Customer service is of paramount importance in the transport, entertainment and hospitality industries. First impressions last and more often than not, a customer’s experience starts with the purchase and use of tickets.
The use of mobile ticketing has been around for many years, most notably in the air travel industry where mobile boarding passes have become the norm. But other modes of transport have been slower on the uptake and still rely on traditional methods of sale and use, such as ticket kiosks and paper-based tickets.
In today’s Smartphone-orientated world however, travellers are increasingly expecting to travel using only their mobile phones. Coupled with the evolution of contactless bank cards enabling ticket-free travel on facilities such as the London Underground, mobile ticketing could allow travellers to get around without any paper-based documents at all.
But is mobile ticketing a viable solution in all areas of the industry?
For large and fixed hubs like train stations or even cinemas, investment in ticketing infrastructure is easy to justify. But for mobile facilities such as buses, it is far more difficult due to the fluidity and mobility of customers and vehicles.
Mobile is the key enabler to simplifying the fare payment and boarding experience. This goes beyond the Smartphone of course and into multi-format ticket readers capable of reading and adapting to a number of emerging technologies – such as Barcode, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC and contactless. This versatility at the front-end of the reader must be matched by secure and resilient communications to the cloud hosted back-office systems.
Transport isn’t the only beneficiary of mobile ticketing of course.
Pop-up events, which are constantly on the move, can’t always guarantee an internet connection for processing ticket sales. By utilising a mobile ticketing system, you can sell tickets on the door and ensure access to your back-end systems, no matter where you are.
Nationwide coach companies could also benefit from mobile ticketing which will give them the ability to process on-board card sales.
Mobile ticketing could also help large music festivals counteract ticket fraud. With a reliable mobile connection, a system of scanning and checking tickets against an identification portal, could help ensure that only valid tickets and their rightful owners are admitted.
To find out more about mobile ticketing and how communications resellers can make these solutions a reality for customers, get in touch with Zest4 by calling 0161 956 3355.
Zest4, have recently formed a partnership with M2M experts, Arkessa. This partnerships enables Zest4 to offer reseller partners complete M2M solutions including expert knowledge, optimised tariffs and competitive commercials. In addition, resellers can benefit from Zest4’s unrivalled service levels and dedicated commercial and technical support.
For more information on M2M solutions from Zest4, visit http://www.zest4.com/machine-to-machine.php.