It was a whirlwind Nov. 14-16 for attendees at the Bank Administration Institute's Retail Delivery Conference & Expo in Las Vegas. By the end of the show's three-day stint, attendees and exhibitors were ready for a massage and a foot-soak.
But the exhaustion wasn't a negative; in fact, it was quite the contrary.
This year BAI pulled in 40 percent more attendees than it did last year in Orlando, Fla. The Vegas venue could have contributed to the increase, but it more likely was BAI's renewed and rejuvenated focus that made the difference.
The buzz among the 6,000 tote-pulling BAI registrants who swarmed Mandalay Bay's convention center was positive: an easier-to-navigate exhibit hall and an attendee roster packed with qualified banking executives left most feeling that BAI had really turned its show around. The grumblings about expense-versus-results, which flooded last year's conference, were barely audible this year.
BAI president and chief executive Debbie Bianucci said BAI stopped after last year's expo and re-evaluated its position; after nearly three decades, even the financial-services industry's biggest conference can grow a little stale. But it's amazing what a little repackaging can do.
The companies that opted out of exhibiting this year - exhibit booths were down slightly from 380 in 2005 to 340 - might regret that decision.
Steve Hensley, vice president of sales and marketing for Edinburgh, Scotland-based Korala Associates Ltd., is an established exhibitor and featured BAI speaker. Hensley said he was "very encouraged" by this year's conference.
"We've been very pleased with the quality of the banks here, as well as the fact that they are represented by the decision-makers," he said.
Other exhibitors, like Paderborn, Germany's Wincor Nixdorf International expressed similar satisfaction.
A changing landscape
Beyond the caliber of the attendees and the changes made by BAI, some higher-level industry transformations also were evident.
A greater understanding of ATM functionality and software permeated the show. KAL's Hensley said he was impressed with the attendees' breadth of multivendor-software knowledge. And Anna Istnick, manager of financial self-service communications for North Canton, Ohio's Diebold Inc., said attendee reaction to Diebold's branch of the future concept was overwhelmingly positive. In a nutshell, she said, the "show attendance was great."
For Hensley, the industry's increased awareness of advances in software and open standards reflects a change in the ATM marketplace.
During his presentation, "ATM software revolution: Banks win as competition intensifies," Hensley said bankers actually "got it" this time around, rather than scratching their heads as they have in years past.
"There is an acceptance of open standards in the market that hasn't been there before," he said.
Microsoft Corp., which this year worked from an exhibit-floor office rather than a booth, noticed a similar evolution.
For Greg Haislip, industry solutions director of banking for Microsoft Financial Services, it's all about integration. During the conference, Microsoft introduced its Banking Integration Factory, a solution that builds on advances in the Microsoft platform and Microsoft .NET, and establishes a set of guidelines and tools to enable consistency in service implementations.
The initiative establishes commonality between vendors and services, Haislip said.
"Over the last year, banks have hit the wall with integration. The Banking Integration Factory is about delivering the best experience," Haislip said. "Banks need to compete for user attention. They need to give customers a high-tech experience; we're building an infrastructure that provides the plumbing underneath."
To that end, Microsoft is working on service orientation, said Marley Gray, Microsoft's industry technology strategist of Financial Services.
"We believe smart clients are very important for all channels," he said. "We want to establish a way to integrate all of the channels very easily - so they can just plug into the Microsoft frame and go."
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| (Photograph by Tracy Kitten) Attendees check out NCR's EasyPoint 42 at the NCR booth. |
It all ties in with innovation, the RD theme for 2006.
"What we've heard loud and clear is that the banking industry has become an increasingly commoditized marketplace, and banking organizations are looking for new ideas and groundbreaking concepts to help them thrive in the competitive marketplace," BAI's Bianucci said.
The long and short of it is: Those who innovate will survive.
A branch of the future
Across the walkway at MGM Grand, companies such as Long Beach, Miss.-based Triton Systems and Mebane, N.C.'s ArcaTech Systems came together to display the "Branch of the Future" - a display that featured some of the industry's latest technologies.
At its booth, Wincor Nixdorf didn't highlight any new technology; rather, the company emphasized its banking approach. From branch automation and transformation to check processing, intelligent deposit and a net-centric approach to software, Wincor re-enforced the branch-automation revolution.
Uwe Krause, Wincor's marketing director for banking in Germany, said simply, "Branch automation is everything at the moment."
Wincor's determination to penetrate the U.S. market was evident at the show. Its booth, not trimmed in size from last year, appeared to be packed with more staff, from Europe and the States, than in years past.
Julia Waugh, Wincor USA's director of marketing, said she was impressed by the number of U.S. FI customers who shopped around Wincor's booth.
"I think they see us as innovative and flexible," she said.
One of Wincor's most touted innovations during the conference was its check/cash deposit module, more commonly referred to as CCDM. When tied in with ProView, FIs can remotely monitor their ATMs and other self-service terminals.
"With ProView, I can get much more information about the device," said Brian Sullivan, a Wincor software engineer. "ProView does the analysis. It checks the statuses of the devices and gets the right information to the right people at the right time."
Dayton, Ohio's NCR Corp., in its second-floor suite, highlighted a different branch-transformation facet - radio frequency identification. NCR last month first showed how RFID could change the way consumers bank at the RBC Symposium in Toronto.
NCR's RFID Branch Portal is an archway that is equipped with RFID readers that scan information from RFID microchips embedded in customers' or members' bank cards, cell phones or personal digital assistants. With permission, a customer's or member's information could be sent electronically to branch staff to let them know who has just entered the branch.
"Within the banking sector, RFID technology could be used to enhance the consumer experience in the branch, and also allow banks to deliver more personalized VIP service," said Mark Grossi, NCR's chief technology officer for financial solutions, in a news release.
An RFID-enabled bank card could allow counter staff to address a customer or member by name, or provide no-lineup service to special customers.
That's not to deter from the role deposit automation is playing for NCR, said Andy Orent, vice president of NCR's Financial Solutions Division for the Americas.
"Consumers love it," Orent said. "We have about 2,000 deposit-automation terminals in the U.S. today."
Orent said NCR has seen deposits increase 48 percent at FIs that launched deposit-automation 12 months ago.
"Deposit automation facilitates transaction migration," Orent said. "NCR is piloting the concept of more self-service at the branch using these terminals."
Orent added that about 70 percent of the tasks a teller fulfills could be completed by customers and members themselves.
Also on the second floor, Diebold displayed its "Bank of the Future" concept. The bank branch relied on biometric welcome stations and transactional kiosks for customer servicing purposes.
"The whole approach of Bank of the Future is, 'What do you want it to be?'" said Jim Block, Diebold's director of global technology.
As bank branches evolve, so will the use of transactional kiosks as typical customer-service stations. The kiosks are not intended to replace the bank teller; they merely assist.
Bruno Sementilli, president and chief executive of Purchase, N.Y.-based Quorum Federal Credit Union, began looking at transactional kiosks in 1999. He has since installed Source Technologies' Total Self-Service Banking solution and Concourse7 series kiosks in 13 locations.
Sementilli said customer acceptance of the kiosks, which can handle 80 percent to 90 percent of all teller transactions, has been immediate.
Bill Lynch, Source Technologies' vice president of self-service, said the trick to financial self-service kiosks is to keep the user experience similar to the teller.
A future function … or two
During a session about ATM future functionality, Chuck Ducey, senior vice president of global development and services for Diebold, said tomorrow's ATMs will be products of their past. He also said the ATM will follow the evolutionary cycle of telecommunications, where technological advancements continue to play a role.
Tomorrow's ATMs also will be more automatic, more intelligent, will fight fraud, will relate to consumers like other banking channels, and will create self-service expectations by forcing suppliers to add new functions.
"We'll have a generation that will keep coming up and demanding more and more (at the ATM), and we have to keep up," Ducey said. "Lines will blur between the ATM and the rest of the enterprise."
