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Zambia’s Smart way around bank queues

One of the biggest challenges for any bank is the frustration of customers caused by long queues at bank branches. With 91% of customers opting to simply leave branches due to long queues, and 44% of customers not prepared to wait in a bank queue for longer than six minutes, it is a major business challenge. Students of the LEAP class of 2019 in Zambia came up with a ‘Smart Queue’ solution that would not only benefit clients but also have significant revenue potential for the bank. With the average wait time for customers at Zambia’s top branches in Livingstone, Ndola, Kitwe, Longacres, and Mutaba from 26 to 37 minutes, LEAP graduates Susan Musonda, Hector Chabala, and Dennis Lwiindi worked with IMD’s Dr. Hischam Al-Agamy on an AsQ solution to the challenge. Their solution was a mobile platform where bank customers would enter a username and password and were authenticated and validated. An application would then provide them with a number of services to choose from, following which they would select the service and the branch. They would then be ‘auto queued’ as they received a message confirming their queue number and timing. They would then receive a scheduled reminder a few minutes before their service time to remind them when it was almost their turn so they could go to the branch to be served in a more orderly and speedy manner. The branch then provides the service, and the customer provides feedback and leaves the branch. In terms of LEAP projects, Zambia’s Smart Queue concept has been expanded in response to COVID-19-related customer service challenges and opportunities.

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