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Wonderful world of ATMs
The ATM industry was treated to a show with a distinctly Disney twist at the ATM 2000 Conference in Orlando, Fla.
November 2, 2000
It was difficult to escape the specter of Disney at the ATM 2000 Conference sponsored by Thomson Financial Conferencesin Orlando, Fla., last week.
The event was held at the convention center adjoining Disney's Contemporary Resort. Those who stayed at the Contemporary found the ubiquitous mouse ears emblazoned on everything, including the hotel toiletries. A monorail on the fourth floor was ready to whisk guests away to the Magic Kingdom if they tired of the Wonderful World of ATMs.
Every time an elevator door opened, a squeaky-voiced Disney character announced the destination, sometimes following up with a hearty dose of vaguely creepy laughter. After only a half-day of this, I paid a visit to the booth of each of the ATM manufacturers to plead for their help: "Look, you've got some crack engineers here. Can't one of them just take a screwdriver and make those voices go away?" Unfortunately, none did and I had to learn to cope with the voices – which were nearly as disconcerting as the ones I sometimes hear in my head.
For those not in Orlando, some random thoughts and observations:
Coolest marketing tools:The live ATM dispensing cash at the Triton booth provided a compelling, real-life illustration of how well CDPD (cellular digital packet data) technology can work in the right deployment. The Tidel booth had an ATM made of plexiglass, the better to see the inner workings of the new is2000.
Hardest-working booth personnel:Even as their booth was being torn down around them on Friday afternoon, NCR reps were giving a potential customer a last-minute pitch on the benefits of the MCD.
Trend to watch:Dwarf ATMs. Both Cross International Technologiesand Access Cash International showcased tiny machines (20 ½ inches tall by 10.9 inches wide by 19.7 inches deep and 27 ½ inches tall by 8 inches wide by 23 ½ inches deep, respectively)in their booths, and NCR handed out brochures hyping their midget entry, which will debut at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show in New Orleans later this month. Apparently ATM manufacturers listened to Disney's famous observation of "It's a Small World After All."
Most interesting facts from the keynote address:Mitchell Caplan, chief banking officer of E*TRADE Group, described his role with the company as "20 percent master of the universe strategist and 80 percent shoe salesman."
More seriously, Caplan noted that E*TRADE Access (the newly renamed Card Capture Services) has added 1,700 new ATMs to E*TRADE's network in the past five months, and that average transaction volume has increased by 15 percent (60 to 70 percent of those transactions are "on-us"). E*TRADE can operate 9,600 ATMs for the same price it takes to operate just five brick-and-mortar bank branches, Caplan said.
Food for thought from other presentations:Ann Schmitt, director of Dove Consulting'sFinancial Services Group, in reporting results of a survey Dove conducted on Web-enabled ATMs, noted that 81 percent of consumers surveyed would use such a terminal if it were available. Consumers want features to match their activities at a given site, Schmitt said, mentioning stamps at a post office and shopping certificates at a mall as examples. The presence of fees could deter consumers from using such a device, Schmitt added, noting that consumer willingness to use Web-enabled terminals dropped dramatically if fees exceeded 50 cents.
Ken Rees, executive vice president of business development for InnoVentry, in a discussion of multifunction ATMs, said the San Francisco-based company spent over $25 million (yikes!) developing and deploying 500 advanced-function ATMs that run on a Windows NT-based platform. Yet multi-function ATMs are where the industry is headed, he predicted. "In the next few years, people putting out single-function ATMs are going to get calls asking why their ATM doesn't do more."
John Nicholson, group marketing manager for Wells Fargo Bank, in a discussion of ATM advertising, insisted that full-motion video is a technology ATM deployers need to adopt if they want to capture the interest of advertisers and media planners. "They require at least color screens, animation is preferable, and full-motion video is ideal," he said.
Best visual aid:The eye-popping graphics that Mike Szimanski, vice president of sales and global communications for RBuzz Inc.used to illustrate his presentation on ATM advertising. Created with a software called Scala, Szimanski said a similar effect will be delivered over ATMs and other devices in the RBuzz network.
Biggest annoyance:The cell phone symphony heard during just about every presentation. It was hard to focus on the often excellent speakers while phones went off to the strains of "Dixie" or some equally hackneyed song. The tuneful ringing took an already insensitive behavior to a whole new level of rudeness. Most phones have a vibrate function; for gosh sakes, use it.
Best/worst personal Disney experience:A lovely after-hours reception hosted by Triton featured fabulous fellowship and food in a storybook setting just in front of Cinderella's castle. Yet the Disney employees who escorted guests from the Magic Kingdom when it was time to leave reminded me a little too much of the glassy-eyed zombies in "Night of the Living Dead."
Included In This Story
Triton Systems
Triton FI based products • NO Windows 10™ Upgrade • Secured locked down system that is virus/malware resistant • Flexible configurations - Drive-up and Walk-up • Triton's high security standards • NFC, anti-skim card reader, IP camera and level 1 vaults are all options • Triton Connect monitoring • Lower cost
