Innovation
What's on your mind?
February 2, 2021 by Pat Shea — Editor, NetworldMedia
When my son was young, he would often ask my mother a bevy of questions in rapid succession that she obviously didn't have answers to. To end the conversation she would rely on an old standby phrase, "What am I, a mind reader?" That mental picture of my mother as a mind reader still makes my son and I laugh.
As this industry moves forward from a year that put everyone backwards, my question to you is, "What do you want from this publication?"
This magazine ran several blogs, articles and interviews this year, as well as a host of news items and webinars. Although we continually touched on key subject matter, was there a topic you wish had been covered? Would you prefer to have more one-on-one articles with ATM operators or an in-depth look at the ideas of industry manufacturers and what they are working on?
What challenges you, your business and your clients? Clearly, COVID-19 is a topic that we constantly covered throughout last year and will continue to do so depending on how the pandemic affects this industry, but what affect did it have on your specific sector?
I am sure you've seen in your work area, as I have seen in my town, several businesses that have closed up shop as a testament of how the coronavirus impacted business, especially small business enterprises. If you're an operator, did you lose clients due to the virus?
How are you utilizing the industry organizations such as NAC or ATMIA? Are you going to their website, checking out their resources, sitting in on their webinars?
Depending on the size of your business or the aspect of how you work within this industry, what were the resources, companies, products, media you relied on?
I heard certain financial services that were still using in-house solutions for customer queries, and others realized they needed secure networks, phones and devices so that employees could use to work from home. Did you use a cloud-based platform to handle customer calls or did you rely on in-house staff to answer? Did you spend more money to make the necessary changes so you could compete digitally, or are you still holding on to processes and hardware that needs to be updated to meet the growing demands of the customer for speed, health and safety?
Let's dig a bit deeper into the hardware. I get a first-hand opportunity to hear about the exciting and innovative ideas, processes and products that are being released into the marketplace, but have you explored them on this website or our suppliers that are listed to see what fits your business? What steps are you doing to keep customers safe and healthy? Are you cleaning and sanitizing machines continually or have you left it to clients to handle the day-to-day?
For many of you, your clients are so spread out that it would be impossible to reach them every day for heavy duty sanitizing on ATM machines, but then what are your options? Should the business that hired you be responsible, or should you hire a third-party cleaner? Have you explored products that clean a touchscreen after every transaction or have you come up with other solutions?
How has fraud affected your business? Have you experienced theft or damage of machines or has malware entered your database?
I realize I have asked a lot of questions in rapid succession, but unlike my mother, this time you are the one with all the answers.
Although I feel this publication does a stellar job to inform and educate readers, I want to know what else can we do to make this publication even a greater resource to you?
Let me hear your voice. Contact me via the social media icons below, because to paraphrase my mother, "I am not a mind reader."
I look forward to hearing from you.
Stay safe.
About Pat Shea
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