Chapter #11 - Finding the Magic Number to Pilot

Marie Van Drisse is back with the final chapter of her kiosk development story. In case you happened to miss the previous chapters, you can check them out here: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10

Deciding how many kiosks to build for a pilot or full rollout is different on every project. Logically, the more you build that are alike, the more can gain from the economies of scale. The cost per kiosk will come down.

There is no "Silver Bullet" answer to how many units should be deployed in a pilot and it really depends on the individual situation, the budgets and the cost of the pilot units. The primary factor affecting the number of kiosks in a pilot is strictly budgetary.

If you have 10 locations and can afford only five complete units to test your idea, than you have your answer. You have to do it right, so to speak, but putting out 10 cheaper kiosk will not give you the results you want to test.

How Many to Consider:

Here is a quick calculation to provide you with stages in the life of a kiosk project:

Prototype = 1 unit (could be a factory test program)

Pilot Deployment = 10-15 units (Ideal for minimal costs and manual on-site revisions)

Limited Deployment = 25-50 units (Refine the fixes discovered in the pilot program)

Full Rollout = Unlimited (Make sure your comfortable with all aspects and that your vendor can handle the production and install volumes)