Tuesday, March 3, 2020
A key takeaway from the annual ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) conference, held in February 2020, is that ATMs have a rightful, enduring place in the commerce ecosystem. Survey highlights from the conference, published March 2, indicate respondents showed strong support for next-gen ATMs and for ATMIA’s global API designed to augment legacy ATMs with mobile and digital capabilities, ATMIA representatives stated.
“The results show strong support for adoption of next gen starting in 2020,” said Mike Lee, CEO of ATMIA. “An overwhelming majority feel app-based ATMs are important to the long-term welfare of our industry. Furthermore, almost half of those responding said their business will be an early adopter of next gen.”
Lee further noted that “better customer experience” scored highest among attendees as a potential business benefit, followed by branch automation and self-service models. These futuristic solutions will reduce ATM operating costs and drive value across ATM supply chains, he added.
In 2017, ATMIA created a consortium of ATM industry stakeholders, stating the purpose was to “create next generation ATM architecture based on a common blueprint signed off by the industry’s major deployers, vendors and suppliers.”
Described as the largest future-proofing exercise undertaken by the global ATM industry in recent times, the initiative is supported by participants in 300 countries. Five committees – covering governance, security, customer interface, standards and technical, and PR and communications – are jointly engaged in implementing the following 10-step plan:
The Next Gen ATM Consortium has developed a business case toolkit, with business value propositions, a guidebook for plugging in ATM value-added services, an industry best practice guide to the Next gen ATM user interface and business-case matrix for calculating cost savings and revenue growth elements of next gen ATM architecture for each sector of the industry. The consortium is also soliciting feedback and new members.
“Now, we are looking for Next Gen Champions as we move forward powerfully as an industry to implement the global blueprint,” the ATMIA website states. “We will need to fund the upcoming PR campaign, the development of standards and the creation of an ATMIA self-certification tool, among other steps. Learn how your company can get involved.”
Heidi Sarantopoulos, chief financial officer at Access One Solutions Inc., expressed concerns about prohibitive costs of implementing next gen ATM value-added services. “As an ATM operator, I’m wary of ATM upgrades that force independent ATM deployers to implement new hardware,” she said. “We just finished implementing EMV at tremendous expense. Upgrading technology has always been a risky proposition in the ATM industry. What if NFC is not the next big thing and we skip directly to biometrics?”
Survey data was collected during a half-day workshop on next gen ATMs, which included speakers from Evolve Bank, Results XL, Wind River and Upshot Financial executives, as well as proof-of-concept presentations by BVK, Cashware, NCR and Ovia. The workshop drew more than 200 participants, setting an attendance record for a North American ATMIA conference.
Donna Embry, senior vice president global payments strategy at Evolve Bank & Trust, praised the workshop for demonstrating how all constituents in the ATM value chain can benefit from next gen ATM technology. Independent ATM deployers in particular, can quickly implement these value-added solutions, which will directly impact revenue and protect their infrastructure investments, she stated.
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