CO-OP Financial Services announced this week that it is partnering with NCR Corp. to offer a comprehensive suite of managed ATM services for credit unions.
CO-OP ATM Managed Services, which is expectead to be available in early 2010, includes hardware, software, service upgrades and ATM processing options. This approach to ATM deployment and management will be attractive to credit unions seeking to outsource ATM functions, CO-OP says.
"The partnership between NCR and CO-OP Financial Services is focused on helping credit unions increase operational efficiencies and reduce the cost of support services associated with maintaining an ATM network," said Stan Hollen, president and chief executive of CO-OP. "CO-OP ATM Managed Services is a perfect fit for our credit union members who are looking for cost effective ways to manage or grow their ATM fleets."
Aite Group analyst Kate Monahan says ATM outsourcing is catching on:
The partnership announced between Co-op Financial Services and NCR Corp., addresses the trend being seen in the U.S. ATM market of outsourcing ATM operations in an effort to realize greater efficiencies at the ATM channel. ATM providers have been marketing such services to banks but as the credit union ATM space is typically seen as a smaller market, with some credit unions only having one or a few ATMs, widespread marketing of such managed services specifically geared toward credit unions has not been seen at the same level. While NCR has made numerous announcements this year, managed services is one the industry has seen more from one of NCR's largest U.S. competitors, Diebold, which has been largely focusing on its integrated services offerings for the past 12 months or so. The announcement makes it clear that vendors in the U.S. ATM space are very much in competition to be the vendor of choice for not only ATM hardware, but also software, servicing, security, cash management, etc.
The CO-OP ATM Managed Services suite includes ATM terminal driving, implementation support, cash management, terminal monitoring, IP data communication as well as the options to add features like check imaging, content distribution and other state-of-the-art ATM functionality. NCR will continue to handle ATM sales, deployment and servicing as part of the integrated package. Credit union clients will receive one consolidated CO-OP invoice for all suite services.
