ATMIA 2013 Highlights!

As a rule the title of a conference gives you a good idea what the conference is about; not in this case, ATM turned out to be about Mobile Payments and a good thing too!

There were a number of interesting speakers, enough to make me want to sign up to attend next year. 

The verwhelming message of the conference was that banks need to start listening to their customers or they're going to be disintermediated as new entrants provide the servies needed.

But the highlights of the conference were for me (not in any particular order):

Scotiabank

Steven Gaskin of Scotiabank talked about their use of ATM’s in Canada.  It was interesting that they saw their ATM estate as a communications tool rather than as a cash dispenser.  The Scotiabank plan was to use the ATM as part of their overall mobile strategy and as a key resource in getting closer to the customer.

Through the use of advertising, coupons, targeted services, account management they saw the ATM as part of their banking solution and not only as a vehicle for accessing cash.

In particular Steven said that customers expect everything to be accessible to them at the ATM.

ANZ Banking Group

Peter Tilton talked about some of the innovative ways they had used to make their ATMs available to their customers, especially those in the South Sea Islands.

ATM’s in Containers using solar power and dispensing all the services a customer would expect in Sydney even if they were in Papua New Guinea was a challenge that they had to meet.

So even if you turned up at a rugby game between Fiji and England you can access your bank account, get your cash and even get a beer!

The concept of the bank in your corporate office was floated by Peter.  In short this means that if you’re the Treasurer of a large PLC why wouldn’t you want to have your bank in your office?  It is even more important when the nearest branch is 1,000 miles away.  

Peter highlighted the need to meet customer requirements as being the main driver in their ATM and mobile strategy.

Piraeus Bank

I was struck by Constantine Stivaros of Piraeus Bank who seemed driven by ensuring that his ATM’s were the friendliest in the world.  Apparently if you sign on as a customer, your ATM will greet you by name, wish you a happy birthday on your birthday and remind you need to buy flowers for your wife!

He saw the simplification of the conversation with the customer as key and has linked the personal display of the ATM to his customer’s internet banking and mobile accounts.  If you only ever want £5 notes, then that’s all you’ll ever get.

Using the data in your account, ATM usage and mobile and social networks Piraeus offers a service which is more personal and targeted to the customer, ensuring that the customer is part of the ‘customer experience’.

Piraeus clearly saw that their differentiator was to combine a unique customer experience with a standard mechanical product.

Nationwide

Adrian Roberts claimed nationwide were the first to offer advertising on an ATM and credited i-Design with much of the accolade.

i-Design’s Joono application sits in the background and ‘learns’ from the customer’s usage and then offers targeted advertising.  Surveys that Nationwide carried out clearly proved that customers like the experience, felt more loyalty to the brand and had a more personal experience.

Adrian talked about the concept of Favorite Transactions which they felt led to a better customer experience, improved transaction speed and some of those satisfied customers then went on to become 3rd party advertisers.

Nationwide’s experiences provide proof that using the ATM as part of the customer experience allowed then to become the brand they are today.

Q-ATM (UK)

Jim Tomaney highlighted the growing desire for ATM Estate owners to know the real ROI they get from their estates.  He explored the proposition that before you can determine the estate’s effectiveness, you have to collect and more importantly analyse performance data to understand how much contribution an individual ATM provides.

He accused many in the industry of operating with legacy thinking and urged banks to update their approach.  The issues he covered ranged from availability, community, performance, dead money and highlighted that non-performance in any of these areas means it’s costing the bank money!

He explored the value that ATM’s can add and how important it is to benchmark your performance against your peers and ensure that customers, especially corporates, get value for money.

From location, to up time and including the cash in the machine as well as the services your ATM offer, all mean that your ATM is no longer a cash dispenser and can, and should, provide good ROI for the bank.  Performance Analysis is the key to this.

Wincor Nixdorf

Not only are the banks and software providers looking at providing applications but as Reinhardt Rabenstein said so are the hardware developers.

Reinhardt explored the concept of an app library that an ATM user would be allowed to install on the ATM and use in mobile and internet banking.  Customising the device, whatever it was, to the needs of the customer.

He saw the marriage of the phone and the ATM as a significant way forward; create transactions on your phone, then as you walk by an ATM the transactions are picked off your phone and processed.  He even introduced the concept of marrying the mobile devide to the POS terminal to give a customer a complete experience.

Reinhardt ended by stating that the e-wallet was the way of the future; a smart card with several wallets each with different purposes and profiles. True innovation!

epay

As you’d expect from such an innovative company we saw the marriage of the ATM, phone, POS terminal, card all into the new ‘Digital Channel’, the answer to all problems!

Bryan Zingg saw the marriage of the digital channel with people like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and the like would revolutionise the way the big retailers are able to service their customers.  Why not redeem your voucher at an ATM, why not have local deals available on your phone as you walk around, why not get information about train times straight to your device. 

Again, his theme was part of the common theme at ATMIA; customers want to have these services and will move to get them elsewhere if they’re not provided by their own bank.

Interestingly Bryan was saying that self-purchase of gift cards was the biggest growing area and asking why can’t you store these vouchers on your mobile device or redeem them at the ATM or even at the retail outlet.  Tell my daughter that she’s got to go online, redeem the voucher, print it out and then take it with her in her purse to the shop – yes, her eyes glazed over too!

The Digital Channel is seen by Bryan as an excellent way to cement a relationship with your customers, make a personal experience a more targeted one and help the bank sell more products and services.