Hertz expands self-service tech

Hertz Europe says it plans to accelerate its adoption of self-service technology by rolling out self-service express touch screen kiosks from NCR at selected locations across nine countries in Europe, writes PR Newswire.

This will be for all customers and not just members-only, who have pre-paid for their rental. This comes as Hertz releases a free reservations application for the iPhone in 18 languages for customers in Europe.

The Hertz iPhone application, which has already enjoyed widespread popularity in the US, allows customers to make reservations, save their Hertz '#1 Club' member number, search and find nearby Hertz locations, save favourite locations and receive special promotions via their mobile devices.

ClickSoftware Technologies, the provider of automated workforce management and optimisation solutions for the services industry, has integrated Facebook and its ClickContact self-service customer portal, writes TMC Net.

The customers, with this social media extension of ClickContact, can book and change service appointments directly on a service organisation's Facebook page, receive reminders and notifications on the expected arrival time of the service engineer to minimise wait times.

"The most successful service businesses tightly link the human experience with the social Web," says Simon Morris, VP of Marketing at ClickSoftware.

ATM maker NCR has acquired privately-owned Mobiqa for an undisclosed sum, with a view to extend self-service leadership, says Stock Market Review.

According to the company, the acquisition helps it to establish a global mobile centre of excellence, which will initially focus on the travel industry.

Located in Edinburgh, Scotland, the mobile centre of excellence will complement NCR's existing R&D facility in Dundee and enable NCR to extend existing mobile offerings across multiple industry sectors, the company noted.