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The industry's most popular guide: 2014 Software Trends and Analysis

This year's study offers early insight into post-Windows 7 software priorities.

May 23, 2014 by Suzanne Cluckey — Owner, Suzanne Cluckey Communications

As established in today's webinar previewing the just-launched 2014 Software Trends and Analysis guide, Windows 7 is the industry issue currently "sucking all the air out of the room" when it comes to ATM software priorities.

Still, Steve Hensley, EVP of sales and marketing at KAL ATM Software (sponsor of the 7th edition of the ATM Marketplace publication) found plenty of non-Windows insights in this year's 61-page guide to discuss during the webinar.

Financial institutions, independents and others in the industry (730 in all) who participated in the study might be preoccupied with OS updates at the moment, but this is not preventing them from thinking ahead to a post-migration ATM industry.

While more than half (51 percent) cited Windows 7 as a primary driver for changing ATM software, survey participants listed additional items on their IT radar that ranged from improved customer experience to improved cross-channel selling, as shown in the graph below.

This year's guide, in a new, easier-to-read editorial format, is available for download now. A replay of the one-hour webinar with Hensley's insights into survey results and a post-presentation Q&A is also available for download.

Following is an excerpt from the first chapter of the 2014 guide, which was written by veteran technology journalist Robin Arnfield:

For the seventh year in succession, ATM Marketplace surveyed ATM executives around the world to learn what trends they see in terms of ATM software, ATM functionality and the role ATMs will play in the future. We also spoke with industry leaders around the globe to gain their insights.

We thank those industry leaders who shared their insights via this survey.

This chapter provides an overview of the responses we received from FIs and from ATM vendors, IADs and service companies. The subsequent chapters look in depth at key topics identified by survey respondents and interviewees.

Appendices 1 and 2 respectively provide detailed analysis of the results from the 2014 FI and non-bank surveys, as well as comparisons with the 2013 surveys.

Financial institutions

Unsurprisingly, due to Microsoft’s end of support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014, 54.1 percent of FIs regard Windows 7 or 8 migration during 2014 as critical. The survey also found that 44.5 percent of FI respondents intend to migrate to Windows 7 in 2014.

The top primary driver for changing ATM software is to support Windows 7 or 8, identified by 50.9 percent of FI respondents in 2014, followed by improving the customer experience, identified by 35.3 percent of FI respondents.

A third (32.6 percent) of 2014 FI respondents to the question “Which statement best identifies your organization’s ATM software strategy?” run multivendor software in a standardized ATM software environment on ATMs from multiple manufacturers. A further 15.6 percent run software supplied by their ATM manufacturer, but are considering multivendor ATM software.

Just over half (51.4 percent) of 2014 FI respondents identified easier application maintenance and the ability to extend the software to support new features as key benefits of moving to a single ATM software environment.

Over three-quarters (76.1 percent) of 2014 FI respondents answered “yes” to the question: “Is it a near-term priority for your bank to extend your use of self-service to deliver new or additional products and services?” Also, 70.6 percent of FI respondents planning to extend their self-service usage aim to add new transaction types at their ATMs.

The 2014 survey found that 87.9 percent of FI respondents plan to expand their ATM fleet in 2014. Nearly half (48.2 percent) of FI respondents to the question “What are your reasons for deploying new ATMs?” want to cut costs by migrating transactions away from tellers. Two-thirds (67.9 percent) said the reason for installing new ATMs is to increase customer reach and coverage, while 62.8 percent want to deploy new functionality to improve the customer experience.

Integration with mobile phone transactions was seen as the most important functionality FIs would like to add to their ATMs, identified by 41.3 percent of respondents in 2014.

Targeted one-to-one marketing was identified as an important new functionality by 27.5 percent of FI respondents in 2014.

While 17.9 percent of FIs surveyed in 2014 identify remote teller assistance as an important functionality they want to introduce at their ATMs, just 7.3 percent see videoconferencing with bank experts as an important new functionality.

Nearly half (48.4 percent) of 2014 FI respondents have branch of the future activities.

Vendors/IADs/service companies

Asked about the most critical changes they anticipate their customers wanting to make to their ATM fleets in 2014, 36.4 percent of 2014 non-bank respondents identified supporting Windows 7 or 8 as the most critical change. Creating a better customer experience at the ATM is the second most critical change, identified by 35.3 percent of non-FI respondents, followed by the adoption of enhanced security technologies, identified by 33.7 percent.

Integration with other self-service channels was identified as a critical change by 28.3 percent of non-bank respondents in 2014.

Only 26.2 percent of non-FI respondents intend to migrate to Windows 7 in 2014, while 26.7 percent will remain with XP for the foreseeable future.

Increasing security through the use of EMV, 3DES, remote keys and biometrics topped the list of drivers for changing ATM software in 2014, ac cording to 38 percent of non-FI respondents. Reducing costs by improving operational efficiency came in second, identified by 37.4 percent of respondents, followed by better integration of ATMs with other banking channels, identified by 33.2 percent.

Integration of the ATM with mobile phone transactions was identified by 48.7 percent of 2014 non-bank respondents as the most important future ATM capability that would improve the customer’s experience. Contactless card support came second, identified by 26.7 percent of respondents.

Half (50.3 percent) of 2014 non-bank respondents identified easier application maintenance and extension as a key benefit of moving to a single ATM software environment. The ability to extend functionality quickly at a lower cost was identified as a key benefit by 38.5 percent of respondents.

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.