Self-service, available for some time at retail locations such as grocery stores, gas stations and credit unions, now provides more virtually-assisted capabilities, through interactive teller machines and mobile, than ever before.

By moving transactions from standard teller lines to an integrated self-service environment inside physical locations, drive-up stations or through mobile interactions, credit unions can achieve operational efficiencies and cost savings.

Before the 1970s, self-service at a financial institution pretty much consisted of filling out a deposit slip with a pen chained to a counter. In 1959, Luther Simjian developed the Bankmatic Automated Teller Machine and later one of his 20 patented devices reached pilot mode but failed due to lack of demand. About a dozen years later the self-service banking era arrived for good. By 1973 there were some 2,000 ATMs operating in the U.S. and by the 1980s, ATMs were part of the banking mainstream.

Self-service banking continued to evolve. The broad acceptance of digital channels over the past decade changed accountholder interactions with credit unions and decreased the number of many routine transactions at branches. By 2020, Gartner expects consumers to manage 85% of the enterprise relationship without human interaction.

Meanwhile, the average cost per transaction at brick-and-mortars increased significantly. Accenture noted that it's 95% cheaper to process deposits digitally than through a teller.

An integrated self-service approach not only streamlines basic transactions by permitting accountholders to scoot past teller lines, or avoid them altogether via mobile, but frees up or spreads out representatives to help with value-added engagement such as account and loan originations, complex financial needs, or members seeking financial assistance.

Video is a key player for this multichannel strategy.

“I created the concept of video banking almost 20 years ago, and worked to evolve the technology into the branch and now mobile environment,” Gene Pranger, CEO of the Salt Lake City-based BankOn Mobile Video by Financial Town.

Pranger created uGenius video around 2005 when he personalized the interactive video ATM experience. Pranger said video banking at uGenius had two goals: to put it inside a teller line, as well as drive up lanes, and take all the tellers and consolidate them into a central call center. “It is a huge efficiency,” he said. NCR purchased the uGenius technology in December 2012.

Pranger explained financial institutions have a wealth of knowledgeable individuals in products and services such as investments, mortgages and loans, but find it difficult leveraging those resources across all their branches and markets. “How do you extend the reach, what we call remote intelligence, into a resource for a member so they can push a button and speak with a financial advisor?” He predicted the eventual disappearance of traditional teller lines and staffed drive-ups in favor of interactive terminals.

The $544 million, Nederland, Texas-based 5Point Credit Union sees video technology, along with microstores, under 1,500 square feet, as a big emphasis. The credit union intends to install NCR Interactive Teller Machines into a new membership market by next summer. “Convenience is important,” 5Point EVP Kenneth Miller, CU Times' 2017 Trailblazer Award winner for IT Executive of the Year, emphasized.

By utilizing video tellers, 5Point can eliminate traditional teller lines and add visibility. Miller added, “We are facing a battle of name recognition. Because it is an urban market, traffic is atrocious; people will not drive seven miles to a branch, so you must have as many touch points as possible.”

The credit union plans to deploy the video tellers at several drive-thru lanes as well. “This solution allows a video teller to manage on average three to four ITMs.” This lowers the salary and benefits expense for the credit union and provides continuous coverage. Down the road, 5Point envisions standalone ITM drive-ups in locations such as a mall parking lot.

During normal business hours, members have the choice of a video teller or conventional ATM transaction. After hours, the units operate in ATM mode only with full deposit automation. Also with ITMs members can connect to specialists for mortgage, investments and business lending.

“Drive through, with old-fashioned vacuum tubes, was always a compromised consumer experience and did not allow for after-hour service,” Martin Shires, GM of global branch transformation marketing at the Duluth, Ga.-based NCR, said.

It benefits credit unions in other ways as well. NCR's research shows a live video teller at an ATM can complete 80% of the transactions typically completed inside a physical branch.

In one example, according to NCR, ITMs enabled the $798 million, Beaverton, Ore.-based Rivermark Community Credit Union to increase its accounts by 52% within 18 months and serve members an additional 25 hours per week with no increase to teller staff costs. The credit union also saw a 60% reduction in service time for customers using drive-thru facilities.

Last fall, the $2.5 billion, Westbury, N.Y.-based Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union opened a 2,000-square-foot digital location with interactive video teller machines as a prototype for future branches. NEFCU's virtual branch features two interactive teller machines, a standalone ATM, a digital solutions center and digital rate board. Members use touch-screen monitors to download product brochures, and access information about the credit union's products and services.

Shires suggested credit unions need to be agile and ready to offer more financial services at the member's convenience, especially for those located in remote areas or unable to visit a branch during traditional hours.

NCR recently announced its new SelfServ 80 ATM solutions with video banking built-in as a standard feature and designed specifically for today's mobile-first, omnichannel consumers. Users can swipe, pinch and zoom their way quickly through transactions.

Mobile capabilities now put self-service in everybody's hands. “We are clearly seeing an upsurge in a variety of technologies, all related to self-service,” Ted Bilke, president of core provider Symitar, a division of the Monett, Mo.-based Jack Henry & Associates, said.

One game changer is the push toward mobile 2.0, which allows for social interaction and next level functions such as card controls, account opening and loan origination capabilities, as well as consultative services. Bilke pointed out, “We are seeing mobile adoption like no one thought they would see; smartphone and mobile adoption for financial apps well into the 50% range and probably headed north of there. It will be the prevalent device.”

Bilke noted that enhanced self-service requires more complex needs from the call center. “What's really started to happen is the enablement of the technology to bring not just mobile and home banking together but also the call center and the branch.”

Symitar's SYMApp solution helps credit unions by providing a centralized application tool completely integrated with its Enhanced Member Application and Enhanced Loan Application along with the Episys Credit Retrieval System for pulling credit reports.

Symitar, which works with about a dozen credit unions offering video banking, also recently announced the availability of Appointment 365. The scheduling tool matches the appropriate branch resource, based on skill set and availability, with the member's need; and coordinates appointments in real time across the whole organization, including branch locations, staff resources and services.

Another emerging self-service device involves interactive voice banking. The Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Best Innovation Group announced a reseller agreement with Symitar to bring its Amazon Echo Alexa Voice Service-based banking solution to the credit union community.

With all this service advancement and more or the way, will there be a need for branches in the future? Pranger answered, “Yes. If you are in a geographic region and you are trying to create some form of very visible footprint in the marketplace. But the nature of those branches will change.”

Instant Insights /

New Levels of Self-Service Banking

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