Mongkol Raksapatcharaworng, associate professor in the group, said that the concept dated from 2005, with the team spending eight months to complete a prototype. It is for consumers wishing to make their utility-bill payments through a kiosk. It supports both English and Thai versions and the team plans Russian, Korean and Japanese versions as well.

“It will also reduce imports of equipment, which is costlier,” said Mongkol.

The kiosks will be equipped with a high-end computer, printer, barcode scanner and a wireless modem sending information into a central system. Customers will be asked by a 17-inch display monitor to make their payments; they can also have the payment scanned. After that, the computer will show the amount to be paid and calculate the service charge.

“Customers will be able to pay more than one bill at one go,” said Mongkol. Users will then pay through their credit cards. The computer system will then verify the credit card at headquarters.

Once that is done, customers get their printed receipts. The kiosk will also sell CAT telephone cards in denominations of Bt100, Bt300 and Bt500. A customer makes his choice and pays through his credit card.

The system then gives him his number and password. He added that the kiosk would be safe as it would not accept cash and the centre would able to monitor the system without going out to the location. “The CAT Kiosks are very practical for CAT maintenance teams since a system administrator is able to manage the kiosk over a wireless network,” said Mongkol.

CAT gave the development team a Bt1-million scholarship to design the kiosks. The researchers built five prototypes partially using the cash. They hope to develop up to 100 units in the next stage.

The system will later be conditioned to accept ATM and member cards. Nipon Pimpuch, Kasetsart university student who had worked on the project, said that it proved the research team’s ability to develop business-friendly, economy-oriented systems.

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation