The following is an excerpt from "ATM Service Management Tools: Three Characteristics to Consider," a white paper available for free download after registration.

Consumers don't think about ATMs very much until they need one, but if an ATM is unavailable when needed, the user can develop a negative attitude toward the location, the bank and ATMs in general. It doesn't matter if a network has 99 percent uptime if a machine is down when a customer needs it.

That downtime represents a poor customer service experience as well as lost revenue, in addition to the costs of remedying the situation. Managing an ATM network for maximum uptime demands service tools that offer business process management capabilities, as well as basic monitoring and diagnostic functionality.

When selecting a service tool solution, there are three considerations that should drive the decision to provide effective technical support and quick response to any transactional equipment incident or concern: ticket management, resource management and ROI management.

Ticket management

Managing a network of ATMs, whether in-house or for service clients, requires a robust tool for managing service support requests. These requests flow into the system from users or may be triggered by monitoring software that sends alerts of failure or impending failure.

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This software environment helps keep technical support staff organized and provides control of the service process, starting with the received service request and ending with the invoice billing for the accomplished work.

The cycle of a service request typically begins with the request reception and moves through the various steps, including assigning it to a specific specialist, closing the request, inputting data on completed tasks into the database and informing all stakeholders about performed work.

Alerts can be sent to the service manager, client and other interested parties on the status of the service request. These alerts can be sent by email, and may be accessed through the service software as well. The service technician on site fills in the work report, updates the status of the job and records notes or information on the project for later review.

A service manager can monitor the status of each work order or ticket and review any notes explaining why a machine may be out of service longer.

Resource management

Each work order is assigned to an individual, and the time an individual spends on the task can be monitored. Data on aggregated labor, which can be monitored and sorted by various categories, allow managers to understand the overall picture of which employees are spending their time on what tasks.

The same transparency may be applied to equipment. Service desk software should allow data to be analyzed by equipment type, location and service type at the minimum so that managers can identify problem areas.

Finally, integration of service support among various groups is vital for efficient operations. Sharing of data from the system can help anticipate and eliminate failures by identifying failure trends before they become chronic issues. The data can be shared with service clients or throughout a service organization for management decisions.

ROI management

A service organization can manage its costs and determine the profitability potential of contracts at the client level, as well as drilling down into equipment types and locations. This can help a service organization determine pricing and other business decisions with up-to-date data from the field.

With a robust service desk solution, improved business intelligence across the enterprise can allow decision-makers to plan and efficiently manage third-party service providers, increase overall transparency of the organization and reduce business risks.

For more information on this topic, visit our software research center.