{"id":18815,"date":"2016-11-18T15:42:15","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T20:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T15:42:15","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T20:42:15","slug":"a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/","title":{"rendered":"A world with no waiting rooms?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever lost a full morning or afternoon waiting on a line to be attended? Or finally, when your turn is coming you must leave and you lose your position? Or have you tried to use your waiting time in something else and by the time you come back the line already passed your number and you must start all over again? Probably you have experienced this just like two Chilean entrepreneurs who suffered it and decided to develop S\u00e1lt<em>ala, <\/em>a mobile app that allows you to pick from your smartphone a number to be attended on the services that work on a first-come-first-served basis. Currently the app is running a pilot in the pharmacy of one hospital in Santiago, has been downloaded over 1.500 times, and accumulates over 25.000 usages and positive reactions from the users.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-18750\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2-169x300.png\" alt=\"saltala-2\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2-169x300.png 169w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2-577x1024.png 577w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2-338x600.png 338w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-18751\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-3-169x300.png\" alt=\"saltala-3\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-3-169x300.png 169w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-3-577x1024.png 577w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-3-338x600.png 338w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-3.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-4.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-18752\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-4-169x300.png\" alt=\"saltala-4\" width=\"169\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-4-169x300.png 169w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-4-577x1024.png 577w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-4-338x600.png 338w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-4.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Improving the waiting experience<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The app not only benefits users by allowing them to pick up their ticket from anywhere they want, it also has additional benefits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Allows consumers to wait wherever they want<\/li>\n<li>Customers can monitor online how the line is moving<\/li>\n<li>Every user receives a prediction, based on historical information, of how long is it going to take him or her to be attended<\/li>\n<li>Allows customers to take place in more than one line at the same time<\/li>\n<li>The app sends users a notification when their turn is approaching so they can be ready and do not lose their place on the line.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The main benefit of this service is the positive externality it generates to the users, unlocking their time and allowing them to use it in other more productive ways. As explained by the two founders<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>, \u201cthe service doesn\u2019t intend to shorten the waiting time or the length of the lines but rather to improve the waiting experience making it more pleasant and efficient\u201d. In the hospital\u2019s case the fact of removing the sick patients from the waiting rooms generates another positive externality which is the fact that less patients will spread their diseases to the other patients on the waiting room, which critical during the winter season.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><u>S\u00e1ltala\u00a0<\/u><\/em><u>in the Public Sector<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The main challenge for the company is to convince the public authorities to adapt their systems to introduce this technology that won\u2019t benefit their services directly. Especially considering the natural resistance, the budget constraints, the bureaucracy and the lack of incentives of public services to introduce new technologies or improvements to the customer experience.<\/p>\n<p>From my point of view, the correct implementation could result in a complete turnaround of the opinion that most Chileans have from public services, which are commonly seen as inefficient and run by people with no focus on the users.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><u>S\u00e1ltala<\/u><\/em><u> in the Private Sector<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the private sector this app creates an enormous opportunity to improve the quality of the service that is being given to their customers on their physical channels. But what seems more interesting to me is the fact that it can become a game changer on the dispute for customers between brick and mortar and online channels. Convenience is the main reason why customers decide to buy online instead of physical stores, therefore reducing the timing required to make a purchase on a physical store could turn the scale to the brick and mortar side.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, in some cases it could be seen as a threat for some business that use the waiting time in their waiting rooms for other purposes such as to educate consumers about their products (bank), make some cross selling (retail stores) or to increase the demand for their products (fast food restaurants). Given this, it\u2019s important to understand the role that waiting time plays in the customer experience and if there is some benefit being created in that part of the experience, removing it should be carefully considered.<\/p>\n<p>651 words<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emol.com\/noticias\/Economia\/2016\/08\/05\/815844\/Odias-hacer-filas-Lanzan-aplicacion.html\">http:\/\/www.emol.com\/noticias\/Economia\/2016\/08\/05\/815844\/Odias-hacer-filas-Lanzan-aplicacion.html<\/a> accessed on November 2016<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>S\u00e1ltala &#8211; Improving the quality of public services by giving back the waiting time to users<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2208,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1754,1388,1793,2644,2643],"class_list":["post-18815","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","hentry","category-chile","category-public-health","category-public-sector","category-waiting-room","category-waiting-time"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/digitization-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A world with no waiting rooms? - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A world with no waiting rooms? - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"S\u00e1ltala - Improving the quality of public services by giving back the waiting time to users\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2-169x300.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\\\/\",\"name\":\"A world with no waiting rooms? - Technology and Operations Management\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Saltala-2-169x300.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-18T20:42:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Saltala-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Saltala-2.png\",\"width\":640,\"height\":1136},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"A world with no waiting rooms?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Technology and Operations Management\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A world with no waiting rooms? - Technology and Operations Management","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A world with no waiting rooms? - Technology and Operations Management","og_description":"S\u00e1ltala - Improving the quality of public services by giving back the waiting time to users","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/","og_site_name":"Technology and Operations Management","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2-169x300.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/","name":"A world with no waiting rooms? - Technology and Operations Management","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2-169x300.png","datePublished":"2016-11-18T20:42:15+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Saltala-2.png","width":640,"height":1136},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/a-world-with-no-waiting-rooms\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A world with no waiting rooms?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/","name":"Technology and Operations Management","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/18815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/18815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}