Thursday, March 14, 2019
Gene Pranger is credited with introducing the Interactive Teller Machine, an early iteration of video banking. He subsequently expanded the platform by launching POPio Mobile Video Cloud, making the service remotely accessible on mobile devices. The interactive mobile video banking solution includes video chat and tools that facilitate RDC.
"Our mission is to evolve the video banking experience of the future," Pranger said. "By adding transactional support on top of sales and service, POPi/o helps financial institutions create a complete branch experience, defined by highly valuable interactions in every video engagement."
POPi/o President and COO Jed Taylor expects video to improve the customer experience at financial institutions by enabling consumers to engage with video-based tellers. "These new features enable the consumer to create a new account and fund it in one seamless interaction with the assistance of a video-based agent," he stated. "These exciting advances initiate POPi/o's expansion into transactional-based interactions, furthering video banking's ability to augment services once limited to the physical branch."
Pranger and Taylor pointed out that POPi/o's platform supports loan origination system (LOS) documents and other consumer service tools and applications. Financial institutions can use a built-in executive dashboard and support center to improve performance through streamlined communication and analytics, they stated.
"You're seeing a major reduction of people coming into branches, and historically, branches have been the place people selected financial products," Taylor said. "Now people are going online searching for alternatives, and that's how fintechs are gaining market share."
Experts have said POPi/o's increased connectivity between financial institutions and their customers will require a robust supporting communications network. A study by Digital Check found the need for redundant high-speed connectivity is critical for financial institutions.
Security First Bank: The Networked Branch of Tomorrow, Today, examined the impact of connectivity on a rural bank with a footprint of more than 100.000 miles in South Dakota and Nebraska. Researchers noted that improved wireless coverage in the 10-year period between 2007 and 2017 made it possible for the bank to upgrade its network.
"Network uptime might sound like a serious problem in Security First's primarily rural territory; however, that has not been as much of an issue as one might think," researchers wrote. "A decade ago, that may have been a concern; but in 2017, the infrastructure, even in remote areas of the contiguous United States, tends to be sufficiently reliable (when both primary and backup connections are employed) for near 100 percent availability."
Ten years ago, video teller machines focused on transactions and transactional delivery. Today, advanced solutions like POPi/o Video Banking facilitate face-to-face service and RDC. However, experts question the privacy and safety of digital communications protocols.
George Sarantopoulos, chair of the National ATM Council and CEO at Access One Solutions Inc., has seen privacy screen technology at financial institutions that prevents bystanders from viewing sensitive data on a teller's screen. "If you look at the screen from a different angle, you can't see any information," he said. "How would consumer privacy and information be protected during a mobile video banking session?"
Sarantopoulos further noted that the rental car industry has experimented with video kiosks, but found the technology lacking. "Video didn't take hold in the rental car business, and I'm skeptical that it will achieve mass adoption in banking," he said. "Car rental video didn't scale because they lost the ability to upsell services such as insurance, a major profit center. It's easier to say no to a video screen than a live person. And tellers, like car rental agents, are trained to upsell."
Editor's Note:
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