Long waiting times at the DMV are a disadvantage to customers, employees and management alike. Moods sour, frustrations rise, and ultimately, people may leave. No one wants that—and thankfully, they may become a thing of the past. This is where online queuing comes in.

Online appointment setting is an increasingly common experience, especially since the pandemic. While that can help get people in and out in a timely manner, there’s always room for improvement for both appointments made online and for walk-ins. Online queuing, which can set appointments and place a person in line through digital channels, creates a virtual waiting room that not only frees up space in the real, physical waiting room, but also allows people to continue with their busy lives while waiting for their time to visit the DMV.

NEMO-Q—a queuing solution with more than 40 years’ experience—recently upgraded their services on several levels. The upgrades are good news to Spencer R. Moore, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Driver Services. “The biggest advantage to using NEMO-Q is that it is customer focused,” Moore says. “It allows the customer to know exactly where they are in line before getting their specific service.”

NEMO-Q is already in place at DMVs throughout Georgia, nearly 70 locations, and the recent improvements mean a better experience for his staff and the Georgians they serve. “DDS is excited to migrate to the new platform with NEMO-Q. Moving to a cloud-hosted platform allows DDS to process customers even faster, with a friendlier touch and updated kiosk display.” Additionally, he shares that the reporting features are more robust than in the previous versions. “We anticipate fewer issues pulling reports, which is beneficial to every division within our agency.”

Erik Berg, vice president of marketing at NEMO-Q, says one of the upgrades is better integration of scheduled appointments and walk-ins. “Many of our customers have extremely busy lobbies and peak hours with high traffic. This feature allows our employees to balance their appointment and the walk-in traffic efficiently without the need for them to constantly try and decide which customers deserve to be served next.”

Remote check-in is another new feature, giving DMV customers the option of handling check-in themselves, which frees up their time and employees’ time as well. “While customers can still check in traditionally (via a kiosk, greeter or sales representative) we now provide the ability for them to secure a virtual position in line from their phone via a mobile app or webpage,” Berg shares. Customers can also choose to receive text (SMS) notifications for appointment times and other updates, while also giving customers a way to provide immediate feedback.

Online queuing also generates a bounty of useful data that might have otherwise gone uncollected. “You can’t fix and manage what you don’t measure,” Berg comments. NEMO-Q’s software updates allow for more tools and reports for managers to use. “With our updated software, we are giving managers a plethora of real-time portals that provide insight into different states, regions, branches, workstations, employees and more.”

The improvements in data collection and reporting are of particular importance to Commissioner Moore. “The data from the new software will benefit the agency with adjustment of staffing levels and identifying locations that may need additional training and coaching. Our center managers can also focus more time on serving customers instead of troubleshooting onsite hardware if adjustments need to be made.”

According to Moore, nearly 2.5 million customers have received face-to-face service this past year. “More than 95% of those customers have been served in 30 minutes or less, and most within 15 minutes. NEMO-Q is the tool that helps us measure that success in service delivery.”

For more examples of successful online queuing, go to movemag.org/nevada-right-on-queue.