Article
Deposit automation, banking
Checks, cash and customer service stole show at RD in Vegas.
November 29, 2007 by Tracy Kitten — Editor, AMC
*Click hereto see a slide show from RD.
It's the one show of the year that demands big spending and is attended by the industry's dominant players. It's the Bank Administration Institute's annual Retail Delivery Conference & Expo - still the largest show for ATM players in the United States.
This year, the same as last, the show was held at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino. Show organizers, as well as attendees, said the 2007 event attracted more qualified attendees, even if the show's attention to programs and sessions may have diverted some focus from the showroom floor.
But for the world's largest ATM manufacturers - NCR Corp.,Diebold Inc. and Wincor Nixdorf International- the booth and tour reception was better than it has been years, all three agreed. They all chose to focus on much of the same technology, deposit automation, with a few variations sprinkled in here and there.
NCR took a concierge approach at its booth, using NCR staff in much the same way a bank or credit union branch might use staff to greet and educate customers and members. Booth visitors were walked from one station to the next, where NCR reps explained anything from mobile-banking to new modules released for Branch Assist.
Sharon Custer, president of Columbus, Ohio-based BMI Federal Credit Union, who toured the NCR booth, said she was most interested in seeing new technology that could actually be used in her credit union's markets.
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'We're trying to move from storefronts to new branches,' she said, 'so I was interested in looking at ATM applications that we can apply in a branch environment. Within the branch, we've got to satisfy the need for technology and the mixing of technology.'
To that end, Custer said mobile banking is something the credit union 'has to have.'
'That is the type of services that we have to offer within the next year,' she said.
Greg Sackenheim, who explained NCR's mobile- and Internet-banking offerings, said NCR is taking the guesswork out of mobile banking by mapping services for each bank or credit union it works with.
'We can work with all the major carriers,' he said. 'And we basically map services for the (FI's) Web site, so they can send the applications dynamically to their customer's (or member's) phone.'
Sackenheim said it takes NCR about six weeks to analyze each site and implement the service, which allows FIs to communicate via their Web sites with users' mobile devices.
Diebold also touted the future of Internet and mobile banking from its Branch of the Future, which remained hidden behind closed doors. In the concept room, Diebold showed how the mobile, branch, ATM or other self-service channel could be fully integrated and used to enhance the customer experience within the branch.
Linda Perconti, Diebold's director of delivery channel solutions, walked visitors through a typical visit to a branch of the future, highlighting that the user experience is always unique, customized and personal.
Perconti described the banking experience of a Jane Doe. When Jane walks into the branch, she is identified by the FI, either via RFID or a chip in Jane's mobile phone or device. From there, Jane is identified by a symbol, which pops up on a digital screen or device that she can interact with from her phone.
'From there she could enroll in multiple channels,' Perconti said, illustrating how a branch can be enhanced when digital signage and the mobile channel meet the branch. 'From there, she could make a deposit or withdraw cash without an ATM, necessarily. You could have a bulk-cash acceptor with digital signage or a digital screen, and then the currency amount and check image could be sent to the phone to view the images (so they aren't displayed on the digital screen).'
Similar solutions could be used for small-business customers, Perconti said.
A lot of it relates to a strategy Jim Block, Diebold's director of global advanced technology, calls 'pre-queing,' allowing the FI to prepare and anticipate the enduser's needs before he reaches the branch. Ultimately, the user, for lack of a better descriptor, 'calls ahead' and lets the FI know how much money he expects to withdraw, what types of transactions he expects to conduct while he's in the branch and a little about the type of customer he is.
'We're introducing this technology for the first time here at this show,' Block said. 'We're trying to show banks that they have to change their infrastructure if they want to remain competitive.'
