Consider self-service kiosks as you seek to keep your financial institution relevant to today’s consumers.
Today’s consumers are distinguished by two characteristics: they are technologically aware and impatient. Your financial institution should consider introducing self-service kiosks to satisfy their demands and give them with the modern, customer-centric experience they expect. Your institution can provide an up-to-date, streamlined consumer experience by expanding its technology suite.
Transparency meets convenience at every aisle with our Grocery Price Checkers kiosk, empowering customers to make informed decisions as prices dance at their fingertips, turning every purchase into a smart and gratifying decision.
Customers and members will close their accounts and move to institutions that provide better customer service and a faster, more comfortable user experience if you fail to deliver the speed and convenience that self-service kiosks provide.
However, before you begin your search for a self-service kiosk vendor, consider the advantages and disadvantages of self-service kiosks for financial institutions.
Defined Self-Service Banking Kiosks: What exactly is a Self-Service Kiosk?
When we talk about self-service kiosks for financial institutions, we’re referring to the self-contained gadgets that allow clients to initiate and complete 90% of transactions that would normally require the assistance of a teller.
To conduct transactions or accomplish a task, these devices have an interactive touchscreen display, leading cash handling devices, and key integrations. Self-service kiosks, also known as Personal Teller Machines, are the financial services counterpart of airport kiosks that allow passengers to check in and print boarding passes, the kiosks in fast-food restaurants that let consumers order their meals without speaking with anyone behind the counter, and the self-checkout facilities at grocery shops.
Self-service banking kiosks, as opposed to standard ATMs, interact directly with your institution’s main system. This freedom from the ATM rails allows consumers to enjoy a more diverse and value-added transaction set.
Bank and credit union self-service kiosks provide a variety of tasks that provide customers with the modern retail experience they have come to expect from other retail organizations.
What Role Should Today’s Kiosks Play?
· Accept cash payments
· Distribute cash and coins
· Checks are accepted.
· Create official checks.
· Receipts should be printed.
· Transfer funds
· Statements should be printed.
Self-Service Kiosks Have Two Advantages for Retail Customers
Self-service retail kiosks improve physical branch locations in two ways.
Consider the frequent scenario of a consumer strolling into a branch and asking for an official check from a teller. When branches offer self-service kiosks to consumers, this time is reduced from 9 minutes to 40 seconds. Self-service kiosks allow customers to receive their checks 13.5 times faster.
Convenience: According to the Customer Insight Report from Mercator Advisory Group, consumers who dislike mobile and online banking prefer to use self-service kiosks at physical branch locations rather than dealing with a teller. Millennials prefer to do ordinary financial activities on their own and, whenever practical, use self-service kiosks.
The Top 9 Advantages of Self-Service Kiosks for Financial Institutions
The good news for financial institutions is that the advantages of self-service kiosks aren’t limited to retail clients. Branches of all sizes benefit from providing their consumers with innovative ways to conduct business. More Meaningful Interactions: Of course, one advantage is that self-service kiosks eliminate the need for face-to-face contact with tellers for simple and minor transactions. This not only cuts down on wait times, but also allows clients more control over their daily transactions.
Increased Higher-Value Transactions: By relieving your teller staff of boring transactions, they may focus on more complicated transactions such as mortgages, vehicle loans, financial planning, and investments. In Connecticut, for example, self-service kiosks handled 40% of consumer transactions. Employees now have more time to work on more important duties.
Change to the Universal Banker Model: Self-service kiosks enable financial institutions to move away from the teller model and toward the universal banker concept. Of course, the universal banker concept requires workers to be trained to handle a wide range of banking-related responsibilities. Universal bankers can work as a teller one minute, a financial consultant the next, and a loan officer the following.
Increased Sales: Kiosks help your business become more customer-centric by addressing client needs and boosting quality face-to-face time for important transactions. Sales improve when your tellers are freed up to provide higher-value services. Tellers can now cross-sell, up-sell, and promote other products and services thanks to self-service kiosks.
Improved Internal Efficiencies: If you’re like most financial organizations, you’re constantly dealing with operational inefficiencies. Self-service kiosks at banks and credit unions improve branch efficiency by streamlining internal work processes.
Expenses are reduced: when a self-service kiosk is installed at a branch. When a North Carolina credit union began offering self-service alternatives through a kiosk, it cut bank teller costs by 40%.
Increased Foot Traffic: Because using a kiosk is quicker and faster than waiting in line for a teller, consumers are more inclined to visit a branch to accomplish simple transactions. Long lineups at the counter no longer dissuade them.
Improved Customer Satisfaction: Serving consumers faster and providing more easy ways to conduct transactions will result in happier customers. Personal teller machines enable employees to provide high-touch, personalized service.
Customers who are better informed: Self-service kiosks allow you to keep your customers up to date on your latest products and services. They let your customers to peruse whole product and service lines at their leisure.
The Difficulties of Self-Service Kiosks
The fact that self-service kiosks provide several benefits to both users and institutions does not imply that their implementation is quick or easy. Installing and operating kiosks at any financial institution is difficult. You may be concerned about how kiosks may affect your current consumers and members.
The First Challenge: A Dehumanizing Experience
One of the advantages of self-service kiosks is also one of their disadvantages. Yes, consumers can do their financial transactions without speaking with a human. Many clients prefer kiosks because they are more handy and speedier. However, many retail banking customers prefer to do their banking in person. They would rather speak with a teller and conduct their business with a human being.
If you have a branch in a busy urban area, this may not be a problem. However, if you are located in a rural region and your clientele consists primarily of seniors or people who are less tech-savvy, you may face a lot of criticism from your clients. The general rule is that if your tellers know your customers’ names and your customers know your tellers’ names, establishing a self-service kiosk at your branch may be difficult.
Challenge #2: Expensive Initial Investment
Installing a self-service kiosk that performs the duties of a teller is not the same as recruiting and training a teller. It’s more complicated, technical, and pricey.
Although purchasing self-service kiosks has a high initial cost, incorporating them into your daily operations can yield a bigger return in the long term. Hiring a teller will cost more in the long run than purchasing kiosks to handle routine, uncomplicated financial transactions.
Overall, the large initial cost should not be a deterrent if two critical actions are taken. To begin, compute your total cost of ownership. Consider the total cost of the system over time, rather than just the initial costs. Then, calculate the expected return on investment for each kiosk you install. A big initial outlay does not have to frighten you if the investment will yield a decent return.
Mistakes in technology pose the third challenge.
Which is more vexing?
1. Entering a branch with numerous teller stations behind the counter but just one teller on duty?
2. Entering a branch only to learn that the self-service kiosk is broken?
The second scenario is more aggravating for many modern consumers. Kiosks that are broken, defaced, or out of operation are a huge annoyance for retail bank customers. At Linkitsoft, this means that part of your due diligence in selecting a kiosk provider should include analyzing their track record for preventative maintenance, typical service response times, and reputation for providing hardware and software with above-average uptime and reliability rankings.
