PhoneSmart Unveils New Self Storage Pocket Kiosk Technology

January 27, 2011 – (Columbia, MO) - PhoneSmart, a leader in self storage marketing, recently created a website to showcase a new technology innovation in self storage kiosks. The website carries the message that “You have a self storage kiosk in your pocket”.

Physical kiosks that resemble ATM machines have seen some use in self storage facility management over the last few years, allowing customers to rent a storage unit or pay their storage rent outside of usual office hours. A typical physical self storage kiosk could have an upfront sunk cost of anywhere between $10,000 and $50,000 depending on the model chosen and the manner in which the self storage owner might construct the installation.  Monthly maintenance fees can range anywhere between $100.00 and $300.00.

Physical kiosks also demand a third party application programming interface (API) to allow the kiosk to pull and push real time data between the kiosk and the storage owner’s management software systems.

Recent advancements in smartphone, tablet technology and website development have allowed for the creation of virtual self service kiosks that cost next to nothing. Almost all self storage software providers are able to serve plug-ins to their self storage clients, allowing the storage operator to take payments, reserve units and rent space online without a third party creating and maintaining additional interfaces. Smartphones and tablets allow storage customers to easily access these virtual services on their mobile devices at any time and from any place.

Quick read codes (QR codes) and code scanner applications (scanner apps) now make it easy for storage customers to quickly access the storage company’s online self service options at the storage facility, whether the office is opened or closed. Storage owners can use any number of online services that allow one to create a QR code and program it to take a customer to a particular page within the company’s website. Storage owners can print the QR codes on signs that are posted at the storage facilities telling customers to scan the code to quickly and easily pay rent, reserve units, rent units or access the customer’s account information.

QR code reader apps work quickly an efficiently whether the user has an iPhone, Android platform smartphone or a Blackberry. Other smartphones work well, too.

A physical kiosk costing $10,000 to $50,000 is no longer needed or warranted. A storage owner can serve a more pleasing customer interface and accomplish a more pleasant customer transaction by simply spending $10.00 to $50.00 on signs advertising the QR codes.

PhoneSmart regularly educates its clients and others in the storage industry about innovations and advancements that help reduce costs, improve sales performance and create more profitable enterprises. More information about PhoneSmart can be found at www.phone-smart.info. More information about using QR codes to create a virtual self storage self-service kiosk can be found at www.self-storage-kiosks.com .

About PhoneSmart

PhoneSmart is a leader in the sales and marketing fields with an emphasis on serving rental property owners. PhoneSmart recently celebrated its tenth anniversary and has created more than 750,000 reservations and leads for its storage clients through the PhoneSmart roll-over call center.

Tweet This Post