One of the most innovative concepts in the branch was Diebold's vision for a Microsoft Surface application that could help a branch almost entirely eliminate paper. Quick to note that Diebold had not communicated with Microsoft Corp. about its concept, Perconti showed how Microsoft's tabletop surface - which recognizes motion and identifies objects by basic identifiers such as barcodes - could become the touchscreen, the notepad, the pen and the fax - and even have the ability to email or text pdf files that have been signed to a customer's or member's mobile phone after a transaction is completed. (Read more about Surface.)
Wincor shared a similar message - not focusing so much on the overall branch experience, but rather on new technology, such as mixed bulk-deposits at the ATM. Wincor also showed off its new SlimCash ATM 200, an off-premises ATM.
The SlimCash is basically a 'stripped down version of the (ProCash) 1500,' said Markus Doeinghaus, Wincor Nixdorf's software sales consultant. 'I think there will be a big push for it in the U.S. market. It's a pure cash dispenser, which is desired in the U.S. market.'
It doesn't have a touchscreen, but it can take full advantage of Wincor Nixdorf software, said Kevin Bienemann, Wincor Nixdorf's sales director for independent sales organizations.
'It's XP-based,' Bienemann said.
The SlimCash marks Wincor Nixdorf's foray into the off-premises, entry-level retail ATM market, Doeinghaus said.
The SlimCash was news, but it was Wincor Nixdorf's mixed-bundle-deposit tech that garnered the most attention.
Officially announced during RD, Wincor Nixdorf's mixed-deposit tech for bundles of notes and checks at the ATM is expected to revolutionize automated deposits, said Wincor Nixdorf USA president and chief executive Brad Waugh.
'No one else is doing anything like this,' Waugh said. 'We just keep staying one step ahead.'
ATMs with mixed-bundle tech can accept stacks of up to 50 mixed notes and checks in one transaction, and each check's MICR can be read in spite of the check's positioning.
Wincor Nixdorf's Michael Engel said the company's CCDM (check/cash deposit module) was confusing to users, 'because they did not know how to put the checks into the ATM so that the MICR could be read.'
Even with labels and directions affixed to the ATM, users stayed confused, he said. With the new technology, the position of the check is unimportant, since MICRs are read from any angle.
Wincor Nixdorf also showed its ProCash Analyzer, which analyzes and recycles cash. Uwe Krause, who oversees marketing on the company's banking side, said Wincor Nixdorf expects to set the pace for recycling at the ATM.
'We are optimizing the entire cash cycle, at the ATM, the teller and in the branch,' he said.
A glimpse at some other tech from the show '
Pendum Inc.'s marketing director, Pamela Hoy, was on hand to discuss Pendum's single-source ATM sales and provisions, as well as its multivendor ATM service plans. With 2,500 customers, Hoy says Pendum is NCR's largest reseller.
Hoy also mentioned Pendum's cash-recycling offerings at the teller line.
'We've been working with ATMs for 25 years, so it's a natural transition for us to move from the ATM to behind the counter,' Hoy said.
Also engaged in a cash-recycling conversation at the Pendum booth was Arcatech Systems president Mort O'Sullivan, vice president Aubrey Meador and vice president of operations David Pepin.
'Cash recycling is really coming of age in the branch,' Meador said.
An array of GRG Banking Equipment Co. Ltd.'s lobby-style ATMs were placed around the GRG booth, while the company's line of through-the-wall units, including the new H46 island unit, was displayed in the booth. Explaining the features and locations of GRG's services was Ricardo Rocha, general manager of CadeMex, GRG's Mexican distributor.
'GRG's biggest advantage is reliability,' Rocha said. 'These units feature industrial PCs tested for extreme conditions to run the ATM software.'
Rocha said GRG's presence is mainly in countries in Asia, Africa and South America, where communications and electricity connections are relatively weaker. GRG has built machines that can handle frequent power influxes.
Tapping into the Vegas tourists at the show, Fiserv offered Texas Hold'em at its booth, although the company's involvement in health-savings accounts remained the real attraction for financial-services professionals.
