Mexico. The evolution of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) continues in great strides since from a money vending machine it is transformed into a multi-service channel, which allows the profitability of these for financial institutions.
Mariana Mendoza, Sales Specialist Retail & Banking of Fujitsu Mexico, comments: Every day the ATM becomes more important for banking by becoming a self-service channel where in addition to withdrawing cash, several functions can be performed by paying for a large number of services such as electricity, water, telephone, cable TV, or even buy tickets for concerts or cinema.
Initially the ATM – more than 50 years ago--, was a robust, very large, somewhat crude equipment, and dedicated mainly to the account holders who used it to withdraw money in small transactions. Now the ATM undergoes a major digital transformation to become a true center of good user experiences in Mexico, says Mendoza. "The market has been growing and there are currently 51,000 ATMs in Mexico nationwide. In 2007 alone, BBVA Bancomer had 5,000 ATMs and today it has 12,000 self-service equipment on the street."
In the early days of ATMs, financial institutions did not view them favorably, since they represented a strong cost due to expenses in hardware, software, communications, connectivity of the bank itself, printer, maintenance, site visits, and change them every 7 or 9 years, among other implications that made them less attractive to banks.
Mendoza says: This vision is currently shifting toward looking at the ATM channel as a true self-service hub that forces banks to see it as an important investment within their growth strategy because this new approach, from moving the window to the atm, represents substantial savings. The self-service network is an omnichannel channel available 24x7, 365 days a year to perform a large number of operations, in addition to the traditional ones, since everything behind the ATM is ready for the user to live the same experience as when connected to the Internet, everything is homogenized. The current ATM channel is profitable for banks in Mexico thanks to its multiple services nationwide.
The challenge, adds Mendoza--, is to standardize the customer experience, which is the same as in other points of contact, is intuitive and feels confident in making the transaction successful and functional at the ATM. Great advantages bring modern equipment that eliminates wasting time in training at the window to quickly pay for services, electricity, property, water, telephone, tuition, tickets to the cinema or a concert, etc. For these hybrid ATMs, Fujitsu provides the software solutions and services that allow the bank to move forward according to its business strategy.
The largest banks in Mexico have already contemplated these changes in their internal and external systems to offer a high-level service through their ATM network as a very important part of their omnichannel strategy, and it is estimated that a great leap will be made in the next two years, and a while longer, will be in small banks or service companies.
Mendoza notes that the cultural and generational factor will be a decisive element in the rapid acceptance of the new ATM channel because younger users are more connected and looking for something that complies with what they do with their cell phone, while older people prefer to go to the branch so that a human gives them the voucher of the operation they carried out. "For these different niches of users, we are thinking about virtual or personalized assistance issues so that they can achieve a successful experience."
Fujitsu has the JanuX solution, the collection of software products and services to enhance self-service within the channel when providing solutions for banking. This solution has been evolving together with banking to improve the experience through a modular and flexible solution that adapts to the pace of customer growth. "These solutions that we commercialize are unique in Mexico because they allow the modernization of banking by implementing them in any type of hardware, regardless of the manufacturer of the machine, and very simple to use, since we teach them the first time and their development team is in front of customizing it," mendoza concluded.
It is worth mentioning that, since September 2018, Fujitsu has been marketing Janux X in Mexico, the new suite of products, so that the self-service channel can take an active part in the digital transformation of financial institutions. They are mobility, security, centralized control and innovation solutions, including Virtual Reality, so that an ATM can be operated remotely. You can also monitor the ATM network by improving availability. It is the present to integrate the ATM channel within the strategy of banks with their customers.
