How to react to the crashes

The headlines about recent ATM network crashes highlight once more the critical importance of this channel and the dramatic consequences of its failure.

Retail banks face two key challenges: dealing with declining levels of customer trust on one side and the aggressive market entrance of new players such as Tesco, Virgin and Boots on the other. In this complex landscape, financial institutions can leverage the potential of ATMs, which are still the primary point of contact with the public, to provide high levels of service and, even more importantly, strengthen their brands. This is especially true for banks that are actively re-thinking the way they engage with customers after mergers and acquisitions: in such scenarios maximising interaction with customers across all channels is vital to communicate change effectively.

In response to these challenges, top tier UK banks have already made substantial investments in their ATM channels and are set to continue to do so. For banks that have prioritised ATMs, the recent press coverage of ATM failures shows the vital importance of their choice. For those financial institutions still waiting to take the plunge, recent events will surely provide further food for thought. Changes don’t happen overnight, but the time for reconsidering ATM strategies is clearly now.

Barclays presentation at ATMIA 2009: How to reinvent your ATM lifecycle and save £millions

James Tomaney at Barclays talks about the bank’s roll out of automated testing to reduce ATM downtime:

The key points of the talk include:
• Automated testing gives Barclays 500% of the coverage they used to have
• The tests required to provide this take 48 hours compared to the three months under the previous system
- Barclays now conduct 1,500 test daily on each virtual ATM
- Barclays can conduct 4,500 tests conducted in 12 hours
• The project took 5 months to implement
• RESULT: 2% improvement in availability – which will take Barclays to the top end of availability in the UK.

ATM is Number 1, according to APACS

A recent APACS report states that 71% of all cash acquired by consumers comes from cash machines. Furthermore, the statistics show that a total of 2.9 billion cash machine withdrawals were conducted in 2008, which equates to 91 withdrawals per second.

It comes as no surprise that ATMs are the primary port of call for cash withdrawals. Despite the popularity of this channel however, ATMs continue to suffer significant levels of downtime. This is damaging both for a bank’s brand and their customer service.

Banks need to look after the basics if they want to maintain the success of the ATM channel. Providing network availability on a 24/7 basis is critical to customer satisfaction. Awareness of this is reflected by the fact that reducing network downtime has topped banks’ list of ATM priorities over the past two years.

A key reason for ATM downtime is inadequate testing. Thousands of tests need to be conducted on a daily basis to ensure the smooth running of the ATM network. However, many banks still test there ATMs manually, which is untenable for testing on this scale. One way banks can overcome this challenge is through implementing automated testing procedures. Using this method, banks can conduct the necessary tests continuously so any potential errors are quickly spotted and resolved. In this way maximum ATM availability is assured, helping banks to realise the full potential of the most popular banking channel.

Martin Macmillan