HSAs are flex-spending accounts owned by users and designed to help save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis. But, for FIs, they mean a new selling point, said Sherry Lawton, health and Internet banking specialist with Information Technology, Inc.
Fiserv was exhibiting a network for FIs to do tax reporting on HSAs, as well as services to provide education about the accounts to interested banks and credit unions.
Software Earnings was on hand to give presentations about its First Touch iCapture Suite check-imaging and fraud-detection software, as well as how the company continues to move forward with Check 21 legislation.
As industry specialist in product ownership Nick Giambrone explained, Software Earnings' imaging software is designed to offset labor in the branch and make upfront check handling more of a back-office task.
'Anytime there is human interaction, there is a risk of error,' Giambrone said. 'With check imaging, there is no chance of losing the envelope because there is no envelope to lose.'
Other features of the iCapture Suite include image-code-line correction to fix digit errors, accountability for deposit delays for long-distance deposits and validating envelopes for missing or fraudulent deposits.
Fidelity National Information Services was awarded the FinTech 100 at breakfast presentation on the second day of the show, and was proudly displaying the trophy at the entrance of its booth. The FinTech100 is published by American Banker and the research firm Financial Insights. The FinTech 100 ranks the world's leading technology providers to the financial-services industry from a sales-revenue standpoint.
In an effort to appeal to the gearheads at the show, Cardtronics lured attendees to its booth with a red Ferrari F360 Modena convertible. Once in the booth, attendees could access their bank accounts through an active Vcom multifunction ATM. The unit, deployed in 7-Eleven stores, features check-cashing, image-deposit, cash-withdrawal and money-transfer features. Already the largest independent sales organization in the world, with 32,000 ATMs, Cardtronics in late July (http://www.atmmarketplace.com/article.php?id=9071) completed its buy of 7-Eleven's ATM portfolio. Since that time, the company has deployed 2,200 Vcom machines.
In addition to its line of concourse self-service terminals, Source Technologies demonstrated its back-office Check Partner Enterprise platform for printing and validating checks and closing documents.
'Imagine using this platform at a mortgage broker that has remote offices,' said Snehal Vashi, vice president of software development for Source. 'Branches of the office can securely print closing checks on-demand without waiting for anything to mail.'
The Check Partner Enterprise monitors the audit and data trail and approval process and logs the amount of checks printed.
American ATM manufacturer Triton Systems offered attendees an opportunity to meet representatives from partners Select-a-Branch (http://www.atmmarketplace.com/article.php?na=1&id=9381) and ATM USA, a Triton distributor, as well as Triton's new chief executive, Bill Johnson.
Triton showed its FT7000 through-the-wall unit and its RL2000, the company's newest line of lobby units. Both were displayed with a check-imaging option.
ATM USA representatives huddled around a Wachovia-branded Triton ATM, and engaged in conversations about ATM branding. ATM USA provides turnkey ATMs and managed services for Wachovia.
'The key is to represent the brand,' said ATM USA's Brad Nesbit.
The Wachovia-branded ATM - a Triton machine that is owned and operated by ATM USA - featured Wachovia logos on the screen as well as above the ATM.
ATM USA has signed a similar ATM-branding deal with Fifth Third Bank.
Elsewhere in the Triton booth, a green ATM with two screens attracted attention for its ability to deliver multiple branding messages for multiple FIs. The ATM, part of the Select-A-Branch surcharge-free ATM network, is gaining adoption momentum, says Select-A-Branch chief operating officer Dan Stechow.
*Bill Yackey, editor of SelfService.org and managing editor of Digital Signage Today, contributed to the above story.
Banking Executive SummaryTrends / StatisticsPublic CompaniesIndustry OrganizationsDepositsDistributors / ISO / IADRetail / Off-PremisesManufacturersEFT NetworksOtherNorth AmericaBank / Credit UnionBranch TransformationDiebold NixdorfGRG Banking Equipment (HK) Co., LtdTritonWincor Nixdorf International
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