What’s the first thing that enters customers’ minds when they think of the DMV? For many people, the answer would be: “Waiting in line.”

As one of the busiest jurisdictions in the country, the Nevada DMV is no stranger to long lines. Four years ago, at the Las Vegas-headquartered DMV, customers often waited in line for a couple hours to be seen.

Today, however, most folks are at the front of the line within 30 minutes.

How did they make such a huge improvement?

In 2018, Qmatic, a customer journey analysis software provider headquartered in Molndal, Sweden, replaced the DMV’s outdated queuing system with a more robust one—the Orchestra Enterprise Customer Journey Management platform—which includes queuing, appointment scheduling and text message notifications to customers.

Since the upgrade, Qmatic has helped the Nevada DMV reduce wait times by 42%—but that’s not all. “It has also helped us to keep the crowd outside under control, and it’s taken a lot of stress off of our staff,” says Tonya Laney, a field services administrator at the Nevada DMV’s Reno office.

Out of the Nevada DMV’s 18 offices, 12 already have the Orchestra system, and there are plans to upgrade the remaining six offices soon, Laney says.

“I can go on a dashboard and see what’s happening at each location, including wait time, average transaction time and even which service is being offered at which window,” Laney says. “It’s a huge help when you can’t be in all offices at once.”

In addition to the queuing and scheduling system upgrade, the Nevada DMV added Qmatic’s Mobile Ticketing program to their system. With Mobile Ticketing, customers receive regular text updates so they know exactly where they are in line and when it is time to come inside the DMV.

“You don’t have to sit in a waiting area or stand in line outside. You get your virtual ticket, then you can run an errand, get some food or do whatever,” says Kirk Lyle, enterprise sales executive for Qmatic in Atlanta. “It improves the customer experience and also helps to keep everyone socially distanced.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of people moved into the state of Nevada, Laney says. Because they weren’t already in the local system, they had to go into the DMV in person. With Mobile Ticketing, maintaining a safe distance in line was much easier.

As with any new system, there were growing pains. Qmatic ran a 30-day pilot program at the Nevada DMV, during which time they learned which aspects of the platform were working and which weren’t. Those technological changes were implemented, but some challenges took more time to overcome.

“The biggest challenge was having to do a culture shift with our employees and customers,” Laney says. “But we listened to feedback, made changes and now everyone seems happy with it.”

Employees are certainly satisfied with the new system upgrade, but customers “love” it, according to Laney.

“If anyone ever complains about us on social media, customers are quick to jump in and defend us and say what a positive overall experience we gave them,” she says. “Customers seriously love the new system.”