What is The Best Value in Transaction Delivery …???
Financial institutions continue to look for the for the best way to deliver transactions to consumers. The challenge is complex in regard to how to provide greater consumer service while lowering operational costs. The industry is full of manufacturers and solution providers that believe their offering is the best way to achieve this goal. In determining which solution is the best we must look at two key factors in determining value. The first factor is consumer adoption; Is the solution what consumers want and are accustom to and is this method being adopted by other similar industries. The next is the cost to deliver to consumers, how much does each interaction\transaction cost. Achieving a balance between consumer acceptance and operational cost will provide the us with the best value.
Consumer Service
We all know that today’s consumers want convenience first and foremost. They want service when they want it, where they want it and service that they can obtain at their own pace. We need to look no further than mobile devices and their rapid growth in use to understand this, there is nothing more convenient than a delivery device in the palm of your hand available 24X7. This being said mobile has its limitations in regard to transaction delivery and while being a major part of a solution for the retail environment it must be integrated with other solutions. The answer for the Financial Institution is to look at the retail market. Retailers are rapidly adopting an assisted self service delivery model with devices that are self-service first with assistance when needed. The fact is that assisted self-service devices are becoming increasingly preferred by consumers which is noticeable in lines forming at these devices while traditional checkouts become empty. The standard model is 4-1, four self-service devices staffed by one consumer service person but this can be expanded as demonstrated by Walmart where they are successfully deploying an 8 to 1 ratio system.
Conclusion
A self-service first model with personal assistance when needed is what consumers expect and are quickly becoming the preferred method of transaction delivery in regards to their consumer service needs.
Costs Per Transaction
Labor + Technology Cost/Available Hours/Transaction per Hour= Cost Per Transaction
The cost of a transaction in its simplest form for the FI historically has been a very simple formula. This formula consists of manpower\technology costs, divided by the hours of availability, Divided by the average number of transactions per hour. For comparison we will look at a traditional teller on a monthly cost basis. Teller costs ($50,000\YR) $4167\Month, divided by available hours (accounting for holidays\Vac.\sic) 156HRS\Month, divided by the number transactions per Hour 16.7. The result is what the industry has been stating for a long time, a cost of $1.60 per transaction.
Determining Value
In determining value, we will look at delivery method, convenience and cost as determined on a per transaction basis. We will look at the leading solutions and what they can deliver currently although all continue to develop capability and improve their solutions.
Traditional Teller
Traditional Teller service does offer the personal service that consumers have become accustom to for many years. It does allow for the capability to deliver a wide array of transactions and the opportunity to cross sell. New Technology has improved efficiency in the form of the TCR and Kiosk cued transactions but it remains a costly increasingly non consumer preferred method as indicated by a steady decline in Branch traffic.
In Line Teller
The inline teller method does deliver the benefit of migrating transactions to the efficient self-service channel. This method when integrated to the Fi’s core allows for some expanded features and cross selling intelligence for current consumers. The challenge is that it is only available during Branch Open hours and as a standard has no capability to any non-customer limiting the attraction of new consumers.
Remote Teller
The remote teller method does deliver the advantages of cross location delivery of traditional teller transactions and will reduce the number of consumer service personnel required reducing overall labor costs. The challenges include no capability to deliver self-service, the addition of expensive technology, transaction times shorter than a teller but still much higher than self- service and availability is limited to “staffed” hours.
Assisted Self Service appears to be the method that consumers prefer and retailers have seen the best results with and value in. The Self Service first approach not only reduces transaction times but reduces operational costs. The addition of video enabled assistance immediately available during peak consumer’s hours delivers the best of both of the other technology solutions. When integrated into an ATM rail it allows for 24X7 availability of self-service transactions to current and non-current customers.
The Best Value in Transaction Delivery is…
The Best Value in transaction delivery is the Assisted self-service solution developed by FINTECH Automated Transaction Delivery. The team at ATD took their 30+ years of experience to the lab for a year to develop the transaction delivery solution for financial institutions. The ATD8800 solution is based on the great technology developed by Nautilus Hyosung that is enabled by the ATD integration of industry leading transaction delivery, wireless communications and video conferencing solutions. While others are working to develop the capabilities of ATD they continue to invest heavily is development including Mobile integration, video SME\Mobile conferencing and enhanced electronic security.
The integrate first then deliver method used by ATD eliminates the upfront cost of a long integration project and technology fee approach allows for simple cost effective introduction of the latest technology at a superior value.
