Towards an Inclusive Walk-in Customer Service Facility

Abstract

It is estimated that 15% of the world's population has some sort of physical or sensory disability, according to the World Health Organization (2011). In an era marked by the rising of new technological devices, the inclusion of this public in digital environments still faces many obstacles, what frequently lets it out of this informational society. In this sense, Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais – CEMIG, one of the biggest Brazilian electrical energy utility company, has started to design and deploy a high-tech, user-friendly, inclusive customer service facility aimed at rendering a wide range of services by means of several gadgets such as self-service kiosks, tablets, and interactive panels and tables to help address the digital divide. For doing so, the applications to be developed and run on those devices need to be carefully studied and previously tested in order to meet the needs and expectations of the target audience. This paper describes the process of designing these innovative solutions to meet the demands of this new service channel.