News

NCR hits the road to help financial execs

August 21, 2006

DAYTON, Ohio - NCR Corp., a leader in self-service technology, is taking its show on the road to assist small- to mid-sized financial-industry executives strategically enhance the experience they offer consumers.

NCR kicked off its eight-city tour last week in Oklahoma City and Dallas. Additional stops in Milwaukee; Kansas City, Mo.; Louisville, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; Los Angeles; and Seattle are booked for the next three weeks.

Each seminar features executive discussions and presentations about the issues and challenges - including rising competition from traditional and non-traditional institutions, growing customer demands for personalized service, increased security and protection requirements, and the ongoing push to reduce costs and increase revenues - facing today's financial institutions.

"It is interesting to see how bankers are adopting approaches to customer care that might have been traditionally considered the forte of the nation's retailers," said Andy Orent, vice president of NCR's Financial Solutions Division for the Americas. "No matter how big or small, everyone wants and needs to be competitive and smarter about how they reach the customer."

During the tour, NCR also is showcasing its no-envelope deposit technology for the ATM, ImageMark Passport for remote deposit capture and end-to-end image processing, and its Aptra Relate personalization software. The road show includes the domestic debut of NCR's latest addition to Aptra Relate, known as NCR Customer Power Manager.

NCR Customer Power Manager not only facilitates personalized one-to-one marketing at the ATM but also interacts with other banking channels, such as the Internet, call center or branch. It provides important and immediate data on the success of each offer.

Research suggests that personalized ATM marketing campaigns can be up to 200 percent more effective and cost more than 60 percent less than direct mail.

Customer Power Manager also can be used with NCR's Teradata data-warehousing solutions or any existing customer relationship management system.

Remote deposit capture

In addition to touting NCR's products, the seminars will focus on remote deposit capture. The ability to capture check images at the ATM, branch, commercial operation or any remote location is finding increasing importance in delivering enhanced customer service as well as driving efficiencies and cost savings.

Tom Houston, a 30-plus-year industry veteran and expert on remote deposit capture, will keynote several of NCR's sessions.

"Remote deposit capture truly levels the playing field between big banks and their smaller competitors," Houston said. "An institution of any size can now effectively tap into the merchant deposit market by offering the ease and convenience of remote scanning and image-based deposit processing. The light bulb has gone off in the minds and budgets of community banks and credit unions all across the country."