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Trade Association News: ATM Industry Looking Ahead
His question was honest and telling because although the ATM industry is buzzing with ways to offer new services at the machines, most people still view ATMs as a way to get cash quickly, and that's it. There are more than 370,000 ATMs placed in the United States, and many think that the market for ATM placement might be approaching saturation; the number of transactions per ATM has declined, too. "ATMs do not currently provide an environment that offers a strong call to action," said James Anderson, Vice President of Payment Services at Boston Communications Group, Inc. "They wait for people to use them." Anderson's presentation at the ATMIA conference focused on new revenue opportunities from offering wireless prepaid top up capabilities on ATMs. In order to generate more revenue, bank and non-bank owners alike are faced with the challenge of getting consumers to use ATMs for services beyond simple cash withdrawal and deposits in order to continue to make ATMs a viable business model. This year's ATMIA Conference West brought ATM industry people together to discuss these types of issues, and for networking and educational opportunities such as learning more about the latest in ATM functionality: from offering wireless prepaid top up capabilities, to coupons, tickets, bill payment, gift cards and loyalty programs. The overall theme of the event was "self-service" and ATMIA combined perspectives from both the ATM and kiosk industries to examine the current and future issues facing both types of businesses. Kiosks.org Association and NYCE Corp. sponsored the conference. ATMIA global sponsors included ATMmarketplace.com, DeLaRue, Diebold, LA GARD, Nautilus Hyosung, NCR, Palm Desert National Bank, Tidel, Tranax and Triton. The ATMIA regional sponsors were eFunds Corp. and TNS Smart Network. The Green Sheet, Inc. served as one of the media sponsors. More than 300 people from all facets of the industry including financial institutions, networks, ISOs, manufacturers and kiosk and security companies attended the show. Norman Pozner of Rocky Mountain ATM, a Durango-Colo.-based ISO, and his partner, Harry Popiel, attend the ATMIA conferences mostly for the networking opportunities because their company is "in strong acquisition mode." But the education the conference offers is also important to them, especially for keeping up with changes in the industry, Pozner said. "We don't live in a static world, we live in a dynamic world," he said. "It's going to change no matter what, and the same goes for the ATM industry." A pre-conference half-day workshop on Monday afternoon, "Maximizing Multi-functional ATMs," addressed the issue of adding new capabilities to the ATM and generating revenue from those capabilities. The workshop offered the following five presentations:
These presentations examined the evolution of the ATM industry in the United States, how it's changing with a move to Windows-based ATMs and also from new security and legislation, the issues faced in managing these changes, where opportunities lie in driving traffic to and generating revenues on ATMs, what needs to change about ATMs, and the convergence of the "self-service" functionality at ATMs and kiosks. On Monday night, ATMIA opened the exhibitor hall and hosted a kick-off cocktail reception that enabled attendees to meet one another and learn more about the offerings of more than 30 exhibitors. The exhibit hall remained open throughout the conference. Tuesday morning featured five presentations, including the keynote address, "Does ROI Matter?" by Alex Richardson, Managing Director, Karter Capital Advisors, and a panel discussion, "Self-service Interface: What Are the Key Customer Needs and Demands?" The panel included:
Ted Renteria, Founder/CEO, PlanetTag, Inc. served as the moderator of the discussion. Following lunch on Tuesday, four breakout sessions addressing topics that ranged from ATM and kiosk security, customer service through the ATM, a future look at kiosks and self-service and ATM and kiosk convergence were held throughout the afternoon. For the final presentation of the day, Lana Harmelink, ATMIA Director of Operations and Mike Lee, ATMIA CEO presented information on the Global ATM Security Alliance (GASA). ATMIA formed GASA in June 2003; it brings together experts from law enforcement and the industry to address global issues related to ATM crimes, including skimming. GASA publishes best practices manuals, global fraud alerts and analyses of crime trends. Its latest release will be the "Best Practices Manual of Through-the-wall ATM Security." Banks, bank associations, Visa, MasterCard, law enforcement agencies, ATM networks and processors are all involved with GASA. "We have to secure the entire lifecycle of an ATM transaction, or crime will migrate to the weakest link," Lee said. Harmelink also provided an update on ATMIA committees, including Government Relations, which has been actively involved in legislation issues and lobbying industry regulators. ATMIA, which has no centralized headquarters, and a volunteer staff from all over the world, manages to keep overhead costs down. The association has not raised member fees in the last three years. In fact, ATMIA is currently offering a 40% reduction of annual membership fees to all new members. On Tuesday evening following dinner, ATMIA announced the 2004 Global ATM Industry award winners. Tom Harper, ATMIA President, provided an overall view of the state of the industry, and Anthony Bollotta, who also served as emcee of the three-day conference, sang and gave attendees a motivational talk about the pursuit of excellence. "We're not worlds apart after all," Bollotta said. ATMIA's Lee presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Tom Hannon, who was founder and Chairman of The Hanco Group. Hannon recently passed away, and his son accepted the award on behalf of the family. "He had a passion for this business, which was felt by all of those in the industry," said Brian Kett, President of Triton. Triton nominated Hannon for the award. Other ATMIA awards included: Most Influential Member Winner: Mike Urban, Fair Isaac
Best Practice ATM Deployment
Best ATM Technology
Best Contribution to Promoting the Interests and Growth of the ATM Industry
Wednesday, the final day of the conference, offered a half-day of presentations addressing ATM security issues, ergonomics, expanded self-service platforms, integration of payment methods and challenges for migrating to Windows-based ATMs. Bill Poletti, Senior Technical Consultant of MasterCard International and Leon Fell of Visa International also presented an update on important PIN entry device and PIN security and compliance mandates. Visa and MasterCard recently joined forces on the issue of compliance. In October the two card Associations aligned their separate standards into one set of requirements, known as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) alignment initiative (see "Compliance: Keeping Pace, Identifying Goals, Simplifying the Issue" on page 30 of this issue). The Associations plan to offer additional training on PIN security compliance in conjunction with ATMIA's conferences scheduled in 2005. ATMIA holds conferences twice a year in the United States on opposite sides of the country: ATMIA Conference East and ATMIA Conference West. ATMIA also hosts conferences around the world. ATMIA will hold its next event, ATMIA Conference East "ATMs in the Americas," Feb. 14 - 16, 2005 at the Fontainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami Beach. For more information about sponsoring, exhibiting or attending this event, e-mail Dana Benson, Marketing Director, at dana@atmiaconferences.com or call her at 605-528-7270. |
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© 2004, The Green Sheet, Inc. |
n attendee at the ATM Industry Association Conference West "Self-service Summit," held in San Diego Sept. 20 - 22, 2004 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, asked, "Will there ever be a time when we can break a $20 bill at an ATM?"