News

Save customers or make money?

April 13, 2005

For most financial institutions, ATMs are a customer service rather than a moneymaker.

Independent service organizations, however, must make money on their machines. Because of this, ISOs have been quicker than many banks to embrace technologies that lower ATM expenses, said Vincent Sarff, sales manager of Columbia Falls, Mont.-based Bancard Systems, an ATM and credit card processing solutions provider.

ISOs were among the first to adopt dial-up and wireless telecommunications for ATMs, for example. When Bancard began selling ATMs to banks in 1996, Sarff said, he discovered many of them ran leased-line communications at ATMs - even at machines that generated only a few hundred transactions a month.

Bancard has about 90 FI customers - some of which just purchase ATMs, while others outsource their entire ATM programs to the ISO.

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Bancard sells Triton hardware, which costs about one-third less than ATMs manufactured by vendors that have traditionally served the banking market. More importantly, Sarff said, using Triton can help banks cut fixed costs such as service and maintenance, and transaction processing.

Michael Garza, information systems administrator for Wyoming-based Powell Bank, swapped out the Diebolds in his ATM fleet for Tritons, purchasing 12 ATMs from Bancard, after deciding it "wouldn't be cost effective" to upgrade the older machines for Triple DES.

Because he had no experience with Tritons, Garza admitted he had some reservations about switching vendors. His concerns were allayed when Bancard let him try out machines before purchasing them and suggested Garza attend technical training at Triton's headquarters in Mississippi so he could see for himself how simple they were to service.

At the training, Garza said, "They taught me how to completely break down the equipment, troubleshoot it and put it back together."

Garza now services some of the machines himself, which has helped Powell Bank experience a "huge cost savings." Garza is also switching his branch ATMs from a dedicated line to IP, and off-site machines from dial-up to wireless.

He expects to cut communications costs in half on branch machines where "dedicated lines were costing us a bundle" and shave another $20 a month per machine for those switched from dial-up to wireless. Using wireless also will allow him to introduce the bank's first mobile ATM to use at events like county fairs, a particular boon in Wyoming's great, open spaces.

Garza said Bancard "helps keep me abreast of all the technical variations Triton has to offer."

Bancard also offers low-tech suggestions that its clients may not have considered - such as loading machines with both $10 and $20 bills. "That tends to lower your average withdrawal. If you're paying interest on that cash, your per-transaction profits are going to go up," Sarff said.

"We're not doing savings accounts or CDs," Sarff said. "All we do is ATMs, and our bank customers benefit from our single focus."

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