Conditioned by 24/7 access to their bank accounts, customers expect to find help whenever and wherever they need it. The last place they'll discover it, however, is in a bank branch after hours.
With an eye on the nocturnal, then, NCR Corp. has developed its Aptra Interactive Teller, which uses a built-in camera to connect any customer to a human bank representative at a distant location, even late at night. That teller has the ability to control the ATM remotely, helping users through complex transactions. In effect, a bank branch could be open 24 hours a day.
"What we are helping the branch do is increase the activity and reduce their cost," said Bob Tramontano, vice president of marketing for NCR's financial services business. "It's almost like a self-checkout machine in a grocery store, so you can do something yourself, or you can have someone show you."
These virtual tellers can use a variety of means to authenticate customers, such as by asking them to show a photo ID. The audio and video feeds will all be encrypted, and routed over a retail banking company's private networks. Customers can still use an ATM card and PIN for standard transactions.
Video tellers have been tried before, but have not widely caught on. Tramontano said today's bank customers are different from those of 10 years ago. Video chatting is a common element of computer and mobile telephony, so consumers have grown more comfortable using video interaction.
"If you think about how Apple and others are doing two-way communication," such as in the current model of the iPhone, "it has a camera facing you," he said. "People are getting more used to talking to each other using technology even when Skype-ing," he said. (Skype is the name of an online chat program and former eBay Inc. subsidiary. Skype has agreed to be sold to Microsoft Corp. for $8.5 billion.)
Tramontano said NCR's interactive teller will help retail banks sell additional banking products, as well as open up new accounts.
NCR has been talking with several banks about its technology, Tramontano said (he would not name them).
Bank of America Corp.'s retail segment executive, Laurie Readhead, said at an RBC Bank financial services conference on May 6 that B of A was considering video ATMs, though she did not specify any vendor relationships.
Tara Burke, a spokeswoman for the Charlotte, N.C., company, confirmed that B of A is evaluating video teller technology but also would not name any vendor it is working with.
Tramontano said in addition to extending a branch's hours, NCR's technology can extend a bank's geographic reach by allowing full teller interactions from anywhere an ATM is deployed.
"Real estate is an expensive thing to acquire and maintain," he said. "Anything we can do to minimize that amount of real estate and create a better customer experience allows the banks the choice of how and when to utilize these solutions."
The technology was developed in partnership with uGenius Technology LLC of Sandy, Utah, which provides video technology for financial services in what it calls personal teller machines.
The two companies have been talking for the past two years, said Gene Pranger, uGenius' chief executive.
In earlier interviews, executives at Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union in Kingston, N.Y., and Coastal Federal Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C., said uGenius' technology has helped them expand their hours and reduce teller costs. As of last fall, there were roughly 100 uGenius PTMs deployed across the U.S., Canada and Australia.
Pranger said the reason video banking hasn't become more pervasive in branches across the country is the service's limited functionality in a stand-alone kiosk.
"The uGenius teller machine was designed and built to replace tellers, and it functioned for that purpose," Pranger said, "but when it comes to putting these machines anywhere and everywhere, having all the hardware is essential."
Customers did not want to sacrifice the level of service they expect from an ATM when using a machine to reach a live teller, he said.
"The benefit of this relationship with NCR is you have the benefits of both worlds," he said.
Bob Meara, a senior banking analyst at Celent, said many banks have tested similar technology over the years in a setup that resembles airline check-ins today: self-service with the possibility of human intervention at any time.
"The teller would be in the vicinity, like most of us enjoy at airports," Meara said. "If you have a problem, someone is looking over your shoulder."
The Interactive Teller builds upon other NCR initiatives to improve the range of its ATMs' functions.
Other major technology providers have been pitching sci-fi technology for branch use. Microsoft, for example, is marketing its Kinect motion controller to retail bankers. The device, designed to allow consumers to control video games without a handheld controller, can detect a user's body and respond to changes in their body position. For example, waving one's hand from right to left could be interpreted as turning a page in a video brochure.
In Russia, Bank of Moscow has used Kinect for its in-branch displays.
Despite banks' interest in using technology to support new types of customer interaction, NCR's approach may be a poor fit for the model that many banks have used for their branch designs, Meara said. In these branches tellers and ATMs tend to be in separate areas and the ATM and teller waiting lines are handled differently. NCR's approach "is pretty radical," Meara said.
However, there is an immediate benefit for banks that take the plunge, he said. "Banks who use it are going to see even steeper reduction in teller cost, and that's a good thing."
