CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Source Technologies, a leading provider of integrated solutions for managing financial transactions and other secure business processes, revealed in a recent study that self-service retail banking kiosks offer significant operational improvements in brick-and-mortar branch locations, reducing the time it takes to get an official check from nine minutes (using a teller) to 40 seconds – 13.5 times faster than a teller-conducted transaction.
The physical branch still remains critical in establishing relationships with new account holders and addressing existing account holders’ financial decisions, but the branch environment has changed. While the industry is rife with talk of the “Branch of the Future,” the truth is it is happening right now. Financial institutions of all sizes are closing, moving, re-purposing and constructing new branches with fewer staff members than ever before thanks to new technologies, such as self-service kiosks.
Self-service kiosks support the universal banker concept. If bankers are not focused on performing routine transactions, then they are free to offer better customer service, answer financial questions and increase the amount of time they spend up-selling and cross-selling. For example, following a 19-month deployment, a Connecticut bank has self-service kiosks handling an average 40 percent of transactions. A credit union in Raleigh, N.C. also cut teller costs by 40 percent after deploying self-service kiosks.
Contrary to popular belief, the swift move of consumers to online banking has reduced, but not eliminated, foot traffic in retail branch locations – even Millennials. In fact, 72 percent of Millennials have visited a branch in the past 12 months and 54 percent prefer to visit the physical branch for more detailed information, but they expect a different in-branch experience. Millennials want to conduct transactions themselves on state-of-the-art technology that is simple and cool, but still have an easily accessible staff member nearby to step in and help if needed.
“Retail banking is at the highest risk of disruption, demanding reprioritization of the in-branch customer experience to include more high-tech, high-touch technologies in a shrinking space,” said Keith Hamilton, CEO of Source Technologies. “Financial institutions that want to engage customers in the branch must put a heavy emphasis on the kind of service they deliver. Offering intuitive self-service banking will make a huge difference to the customer service experience. Upselling and cross-selling will also be important for the branch of the future as they continually try to drive revenues.”
To learn about Source Technologies’ self-service banking kiosk, the Personal Teller Machine, visit http://www.sourcetech.com/self-service/self-service-kiosks/personal-teller-machine.
About Source Technologies
Founded in 1986, Charlotte, NC-based Source Technologies is redefining the branch channel by helping banks transform their branches with automation, innovative technology and superior engineering. The company’s print solutions empower businesses to automate the secure printing of sensitive information and negotiable documents, and its ground-breaking transactional and interactive kiosks for self-service and retail applications enhance the self-service experience. Customers include 6 of the Top 10 US banks, 69 of the Fortune 100, and thousands of small and mid-sized companies. For more information, visit www.sourcetech.com, or follow them on Twitter @source_tech and LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/source-technologies.
