Reaching the un-banked masses and achieving operational excellence are two pressing issues facing South Africa`s banks that can be addressed by identifying and implementing appropriate technologies.
Through consultations with South Africa`s major banks to identify how Bytes Specialised Solutions (BSS) can best serve this industry through effective technologies, BSS and representatives from its technology partner, NCR, have gained insight into these and other challenges presented by, for example, increased local and international competition, the requirements of current legislation and ever-present security concerns.
A significant portion of South Africa`s population has no access to banking facilities. Workers in rural areas have the risky option of keeping their pay in cash, or travelling long distances to access ATM machines or branches. So many rural people don`t have bank accounts at all, and taking their chances with cash is the only option. The South African government is applying pressure for banks to devise ways to offer banking services in these areas. ATM systems are ideal vehicles to reach these potential consumers, but there are several limiting factors. Fear of technology, illiteracy, innumeracy, poor security, limited access to electricity and the effects of vandalism are real inhibitors to broad ATM deployment.
These issues are not necessarily unique to South Africa and over the past few years, NCR has developed its range of ATMs accordingly. To overcome security threats, it has developed a four-pronged approach using the latest technologies to protect the consumer, the software, the cash and the machine.
"These ATMs feature a range of different user interfaces, determined by the needs of the bank, its consumers and the level of complexity of the available transactions," explains BSS Managing Director, Paul Reeves. To overcome language and literacy barriers, among these is an interactive user interface that offers a friendly simulated personal `guide` to the transaction which can be set up to communicate in any language.
"NCR has also developed an `ATM for all seasons`," adds Reeves, "a machine that can handle anything the elements throw at it: wind, rain, heat and snow. In addition, we also recently introduced a concept that can operate on solar power and occupies a minimal amount of space."
Once ATM technology is available in rural areas, it opens the doors for offering many additional services from which the bank can secure income. Bill payments, recharging of prepaid services and paying school fees are just some of the options.
The second important issue identified, ie achieving operational excellence, relates to the effectiveness of a bank`s branch staff, and how successfully the bank is using its various channels of interaction to better understand and service its consumers.
"Through the deployment of our enterprise data warehousing powerhouse, Teradata, data that originates from transactions can be integrated with that of other channels, such as call centres," says Reeves. The data acquired contributes to a knowledge repository containing a single enterprise-wide view of each consumer and all his or her transactions and interactions. The system brings the business intelligence to analyse the consumer`s behaviour. It means that the bank can view each consumer as an individual, identify those that are most profitable, and target its marketing efforts in an individualised way which yields and makes the consumer feel that the bank understands their specific needs and higher response rates. This helps banks to reduce costs, generate revenue and enhance customer loyalty.
By enabling consumers to do more of their transactions through the ATM, such as intelligent cheque deposits and bill payments, branch personnel have more time to engage with those consumers looking to make high value transactions.
The reason consumers still make cheque deposits at the teller is that they receive instant validation that the deposit has been made and can draw against the cheque immediately. Through an intelligent deposit system, this validation can now be achieved at the ATM, as the cheque is digitally scanned and can be cleared in near real-time. With additional ATM features, such as a bar code scanner, consumers can also make their bill payments quickly and efficiently.
"This all responds well to the changing profile of a bank`s consumers, who want more efficiency, around the clock access to services, and the ability to do more for themselves," asserts Reeves. While the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a transaction channel, many consumers feel more comfortable doing their transactions through their bank, as it is already a trusted institution.
Clearly, when developed and implemented according to specific business needs, ATM systems have a huge role to play in overcoming challenges in today`s banking environment.
As global leaders in electronic self-service and enterprise data warehousing solutions, NCR has clients which include some of the largest financial and retail institutions in the world. This extent of market penetration, coupled with the vast local domain expertise of Bytes Specialised Solutions, brings true thought leadership and innovation in the industries BSS serves.
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