Article

'Operationalization?' Is that a word?

Yes it is. And it can help your business maintain higher service levels across the ATM channel and reduce costs across the board.

August 5, 2014

by Jay Goodwin, VP of strategic sales and marketing
ESQ Business Services

Yes it is. “Operationalization is the process of strictly defining variables into measurable factors. The process defines fuzzy concepts and allows them to be measured, empirically and quantitatively.” (Explorable.com)

What does this have to do with the ATM space? An effective ATM operations executive manages his or her business like a maestro conducting an orchestra. If everyone is reading from the same sheet of music and executing their task correctly it is beautiful music. If not, the sounds can be distressing.

In the case of the ATM manager, the orchestra is not made up of woodwinds, strings, and percussion instruments but rather stakeholders of a different nature.

• planning;
• vendor (IAD);
• branch users;
• switch/processor team;
• core banking team;
• change management team; and
• management/executives.

Each of these groups plays a critical role in optimizing the ATM service channel and must be reading from the same sheet of music. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Responsibilities are often siloed within each group and can even be contradictory at times; one group might create efficiencies that have the opposite impact on another group. What is the conductor to do?

This is where operationalization can play a role. What if a single framework could manage the entire operational process across each user constituency in a way that every task is optimized within its own workflow parameters and coordinated with the goals of every other group? A single sheet of music as it were.

Part of this process is lineal; other parts are spatial. From requisition of an ATM to its retirement, each of the above groups is dependent upon another group for success. Operational handoffs and dependencies abound and need to be managed accordingly. However each group has independent workflows that are unique to its responsibility, this too needs to be thoughtfully managed.

An operationalized tool must account for all these fuzzy variables in order to create clarity across all touch points of the ATM business channel. This involves:

• smart event management, minimizing event storms and separating faults from noise;
• remote management, lower FLM costs, enhanced service intelligence;
• baseline/predictive analytics;
• incident management designed for the self-service channel;
• alerts and escalations, flexible notifications to all parties;
• straight through dispatch, integrate break fix vendors seamlessly;
• availability and SLAs, accurate measurement of performance;
• asset lifecycle management, automate processes from provisioning to retirement of an ATM;
• anticipatory actions, usable analytics for proactive planning; and
• cash tracking, reconcile discrepancies, plan replenishments.

The conductor has another advantage over Joe ATM. His orchestra members are all in the same room and their focus is on him. The ATM manager not only has to deal with internal constituencies, but also must handle external vendors, suppliers and partners — all working under independent service level agreements for:

• communications;
• utility;
• break/fix;
• cash in transit;
• AM deployers; and
• custodial.

The operationalization tool must be able to intelligently understand incidents and faults in order to ensure that problems are assigned to the correct group. For instance, a communication vendor should not be held accountable for a set of down ATMs when there is no power to said ATMs.

Mobile communication applications are critical in minimizing downtime and maximizing vendor efficiency. The mobile application should be seamlessly tied to the monitoring system and made available to all parties as part of the SLA. If a break/fix engineer goes to a down ATM and finds the problem is a communication error, he needs to be able to close his ticket and rapidly open another ticket assigned to the responsible party.

A robust mobile service application should support these among other features:

• tracking of assigned incidents;
• map to location (including routes/traffic);
• record creation for work done, including camera captures;
• reporting of new Incidents at ATM;
• integration into IMS; and
• use of geo fencing (e.g., arrived at ATM).

Not only does a tool like this help maintain higher service levels across the ATM channel but it also streamlines vendor management, helps service vendors deliver better service, and reduces cost of service across the board.

In summary, it is all about handoff dependencies and coordination. If everyone is reading from the same music and focused on the big picture, even the largest and most complex ATM networks can perform like a perfectly tuned orchestra!

Jay Goodwin has held a number of management positions in the banking industry with Metavante and AML RightSource. At ESQ, he is focused on the development of the U.S. market.

cover photo: cluckey