As the banks continue to face the strict implementations while battling the competition between the traditional and new entrant banks. To add on, there is this Covid-19 which has caused a change in consumer approach which has fastened the digital transformation based on the clients’ requests for the innovative and digital approach and services.
A survey conducted by MasterCard, recently, found out that 22 per cent of the respondents had stopped using the cash entirely which was not that surprising as the cash usage was receding amidst the pandemic. The consumers are becoming more and more prone to the digital payment services and the need for cash is about to get diminished gradually. There was an initial decrease in the cash usage after the pandemic struck and we saw the worldwide trend reverse and the quantity of cash being circulated through the ATMs was now surging up in aggregate. Another research from RBR’s Global ATM Market and Forecasts research exposed that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of worldwide cash withdrawals will upsurge by 2.1% between 2019 and 2025. In the UK, Community Access to Cash pilot structures have been established in order to provide cash to the unbanked communities, and boost local economies, to put payment choice back into the local hands. Therefore, the organizations must enhance their policies in the coming years to elevate the security of the ATM machines and reduce the cost of ownership to increase and improve the customer experience. Financial industries must make sure that their operating systems and strategies will prioritize efficient, highly scalable and all time availability of the service channels, both physical as well as digital.
On the contrary, the ATMs do so much more than just cash lending services. It will continue to provide access to the cash for the customers, as long as there is a need for them, the financial institutions will make it available. As a result, the self-services will continue to play the major role in the customer pathways. It will also be crucial in enhancing the brand perception in the customers. And with the right technology, self-services can provide basic banking services like managing accounts, bill payments and even loan applications. In order to make into a reality, the right factors like infrastructure, software is very much needed.
If we talk about the branch transformation, these multifunctional ATMs will be seen as a part of the branch’s initiatives and that can be an excellent complement or serve as a face to face interactions in a branch as they can offer a throughout the day services. In addition to this, ASSTS ( assisted self service terminals ) have continued to prove a sound investment in a variety of markets. According to a study from RBR, 340,000 assisted self-service terminals have been positioned worldwide allowing the customers to perform an even wider range of dealings with the help of bank employees. This also means, there is a reduced effort of the workload for the bank employees which will allow them to focus more on the advisory duties. ASSTs encourages greater use of these self service kiosks, and thus many banks now see them as the perfect bridge between the physical and digital channels. Also preserving the human element in banking which continues to be valued for certain transactions. Banks are now pooling and collaborating with each other in order to reduce the cost of ownership. The benefits include an increased network and vast opportunities to commercialize the offers by increasing services provided through ATMs. Further, a modular approach to market by having a single point of control of the branch automation channel without the need to define, agree, coordinate, and implement across different products adds as an advantage.
