Top priority for banks is maximising ATM revenue through increased customer service

This month we carried out the annual survey of ATM industry specialists, polling attendees at the European ATMs show. The survey presented some interesting results that revealed the top priority for 39 per cent of ATM industry professionals is maximising ATM revenue. 25 per cent of respondents believe the opportunity to enhance customer services at the ATM lies in integrating the ATM channel with other banking channels, showing that priorities have changed since 2009, when the top focus then was reducing network downtime.

Although there is still a lot of work to do, banks have recently made significant inroads to ensure downtime has a decreasing impact on the ATM network which is why this year’s results show reliability is no longer deemed as major a concern. The industry now needs to make the connection between its investment in technology infrastructure and the business improvements that this can deliver. However, 31 per cent of those surveyed consider tighter budget controls a lingering issue since the onset of the recession, placing more pressure on maximising profits and essentially doing more with less.

As industry players in the ATM channel go beyond simply creating and fine tuning ATM technology, the evidence shows that the priorities are now shifting and 27 per cent of industry players are focusing on improving customer service at the ATM. This again highlights a change in priorities from last year where just 11 per cent of respondents saw rolling out new customer services as important.

At the same time, 30 per cent of respondents are making future technology investments to generate cost savings through improved efficiency at the ATM. These technology investments go against the grain of most during the downturn. 21 per cent of respondents claimed that budget cuts elsewhere in the bank have resulted in increased budgets for self-service channels such as the ATM.

Having become the most utilised customer touch-point in retail banking, this increase indicates that the industry recognises the long term efficiencies that investing in the ATM can achieve. As banks deliver more sophisticated services and increased functionality at the ATM it will become evermore crucial that ATM technology operates to full capacity and provides the service that the customer will naturally expect.

Ian Kerr