Tom Swidarski says deposit automation will revolutionize banking — beyond the ATM. That was the message the chief executive of Diebold Inc. delivered Oct. 19 during his keynote at the ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Customer experience, deposit automation, ATM security and outsourcing were the four spheres Swidarski noted in his "ATM Revolution — Capitalizing On the New Trends in the ATM Industry" presentation.
The ATM, being a primary consumer touchpoint, will revolutionize banking within the branch and beyond, Swidarski says. Referencing examples from other parts of the world, including a major project Diebold worked on for Dexia Bank in Europe, Swidarski says ATMs with deposit automation functionality are the foundation of advanced self-service offerings and improved branch efficiency.
"Deposit automation means different things in different parts of the world," he said. "Consumers want more choices and they want to be able to personalize their experience. That's where the ATM and the self-service channel come in."
For the branch, automated deposits can improve efficiency. At Dexia — which in early 2008 began a pilot with Diebold to automate 1,000 of its European branches — 10 percent of the branch staff's time was spent handling cash. Dexia is now moving most of its cash transactions, such as deposits and withdrawals, to ATMs. The bank expects to have all of its 1,000 branches fully automated by early 2012.
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Through a mix of technologies, which included a customized solution for the Opteva ATM, Dexia has made most of its branches "cashless." It's a trend many European banks are embracing. In the United States, however, that trend has not been quite so welcomed.
"The technology is there, and deposit automation is opening a lot of doors for more optimization within branches; but some U.S. banks say their customers aren't ready," Swidarski said. "It really just depends on what your vision for your bank is."
While the global banking industry is quickly becoming smaller and more connected internationally, some significant regional differences still exist. It's a point Nicole Sturgill made last week during her "Advanced-Function ATMs: New Opportunities to Reach Customers and Members" webinar, which was moderated and hosted by ATMmarketplace.com.
The webinar, which pulled in more than 600 registrants, focused on the advanced services now available on ATMs that are capable of automated deposits. Bill-payment and cash recycling are just two, but they seem to be the two most financial institutions throughout the world are taking interest in.
A number of international webinar participants said they now take advanced functionality and deposit automation for granted. What they are looking to now is how to integrate the mobile channel and incorporate biometrics, for billpay authentication and basic transaction verification.
Among U.S. participants, the response was much different.
One webinar attendee told ATMmarketplace.com that using the ATM for anything other than cash dispense will lead to customer and member frustration: "Why not use financial kiosks to perform all non deposit/withdrawal transactions? Most people waiting in line at an ATM to withdraw cash usually don't want to wait for other customers to print out statements or pay bills."
And many U.S. FIs, because of the United States' fragmented payments infrastructure, say that the current multivendor environment, which includes different communications protocols, also has made implementation of advanced functionality a bit challenging: "The presentation so far only focuses on what the ATM 'could' do, but what isn't talked about is the infrastructure changes needed to support these new things. … 912 isn't built for some of these new things."
In that case, IFX could be the answer, but many U.S. FIs are a long way from being completely IFX compliant.
It could be a while before the United States is able to reach the fully automated, cashless branch environment that is now becoming commonplace in Europe.
