conferencing Kiosks for Life Plus Domestic Workers Center, UAE

Life Plus is a supplier of domestic workers including housemaids, nannies, lady drivers and cooks in the UAE. The service is known by the name of Tadbeer in UAE. Tadbeer centers are government-licensed institutions that offer recruitment, visa processing, training and orientation of domestic workers. As of now, there are 19 jobs that come under the category of domestic workers in UAE, like housemaid/servant, guard, cook, nanny, worker, personal assistant, gardener etc.

For additional information regarding domestic workers in the UAE, please visit the UAE government’s official website here.

Solution offered by Panashi

Panashi video conferencing kiosks are designed to streamline and automate the visa processing operations of Life Plus. The video conferencing solution is a full-fledged, feature packed solution that offers live video chat facility and self-service document verification.

Once Life Plus kiosks are activated, an agent will cross check the visa application process through the deployed self-service kiosk solution and subsequently authenticate, direct and endorse the possible services to a customer, promptly and effectively.

These kiosks will be deployed in multiple, high footfall locations like shopping malls and can be controlled and managed remotely, by an authorized admin.

Panashi’s video conferencing solution eliminates the time-consuming, human-assisted verification process conducted via physical branches, and thus saves precious time and resources of both the service providers and customers. Moreover, the video conferencing kiosk solution offers a unique and highly convenient user experience. The users can find a document verification kiosk near to their locality and easily apply for Visa. And hence, they can avoid travel to the Visa processing agencies.

With agent support and guidance via live video chat, customers can easily submit their documents via the device-integrated kiosk terminal.

Video conferencing terminals are better than mobile apps. Here’s why?

When it comes to document verification UX, the video conferencing terminal offers an improved UX compared to mobile apps.

While in app-based verification, the user has to perform all the verification processes through a single device, following the instructions and scanning the documents – all at the same time.

In reality, the user has to hold the smartphone in one hand, do the scanning of documents, capture user’s live photo and read through the instructions simultaneously, which is inconvenient. Moreover, the mobile app UX can vary with the type of device, OS, app design, internet connectivity etc. Hence, there is no uniformity in UX.

Kiosk-based document verification offers live video chat support to the customers throughout the verification process. The feature avoids errors and input-related delays. Live video chat support is highly beneficial for services that involve extensive verification procedures.

The kiosk machine is equipped with dedicated, use-specific devices that manage each and every task involved in customer verification process. For example, document scanning. Document scanning is carried out by a document scanner. When the user is ready to scan, the scanner device with LED lighting assistance turns on and captures the scanned image of the document with ease. The document scanners are highly helpful to capture wrinkle-free, high-resolution images. And you know the clarity of the documents speeds up the verification process.

The kiosk terminal offers top-notch internet connectivity, and therefore, offers uninterrupted and smooth document verification. Whereas, a smartphone may experience internet connectivity issues for several reasons, which would hinder the verification process. In short, the verification process becomes highly dependent on the device and network connectivity.

Kiosk machines offer enhanced security features like data encryption and they operate in a controlled environment. This avoids unauthorised access. Smartphones are highly prone to malware and phishing attacks. Even an unsecured network connection can result in data breaches and identity theft.

Video conferencing kiosk are extremely helpful for the unbanked and non-tech-savvy customers who have limited access or exposure to technology.

When we consider all the aspects shared above, it becomes evident that a video kiosk terminal is a far better option for document verification compared to mobile apps.

Video conferencing kiosks for Document verification – Use case scenarios

You may leverage the benefits of a video conferencing kiosk in a wide range of use case scenarios, where customer identity verification is necessary. And they are:

Government institutions and agencies : Government agencies like Road and Transport Authority (RTA), Tadbeer centers, passport issuing authority and any other government agency can make use of the video conferencing terminal to conduct user and document verification.
Banking and finance sector : Even banks and insurance companies require customer identity verification. And these kiosks are widely used in this sector for their convenience and efficiency. Banks and other financial institutions collect several documents as part of loan application and other complex transactions.
Healthcare: Hospitals can make use of video conferencing terminals for processing patient insurance claims, streamlining administrative processes, patient verification etc.
Telecom sector : Identity verification, documents submissions are normal in the telecom sector as part of new sim card issuance. And yes, the telecom transactions demand a high degree of security as sim cards can be misused. Deploying video conferencing self-service kiosks can effectively handle real-time customer verification with utmost security, adhering to the telecom regulatory policies.
Travel and Tourism sector : Tour coordinators, travel agents need to verify their customer credentials and documents. Deploying a video conferencing kiosk at high footfall regions like airports, transportation hubs, busy junctions can streamline document verification process. The customer need not have to visit the physical location of the travel agent and may obtain instant approvals too.

Conclusion

There are several domestic workers service centers in the UAE that are approved by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization.

A large number of domestic workers visiting these service centers on a daily basis makes the verification process highly time-consuming. It can also result in service-related delays.

The Panashi video conferencing kiosks for Tadbeer centers facilitate a highly efficient and streamlined customer identity verification platform, which is scalable and customizable too.

You may easily add an additional kiosk to your existing network as part of your expansion plans and market your services to a wider audience.

For any information regarding the implementation of video conferencing machines for document verification, please get in touch with Panashi technical consultants.