DailyDOOH

Gail Chiasson, North American Editor

One of the interesting displays that took our eye at Customer Engagement Technology World in San Francisco last week was that of Mequon, Wisconsin-based Connected Technology Solutions.

We asked Sandra Nix, founder and president of the company about the various kiosks. Turns out that, while the company’s kiosks have mainly been focusing on health care – including the new adjustable kiosk for hospitals that offers easy access by the wheelchair-bound – two of them are quite new in different fields.

One is being used in Idaho as a Port of Entry kiosk. Idaho is, we believe, the only state where trucks crossing the state line face a raft of special regulations, so CTS has developed a kiosk design that allows drivers to buy permits; get licensing and regulations information; print maps; update log books and more.

Also relatively new is the Community Kiosk, sponsored by the Workforce Investment Board of Milwaukee. Located in various locations such as city and state offices, libraries, Goodwill centres, and Department of Corrections offices, these kiosks give information about jobs, food stamps, daycare, housing assistance, health care and more.

“Usage has exceeded expectations, so we expect these will be very popular elsewhere,” says Nix, who owns CTS with a silent partner.

Actually, most of CTS’s kiosks are one of two basic designs, customized in both content and looks according to the client.

“We build our own user interface and create original artwork,” says Nix. “Depending on the client, we‘ve also worked with companies like CoolSign.”

And in real, until-now unannounced news, we learned that CTS has just taken a majority equity position in WEBbeams, a Milwaukee-based Wi-Fi service provider that focuses specifically on the needs of the Specialty Café Industry. With more than 200 locations in 30 states, CTS hopes that it will help grow that market, as well as be a way to leverage Wi-Fi solutions to CTS clients.

Nix also whispered some other upcoming news to us but we’ve promised to keep it quiet until it can be announced, so watch this space.

CTS, by the way, also has offices in Chicago and Tampa.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 at 07:07 @338 and is filed under Scuttlebut. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.