Evaluating the efficiency of the queue management system in commercial banks: a case of Centenary Bank, Nansana Branch

Abstract

The study evaluated the efficiency of queue management systems (QMS) in commercial banks, the case of Centenary Bank Nansana branch, focusing on their impact on customer satisfaction and service efficiency. The queuing theory addresses the way customer wait time is managed at the bank. Three objectives guided the study: to assess the overall efficiency of the QMS in enhancing customer service, to examine how the QMS fosters accountability by keeping customers informed about their wait time and service status, and to evaluate the extent to which the QMS empowers staff to deliver improved services to customers. The study employed a case study design with a qualitative approach. The 15 bank officers from the Nansana branch were purposively sampled, while simple random sampling was used to select the 30 customers from those who were available during data collection. The interview data was analysed using content analysis to generate the themes for the study. The study established that the QMS is efficient through issuing and picking the tickets with unique identity numbers representing individual customers, offering first-come, first-serve under wait time analysis, adhering to reduced customer throughput time, enhancing satisfaction rating with reduced wait time to transact, supporting online review of inputs, effecting response on mobile banking services, and comprehensively aligning with the high service level agreement which enhances customer service. The QMS provides instant alert messages on customer data inputs following the arrival time, real-time reporting on the transaction and digital interactions, and keeps customers informed about the bank's wait time and service status. The QMS uses automatic attendance to customers as they arrive in the system and effective analysis of customer data to provide insights that empower bank officers to deliver quality services.