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Ready to 'ware? Webinar reviews ATM software trends

Attendees gain insights into the future of ATM fleet management and machine functionality.

June 18, 2013 by Suzanne Cluckey — Owner, Suzanne Cluckey Communications

Ten years ago, the impetus for off-the-shelf ATM software development was fleet owners' desire for a seamlessly managed multi-vendor network. With that capability in the bag, all sorts of new customer-facing, brand-building, availability-ensuring network-wide functions became a reality.

Which got really complicated. So now, with motivators that include upward-bound IT costs, regular software upgrades and the ever-present threat of a security breach, the new focus is on a single, standardized software app that works across the board.

This would also be a software app with the flexibility to accommodate new emerging functionalities and local regulatory and competitive needs, of course. (That's not so much to ask, is it?)

In the June 13 webinar, "2013 ATM Software Trends Report," Steve Hensley, executive vice president of sales and marketing at KAL ATM Software, adressed this and other new and emerging directions in ATM software that came to the fore in the 6th annual Software Trends and Analysis Guide jointly produced by ATM marketplace and KAL.  

"[Banks] need to have one application for all the different hardware systems that they have throughout their global network that also works for individual regions and individual countries," Hensley said.

Software has to be flexible enough that individual territories and businesses within the bank can extend the software to meet their competitive needs, "but not break the link with the main application," Hensley said. "So when new versions come out ... the things that were done locally to be competitive should adapt to the new software so it should be a very seamless process."

The study also named and ranked those items that are expected to figure into the competitive environments for FIs and their ATM networks in the future. Topping the list (in fact, all kinds of lists, including the one in ATMIA's newly released ATM innovations report) is ATM-mobile phone integration — a functionality that the industry is "very keenly interested in," Hensley said. And one that requires a considerable amount of cross-channel programming.

"What it really takes to do that kind of functionality is a whole ecosystem in the bank that ties together the ATM channel with the mobile banking channel with the smartphone application," Hensley said. "That's the kind of integration that people are looking for."

And they are looking to do it cost-effectively.

"When they lay their head on the pillow at night what do [bankers] think about from the day that they were frustrated about and that they're going to have to deal with the next day?" Hensley asked.

For half of the survey's 867 respondents, that issue was managing the costs of running an ATM network. From operation to reconciliation, "There's a lot of cost built into the ATM supply chain," Hensley said.

The webinar, "2013 ATM Software Trends Report," is now available for free on-demand viewing online.

Read more about software.

About Suzanne Cluckey

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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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KAL ATM Software

KAL is a world-leading provider of multivendor ATM platform, application and management software, specializing in solutions for bank ATMs, self-service kiosks, and bank branch networks.

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