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ATM stories that caught readers' attention in November

Apple Pay, cybercrime and self-service innovation were top-of-mind in the ATM industry over the last month. But reader interest wandered over to low-tech topics, as well.

December 15, 2014 by Suzanne Cluckey — Owner, Suzanne Cluckey Communications

With so much going on all at the same time, everyone gets a touch of attention deficit disorder around this time of year. But no worries. If you've numbered among the distracted lately, here's the rundown of our top five stories for the past month to help you get caught up on your reading before the holidays ...

1) Apple at the ATM: Will Apple Pay change the conversation about contactless cash transactions?

Two months after its introduction, Apple Pay continues to stoke the growing debate about the future of payments — resulting in the No. 1 story in November being one that originally appeared in September.

If anything, this illustrates how unsettled the future of payments remains — for banks and networks, acquirers, processors, independent ATM deployers, and most importantly, consumers.

These groups have yet to reach comparable levels of interest in any of the multitude of options that could offer a foundation for the future of payments. Indeed, Apple Pay is the first to command the attention of all three.

The speedy proliferation over the past couple of years of payments "disruptors" has produced so many shiny objects, it's been hard, no, impossible to determine which platform, features and safeguards the industry should adopt. This brings to mind what social theory professor Barry Schwartz wrote in his book, "The Paradox of Choice": "The more options we have, the more difficulty we have gathering the information necessary to make a good decision."

It would be nice if a hugely successful, trusted and global company such as Apple could finally make the choice obvious — and equally so for all stakeholders.

In this feature commentary, Will Hernandez, editor of another Networld Media Group publication, Mobile Payments Today, provides an early assessment of the potential of Apple Pay.

2) ATM receipt paper — worth a closer look?

At first glance, it might seem as though November's No. 2 commentary — about the lowly ATM receipt — takes a radical departure from the subject of the No. 1 commentary about the high-tech future of payments. But then, maybe not so much ...

As this piece emphasizes, it can be a mistake to write off printer paper as a ho-hum, low-tech commodity — which is pretty much how some in payments would like for consumers to view cash itself, actually.

But, again like cash, consumers have an inexplicable, ineluctable attachment to the physical certainty of a paper receipt. And iffy paper can be as hard on a machine as unfit notes.

3) At BAI Retail Delivery: Redirecting traffic at the branch

Over the past year, branch transformation has come to seem less than interesting experiment and more like an essential adjustment for the financial services industry. This year's presentations at BAI Retail Delivery last month in Chicago pretty clearly underscored that point.

The session covered in our No. 3 story wrestled with the challenges and opportunities presented by a reinvented branch that meets consumers' expectations for convenience and bankers' desire for cost efficiency.

However, while this can increase the number of contacts between provider and customer — through ATM, online and mobile channels — it can also reduce the amount of actual face time between the two. Panelists in the session talked about ways to maximize those relationship-building interactions.

4) Casing out financial cyber crime: A federal agent's point of view

The other top-of-mind theme at BAI Retail Delivery was transaction security. A fascinating presentation by FBI Special Agent Patrick Geahan "shared intelligence on the evolving cybersecurity landscape and emerging threats, and preemptive measures organizations can take to stop cyberthieves."

As Geahan said during his session, a financial provider's strongest and weakest links are the same — i.e., employees. He stressed the importance of training employees to identify potentially fraudulent activity and empowering them to do something to stop it.

5) Hyosung changes the conversation about branch transformation

Nautilus Hyosung has held its cards close to the vest in recent years, but in a late-October feature, Hyosung America's new CEO Andy Orent opened up to ATM Marketplace about the company's recent work in branch transformation — particularly as it concerns a high-visibility project the company has completed for Citi Bank.

At BAI Retail Delivery, Orent and other panelists who participated in the Citi branch transformation effort discussed that project in even greater depth, with Orent stressing the importance of a strategy that avoids a narrow focus on hardware and pays meticulous attention to the critical categories of people and process, as well.

cover art courtesy geralt | pixabay

About Suzanne Cluckey

Suzanne’s editorial career has spanned three decades and encompassed all B2B and B2C communications formats. Her award-winning work has appeared in trade and consumer media in the United States and internationally.

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