Executives share predictions at Self-Service Innovation Summit | ATM Marketplace

When it comes to any industry, it can be insightful to get predictions and insights on where the industry is headed, especially informed executive opinions. The closing keynote, entitled, “Thought Leader Roundtable: Executive Predictions” at the Self-Service Innovation Summit held from Dec. 14 to 16 in Hollywood, Florida, gathered five executives in the self-service industry to hear their predictions.

Elliot Maras, editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times, moderated the panel with Arvin Jawa, global VP of retail strategy and regional Americas, Diebold Nixdorf, Ravi Venkatesan, CTO of Cantaloupe Inc., Josh Goodman, founder and CEO of PourMyBeer, Bill Stutzman, VP of strategic initiatives, Ventus and Sharon Peyer, VP of business development and media, CPI.

Conference highlights

First, Maras asked panelists what stood out for them at the conference. Venkatesan of Cantaloupe Inc. said he was struck by how relevant self-service technology has come in light of labor shortages, hyper inflation and supply chain issues.

“The storm’s not coming, storm’s already here,” Venkatesan said. As a result, it was clear to him that self-service operators have to adopt to rising demand for their technology.

Peyer of CPI agreed that labor costs are driving more adoption of self-service solutions, but she was also struck by the need to keep the consumer in mind from the vendor side.

“You have to really remember we are a business to business to consumer industry,” Peyer said. “You have to understand the consumer to inform your business customer.”

Other panelists were impressed by this B2B2C moniker. For example, Goodman of PourMyBeer said when customers know what self-service is “supposed to be” they are less tolerant when it doesn’t work as well, such as the time he attempted to order at Universal Studios with a QR code and the process was very difficult. In addition, Jawa of Diebold Nixdorf said that customer expectations are increasingly driving self-service design and he saw that in action at the conference.

Goodman also said he was particularly impressed by Main Event’s part in a session, which showcased how by adopting a self-service onboarding process, it was able to cut down the onboarding time significantly. Stutzman of Ventus also mentioned he was intrigued by how some self-service vendors create very specific solutions for certain use cases, while others have more malleable solutions.

Cellular issues

Next, Maras asked panelists whether their customers were struggling with the upcoming switch from 2G and 3G networks to 4G and 5G. Overall, the panelists were fairly confidence in their clients’ progress towards transition away from 2G and 3G.

Venkatesan said most of his customers are on top of it, in part due to a program his company has been running to make sure customers are aware of the changes. Meyer pointed out that the date for the sunsetting of 2G and 3G networks has been a topic for several years, and customers are aware of it. Those that tried to avoid it are making the transition now before the systems all shut down.

Stutzman said that the Sprint-T-Mobile merger was worse for his customers than this issue. However, Venkatesan did emphasize that for those companies who want to delay the switch until the cutout, they might want to reconsider their position because 3G towers are already going dark.

New tech

When Maras asked the panelists their thoughts on what they found to be the most exciting new or emerging technologies, they gave some surprising answers.

Venkatesan for one pointed to QR codes as something he was particularly excited about. “Before they(QR codes) became commonplace, everyone was building an app for everything,” he said. “Customers don’t want to get an app for every gas station, ever grocery chain. Let’s drive loyalty and engagement, give our customers the tool to drive that engagement through clever use of QR codes.”

Peyer said that QR codes could be utilized beyond just the point-of-sale, but at the end of the transaction so brands could engage with customers at a deeper level. She also discussed the role of sensors and visual recognition with smart vending machines, where customers can simply pull a product out of a machine and have a seamless transaction.

“The technology isn’t quite there yet to ensure there’s no theft of product,” Peyer said. However, she also said “when you put those (technologies) together, you can get pretty accurate that doesn’t feel like they’re buying from a locked vending machine. You can offer all sorts of products.”

Jawa spoke about the role of these sensors at the self-checkout. His company is looking at tools such as age verification at self-checkout so customers can purchase alcohol without an employee having to come over to check their ID. These visual sensors could also help detect what type of produce a customer is trying to purchase so it can give them options on the screen to pick which one they are actually purchasing rather than just leaving the customer to look it up themselves.

On a different level, Stutzman said he is particularly excited about the possibility for voice at self-service. For example, a customer could go to a McDonald’s kiosk and tell it what it wants rather than have to go through multiple pages to complete their order. He did emphasize that while this technology is present in mobile devices, it has not made it to self-service yet.

Lastly, Goodman spoke about the importance of integrations, even if he personally has a complicated relationship with integrations in his role as a provider of self-pour beer and beverage technology.

“I have a love hate relationship with word integration. When I first started, I just wanted to get it to work,” he said.

As a result, the main experience of self-pouring worked well but the end points of opening and closing a tab was more difficult. As a result, PourMyBeer had to utilize APIs to improve that experience. By delivering these simple solutions, vendors can improve the experience of both the business and the consumer.

“One integration would be if they liked a certain product, they could have that delivered to your door, they can get six pack of beer they like right to their house,” Goodman said. However, crafting these integrations will require “more money.”

As a result of this demand for more self-service solutions, all the panelists agreed that the self-service industry has a challenging task, but they also believe the industry is up to the challenge.