Source Technologies, a leading provider of integrated solutions for managing financial transactions and other secure business processes, and Direct Source, a national retail integration, deployment and services provider, are partnering to provide tier one retailers with new interactive self-service kiosks. The new kiosks and modular customer applications will be showcased at the National Retail Federation annual convention Jan. 13-16, 2008, in New York.
The kiosks are distinctive in that they are the first to offer retailers a flexible device that performs multiple consumer services, including price checking, product locator, gift card and registry transactions, store mapping, coupon dispensing and frequent shopper tracking. Additionally, the kiosks support digital signage and assisted selling. They can be easily deployed into any new or existing retail store environment.
“Retailers recognize the potential benefit of multi-functional kiosks and are ready to move toward more consumer-friendly self-service devices,” said Brad Fick, president, Direct Source. “Similar to Source Technologies’ transactional kiosks, its interactive kiosk capabilities far exceed those of other devices, and the modular design supports integration and customization, to address unique customer needs.”
A compact, modular design and field-installable components allow retailers to add modular services quickly, without moving the device from its retail location. The kiosks feature an open, Windows™ Embedded operating system and a screen size significantly larger than other devices, but with only a slight increase in overall device size.
“The retail industry is rapidly developing a need for self-service technology beyond price checking and self check-out,” said William Bouverie, CEO of Source Technologies. “Our interactive kiosk is the first to provide multiple, unique self-service functions in a single, all-inclusive device. Through our partnership with Direct Source, retailers now have access to a broader selection of self-service capabilities and can benefit from the convenience of one device for many functions.”
Direct Source and Source Technologies will showcase the new kiosks in booths #2249 and #779, respectively, at the NRF show.
About Direct Source
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., Direct Source (www.directsource.com) is a nationally-recognized retail installation and integration services provider for tier one retailers, with an expanding network of more than 1,500 national installation specialists. Direct Source’s flexible in-store solutions are designed to help retailers maintain a competitive edge and improve store productivity and customer service. Not influenced by individual manufacturers, single vision systems or the latest in unproven technologies, Direct Source draws upon its flexible, innovative, industry-encompassing experience to recommend independent solutions, both hardware and software, that help clients operate faster, smarter and more profitably.
About Source Technologies
Founded in 1986, Charlotte, N.C.-based Source Technologies is a leading provider of integrated solutions for managing intelligent self-service kiosks that automate customer financial and informational transactions and other secure business processes. In addition to its ground-breaking transactional and interactive families of kiosks and software for self-service and retail applications, Source Technologies offers specialized magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) printers, consumables and software for printing checks and other paper disbursements and secure document printers and software for printing time- and information-sensitive documents. Customers include nine of the top ten U.S. banks, 69 of the Fortune 100, and thousands of small and mid-sized companies. Source Technologies solutions have created more than $500 million in economic value for its customers in the last ten years. For more information, visit www.sourcetech.com.