Want to know if your daily trip to the gym has brought about any change in your weight? Head to the ATM.
Need to pay for an airline ticket to your favourite holiday destination? Again, rush to the ATM. The automated teller machine is today more than just a cash dispenser as banks look for innovative and cost-efficient ways to reach out to the consumer.
While Indian Bank has tied up with Kingfisher Airlines to facilitate payment of airfares, Lakshmi Vilas Bank has installed a height and weight device at one of its ATMs in Bangalore. Various banks offer other value-added services such as income-tax payments and recharge of pre-paid mobile currency and DTH at their ATMs.
With the average cost of reaching out to the consumer in today's cluttered marketplace rising at a CAGR of 50-60 per cent during the last three years, traditional media is no longer a viable option, especially for smaller banks, says Mr Raghu Vishwanath, Managing Director, Vertebrand Consulting. “Point-of-sale communication, in this case, the ATM, is extremely cost-effective for smaller banks to tap the next generation, for whom the ATM is a habit.”
But, why would one want to check one's body-mass index (BMI) at an ATM? Mr P.R. Somasundaram, Managing Director and CEO, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, says this would help break the monotony for customers and engage them without distracting them. “We propose to introduce the BMI feature in at least 40-50 ATMs in urban locations. And we are also looking at introducing railway and airline ticketing kiosks.”
However, banks need to mix caution with innovation to avoid pile-ups outside ATMs. “To what extent banks want to combine value-added services with the core function depends on their size and the extent of ATM penetration. In the case of banks with high transacting ATMs, it is a good idea to provide value-added services at another kiosk within the ATM premises to avoid the build-up of queues at the ATM,” says Mr Sunil Nair, Managing Director, Euronet Services, which provides various services to over 45,000 ATMs in India.
Mr Vishwanath says when pile-ups happen, banks will start getting picky and choose the right kind of partners and relevant services.