Article

Migrating ATMs to EMV: It's more than a matter of time and money

Most deployers understand that conversion to EMV involves considerable time and expense, but not all understand that it also involves operational adjustments.

January 15, 2015

by Daryl Cornell, CEO, Triton Systems

By now most ISOs understand that the ATM conversion to EMV will be both time-consuming and expensive. However, the move to EMV also will bring with it a number of operational challenges that are not as well understood.

Having successfully supported retail ATM customers on three continents in the conversion to EMV, and having navigated the EMV upgrade of our own large U.K. estate, we've learned several EMV lessons. Here are a few of them:

Technician training is critical

Purchasing EMV upgrade kits and handing them to your technicians without sufficient training is a recipe for disaster. While the upgrade to EMV on many machines is relatively simple, on many makes and models it is not. Software versions, mainboard versions, and EMV activation are but a few of the landmines out there as ISOs upgrade their fleets. The relatively small investment in technician training will pay large dividends throughout the EMV upgrade process.

In Canada, ISOs reported that, on average, three trips to the ATM were required to complete the EMV upgrade process. With proper training, the ATM can be upgraded to EMV with a single technician visit.

Oh, and get to know your manufacturer's technical support team now before you are waist deep in field upgrade issues.

Customers must be retrained

Customers have learned over the years to dip and retract their magnetic stripe cards. Because most POS and ATM EMV readers incorporate a latch mechanism, premature card removal may cause rejected transactions, card reader wear and customer frustration.

Fortunately for ATM ISOs, many customers will have already been exposed to EMV card readers at Walmart, Target or one of the other big box chains now upgrading their POS systems for EMV. However, ISOs might want to consider posting additional signage to notify customers of the change to EMV.

EMV card readers must be actively maintained 

Unlike magnetic stripe readers, EMV card readers must be serviced on a regular basis. In addition to contact wear, EMV card readers tend to gather card shavings and other debris. Many ISOs have elected to swap out and refurbish EMV card readers on a regular basis — as often as every visit — in order to minimize rejected transactions.

Because EMV readers might be installed a year or more before activation, initial transaction failure rates can go as high as 10 percent. We've seen this in many markets due to issues of card quality, environmental conditions and customer inexperience. Longer term rejection rates should fall to 1 to 2 percent, still a significant increase over the current magnetic stripe technology.

Cooperation is vital

Successful EMV adoption will involve extensive coordination among a variety of constituents, including issuers, processors, field service providers and manufacturers.

Issuers will need to ensure that cards are both compliant and non-invasive (ESD facilitators). Processors will need to be prepared to handle a variety of software, firmware and hardware configurations — for both current and legacy systems. Field service providers will need to be prepared to tackle the likely surge in demand from ISOs for upgrade and replacement service calls. Manufacturers will need to work with ISOs to develop orderly plans to address the spike in ATM and upgrade kit orders. And finally, ISOs themselves will need to develop effective rollout strategies to implement EMV across their estates — including both ISO- and merchant-owned equipment.

As we enter 2015, ISO ATM upgrade plans vary widely. Regardless of your timeline, be aware that EMV adoption will bring with it a number of operational implications.

This article has been republished from the Triton blog, atmAToM, with kind permission from Triton.

cover photo elements courtesy of andrew mcgill (banknotes) and filter forge (clock) | flickr

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