Article

The secret of the 'second screen'

Five reasons why, sooner or later, we'll all take mobile-initiated ATM transactions for granted.

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

Ever since I saw my first demo of ATM transaction prestaging via smartphone, the needle on my "fad-o-meter" has been slowly inching its way from left — the outpost of Pet Rocks, mall bangs, and Beanie Babies, to right — the domain of iPads, hybrid cars, and flat-screen TVs. (The jury's out on 3-D.)

Items on the right side of the meter are there because they have "legs." They have legs because they have utility that carries them long past the day when the "wow!" factor wears off. They make everyday life better.

A study produced by Vienna-based research company CURE in collaboration with the Austrian electronics company KEBA and the software firm PLOT includes a simple term of art that illuminates why prestaging is no gimmick, but an idea with legs — and something we'll all take for granted one day.

The study was part of an Austrian project, "Advanced Interface Research"; its objective was "finding new approaches to interaction with technological systems within the respective context of the user. The quality of the interaction per se and the overall user experience are to be enhanced," i.e., "How can we use interactive technology to make people's lives better?"

Then a little voice said, 'It's the smartphone, stupid.'

While a summary of the technical research by CORE and partners doesn't offer up any great "aha!" moments, the researchers' observations about consumer uptake should perhaps make some skeptics rethink their fad-o-meter settings.

Possibly the most significant statement from the CORE study findings was this:

"The results of the research showed that as opposed to 'traditional' manual cash dispensing transactions, users prefer machine control via their own smart phones. The reasons include intuitive utilization, simple handling and speed. The second screen interaction ... possesses significant potential for far-reaching improvements in the user experience."

That term, "second screen," used in reference to the mobile phone, explains the inevitability of prestaging: It's the Millennials.

Members of this generation, which roughly spans the years from 2000 to the present, are not just screen creatures, they are screen creatures of a particular sub-species — Mobilus Fanaticus — identifiable by their permanently affixed smartphones.

There are five reasons to believe that Millennials eventually will make prestaging as "ho-hum" as debit card use is today: 

1. Any Millennial will tell you that if they can do on their smartphone, they will do on their smartphone.
2. Studies consistently show that Millennials are heaviest users of mobile banking apps. An FI that adds prestaging facility to its app can be sure that Millennials will use it.
3. Millennials are not card-carriers. They're unusually stand off-ish about credit card ownership and seek simplicity in their financial interactions. If they can put ATM access on their phone, they will happily do so and leave their bankcard at home.
4. Millennials constitute the demographic group most sought after by FIs. They're a fussy lot, though. They want relationship, but not facetime, with service providers; they want banks to reach out to them where they are — on their phones.
5. And then there are the rest of us. Boomers are major tech users, though generally not first adopters. As with online banking, older users follow in their children's users' footsteps. But FIs can rest assured that they will follow.

On trust, security and humans being human

There's one thing that could blow up mobile prestaging: the loss of consumer trust. 

"The concerns of users regarding trust, security and the private sphere must not be neglected," said Georgine Beranek, who was responsible for the interaction design in the research project.

Of course this is as obvious as the weather outside, but it's also the sort of thing that can't be said "too many" times.

Security is the reason that survey after survey has shown unexpectedly slow uptake of mobile payments at the point of sale. Consumers have yet to be fully assured that they can trust in NFC technology or in mobile wallets that are still popping up like dandelions. The Catch-22 is that you can't build trust without a history of performance and you can't build a history of performance without trust.  

ATM prestaging has two gigantic advantages when it comes to user confidence. The first is the extremely high levels of security that FIs must maintain in regard to customer data. Second is consumers' trust in that security. They might rail against big banking for any number of failings, but security won't be one of them.

The real security risk might be mobile users themselves. People are amazingly nonchalant about their choices of passcodes and PINs. Banks have been telling them for years not to use significant dates or the names of children or pets in passwords and PINs. They do it anyway.

If an unsecured prestaging-enabled smartphone falls into criminal hands, bad things will ensue. But the losses will be a drop in the bucket compared with the consequences of card-skimming fraud.

It could be argued that ATM transaction prestaging makes for an even more secure cash withdrawal mechanism than an EMV smart chip.

"Today, the realization of a solution for consumers on the interface between the mobile and stationary world is still a challenge, but tomorrow it will probably be the rule," said PLOT CEO Reto Pazderka, CEO of PLOT.

What does your fad-o-meter say?

Read more about mobile banking.

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.