The shift from OS/2 to Windows is opening the door for more functions.
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| Cardtronics gets into the Vegas spirit at its booth. |
"The move to Windows and TC/IP are the single most exciting changes to ATMs," said Bob Tramontano, NCR's vice president of engineering and product management for financial solutions.
Reinhard Rabenstein, Wincor's senior vice president and chief technology officer, said other hot topics include biometrics, cross-selling, RFID and intelligent security.
The "must-see" companies highlighted during the session were Pendum, formerly Efmark-Bantek; KAL; ProfitStars; Cardtronics; Allpoint; Triton; Source Technologies; Wincor Nixdorf; ACI; NCR; and Diebold.
Transaction processing
In terms of transaction processing, payroll cards have matured and are beginning to grow, said Jeff Lewis, Milwaukee-based Metavante Corp.'s senior vice president of the Payment Solutions Group.
Lewis said payroll cards have begun a migration to the reload platform because of the underserved market. Reloadable or general purpose prepaid cards "open doors for savings accounts and credit scoring engines," Lewis said.
Prepaid cards also are expected to help FIs move the underserved market toward traditional bank accounts.
Mosinee, Wis.-based Wausau Financial Services' president of payment solutions, Nancy Langer, said another big wave is the movement from electronic payments toward electronic imaging or ACH transactions. Tied around that is remote corporate capture.
Langer said RCC gives corporations a better value proposition. It also cuts transportation costs.
While corporations and retailers have been quicker to respond to remote capture technology, ATMs have been slow to progress, Langer said.
Handling the cash
Keeping your mind on the money should go without saying, so it came as a surprise to Bo H. Holmgreen of Cary, N.C.-based Transoft International Inc. to learn more than a decade ago that most ATM deployers didn't have a good handle on their cash.
It didn't make sense, but as Holmgreen soon learned, most FIs didn't really know how to optimize their cash.
Enter Transoft: A company that uses algorithms and countless bits of data to help FIs determine how much cash they need as well as how often they need to replenish vaults.
"It's a backbone," said Holmgreen, Transoft's president and chief executive. "It becomes an integral part of their operation. This system continually reacts to everything, and we can predict an emergency days in advance, like when an ATM is going to run out of money."
And in today's changing environment, with fluctuating interest rates and new pressures from the Fed, FIs don't really have a choice.
Wachovia Corp., which in 1999 signed with Transoft, has cut its cash by 42 percent, said John Morris, who oversees cash management services for Wachovia. After implementing Transoft's cash-management solution, the bank reduced its cash-management team from 75 people to 8; cut its cash costs by $200 million over a four-year period; and has significantly reduced its ATM downtime.
Also at the show …
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| (Photograph by Valerie Killifer) Pendum showcased a cash-recycling system from ArcaTech at its BAI booth. |
Triton showcased its touchscreen FT7000, marking the first time the touchscreen terminal has been on display in the United States. Triton is working with San Jose, Calif.-based Infonox Inc. to drive electronic check-scanning on the FT7000. The unit also comes equipped with real-time deposit, check cashing, gift card purchase and load and reload capabilities.
Loomis, Fargo & Co., the Cash Handling Services Division of Securitas, announced Nov. 15 that its division will now operate under the Loomis name throughout the world. The division been known as Securitas in Western Europe and as Loomis, Fargo & Co. in the United States. A spin-off of Loomis is expected sometime during the first quarter of 2007.
Showcased in the Pendum booth was the Arca8000 cash recycler from ArcaTech Systems. The recycler checks notes for fitness and validity, and has an input/output of 200 notes per bundle. It also leaves a full audit trail on every transaction.
ProfitStars showed off its ATM Manager Pro. The software solution is designed to help FIs and independent deployers manage their ATM sites and assets. The program provides cash forecasting and summary services, and produces monthly profit and loss reports.
Phoenix Interactive Design Inc. announced the launch of its latest software product, the Phoenix Commander. The product is designed to give ATM owners the ability to manage their fleets from all angles and locations.
