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ATMIA and the Industry Face the Future Together

ATMmarketplace's Tom Harper knows the danger of making predictions, but feels safe in saying ATMIA will be key to the industry's future.

August 11, 2003

Once our ideas of the future are observed in hindsight, many of my Future Trends Executive Round Table colleagues and I will no doubt invite future criticism for some inaccurate foresight.

So here's my disclaimer -- half of us will be dead wrong, a quarter will be sufficiently vague and later tell us what they really meant, and the rest will deny they ever made such outlandish remarks.

I'll at least go out on this ledge -- I believe the future of the industry lies hand in hand with the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA). It stands alone in the world market as the collective voice of financial institutions, independent deployers, manufacturers, ATM networks, retailers, product and service vendors, and every other business associated with ATMs.

ATMIA is the only non-profit association dedicated exclusively to ATMs. The organization has spread into Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Europe, Latin America, Africa, Auatralasia and soon Western Asia.

ATMIA's five-year vision plan will be voted on soon. The board has graciously allowed me to reveal some of the highlights:

Other plans include an initiative to gain more media visibility through speaking out on key issues such as security and surcharging. ATMIA will be more involved in government regulatory activity, including lobbying and policy enforcement. We will have closer relationships with national governments as a result of working together initially on security initiatives.

Given our global reach, our Web sites, events and staff will be increasingly multilingual, and some conferences may feature on-site translation. As a result, the member base will grow and best practices will spread more rapidly throughout the world's markets.

ATMIA will reach out to related associations in industries such as retail, interactive self-service kiosks, hospitality, POS, credit card, Internet and security. By working together, we may be able to push the development of new technology, or learn of new marketing strategies that could work in our own industry.

Today's $14 billion ATM industry will no doubt grow. Consumers will demand more machines in more locations. Some costs will continue to drive downward and new profit models will emerge. Changes in technology will streamline the transaction process and deliver ATM services in new wireless ways. Machine replacements and upgrades will ensure the health of our vendors.

No doubt you've shaken your head at more than a few predictions during the past few years. Remember those (myself included) who raised the ATM advertising banner as the next great industry wave? While we "knew" we were right, those unbelievers who thought advertising posed a questionable business case rest their case now.

Today ATMIA is in a better position to serve and strengthen the industry than it was five years ago. We're a little smarter, hopefully a little wiser, and we're guided by many top international ATM professionals who sit on our boards and speak at our conferences.

As for the future of the ATM industry, we can only guess. Wherever the road takes us, however, ATMIA will be squarely in the middle of it.

And then we'll tell you how wise our predictions really were.

Included In This Story

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

The ATM Industry Association, founded in 1997, is a global non-profit trade association with over 10,500 members in 65 countries. The membership base covers the full range of this worldwide industry comprising over 2.2 million installed ATMs.

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