Moving ATMs Toward a More Full Service Environment
Now is an exciting time for ATM deployers globally, and especially in the US. Windows XP has replaced other operating systems bringing with it a whole new world of opportunities. One of the first changes that ATM users are noticing in this new world is customized preferences. Preferred language settings and withdrawal amounts are significant enhancements to the user’s experience at the ATM. The user gets faster, less complicated, more personalized service, while the ATM deployer achieves faster customer service thereby reducing the lines at the ATM. This is just the start of the user’s personalized ATM experience. This and many other customer-focused improvements have been uniformly accepted wherever they have been deployed.
The widespread conversion to Windows XP has also made a tremendous difference in the back office in terms of security and flexibility. Financial institution IT departments are able to remotely control and update their ATM fleets without having to send out technicians nearly as often as before. Marketing departments are able to remotely update advertising screens with just a few clicks of the mouse. This is critical because ATMs are always changing and in need of updates. The flexibility of Windows XP, along with increased bandwidth and TCP/IP networks, make rapid changes easy to accomplish.
In the past few years, the Wintel revolution has spread to the ATM market. The hardware has become much more powerful and far less proprietary. This has served to open up the market and drive down pricing. More importantly, it has created an environment where KAL and others can deliver a software solution that makes it as easy as possible for ATM deployers to develop robust self-service solutions. Our software is .NET-based, runs on Windows XP as well as Windows CE, and is completely hardware-model agnostic. In fact, KAL solutions support thirty-two ATM manufacturers today – a world record for the ATM multi-vendor industry!
Any financial institution with a mixed fleet of ATMs from various manufacturers – which is the case at most large institutions – is an ideal candidate for our Kalignite multi-vendor software. It is extremely difficult and costly for those institutions to support different software stacks running across different machines. This problem is compounded for global banks that are operating in multiple countries. Banks are always searching for ways to reduce their operational costs, and running a single software stack such as Kalignite on top of Windows XP is a sure way to achieve this goal. Not only are overall software costs lower, but ongoing testing and certifications are much easier and faster and future hardware procurement gets easier and more competitive as the choice of vendors increases.
In the US, we are seeing big changes since the implementation of the Check 21 legislation. Envelope-free deposits are gaining popularity and it won’t be long before consumers embrace this convenient feature as well as others such as advanced check cashing functionality. In Asia, cash recycling is already well established and growing strongly and it can significantly reduce carrier costs for ATM deployers. In addition to supporting image capture for check deposits and cash recycling, KAL’s Kalignite software includes a full set of pre-built ATM transactions that allow banks to tailor their ATM functionality to each specific marketplace.
Financial institutions that are customer-focused need to envision their ATMs as much more than just simple cash dispensers. ATMs are vital in delivering a full range of transactional services to the bank’s customers and are a key element to retaining existing customers and in attracting new ones. It is just a matter of time before more ATM deployers get onboard and deliver the new features and functions to their customers. At KAL, our motto is “enabling the future of ATMs” so we are here to help the ATM industry move forward toward a more full service and exciting environment at the ATM.
www.kal.com
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