Notice to bank tellers, ATM will take over
We have said it before and we are going to say it again: automation is going to steal people’s jobs across industries. Now, it’s hitting the banks.
The Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is now 50 years plus. Since its first usage in June 1967, the cash vending machine has become an indispensable tool when one wants to withdraw cash off of the banking hours or to avoid the long lines for cash withdrawals in bank counters.
However, the technology hasn’t matured so much. Banks in America have realized this in the last 5 years, which is why many of the largest ones are investing millions in updating the capabilities and physical appearances of the ATM.
Making the ATM smarter than it is right now would mean that customers will have to spend more time with the cash dispenser and less time with tellers in banks. Consequently, bank tellers will no longer be required on the counter, but of course they still have functions away from the elevated desk like coordinating loans for homes or small businesses.
“Branches physically are changing — they’re becoming smaller and the technology is moving to the front of the branch,” Gordon Smith, the CEO of Consumer and Community Banking at JPMorgan Chase, said during this year’s GRC Summit which tackles strategies and solutions for better organizations.
“The tellers behind the [counter] are moving out into the branch,” he added.
Source: Cemacsoft
And the drastic changes are going to happen as soon as 2018. ATMs with enlarged screens will be attending customers, offering the same services as human tellers do. The smartphone and website integration also does not help the bank tellers’ situation.
Ryan Crowley, the head of branch systems and innovations for Chase, said that about 60% of the transactions performed by tellers can be executed via ATM today, and it is forecasted to rise to 90% by next year.
Moreover, the size of ATMs will change in the future as compact designs hit the industry, in addition to the digital-friendly interface.
Chase has 5,000 deployed a total “eATMs” since it debuted in 2012, said Crowley. They enable cardless access which is rather convenient for customers.
What matters to the customers is the simplest, most convenient way on how to transact with their bank accounts. “They want to have the same features and same consistent experience regardless of the channel they’re interacting with us in,” Crowley believes.
Too bad bank teller jobs have to suffer, as the upgraded ATMs in the future might just be the preferred channel.
Source: Business Insider
