An ATM that remembers your language, along with other convenient personalised settings

The march of progress has become a marathon sprint in recent years, as rapid innovations in technology have revolutionised the way in which business is done, as well as people’s productivity in their professional and personal lives.

While we seem to get new developments in the technology and capabilities of consumer and enterprise devices such as smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, and notebook PCs, the humble Automated Teller Machine (ATM), is also gaining momentum at the same pace. ATMs have remained a crucial touchpoint between banks and their customers since the 1970s and are about to become much more convenient to consumers by personalising their service to consumers.

This personalisation entails the kinds of services as well as the settings available to users. Consumers will now be prompted to opt into the personalisation option when they use these devices. Doing so, will enable your experience to be tailored around your most used services, saving you time in the process.

Faster, more convenient and more personal service from the ATM

For instance, if you select English language, your language preference will in future always be set to that language, ruling out the need to select it ever again at any Absa ATM. Consumers can also personalise various other aspects such as whether they want a receipt and the name they want displayed by the ATM (up to a maximum of 40 characters).

Furthermore, if you withdraw a certain amount every month to pay your bills or transfer money into the same account of a family member every month for example, the ATM will prompt you to perform that ‘favourite’ transaction at the right time, instead of you having to go through all of the options and menu selections again.

“Amongst other benefits, this level of personalisation allows for productivity wins. Where it would normally take around 50 seconds for a consumer to perform an ATM transaction, it now takes them just 20 seconds thanks to the personalisation functionality,” explains Allen Mahadeo, Head: Self Service Channel and Branchless Banking.

According to Mahadeo, personalisation will roll out in phases across South Africa and will be completed by the end of July 2017. In the near future, this functionality will include visible credit limits along with an option for personal loans and overdrafts.

Banking your way through your preferred channel    

Mahadeo stated that personalised ATMs are a part of Absa’s commitment to providing the best omnichannel and omniservice banking experience to customers. Omnichannel, because there are a variety of channels through which customers can do their banking, such as mobile, apps, internet banking, branches and ATMs.

Omniservice refers to customers being able to utilise any of these channels to perform a service according to their needs. For instance, they can send money to an unbanked relative who is able to make a withdrawal from their nearest ATM, or they can start a loan application at the ATM and have a call centre representative phone them back to complete the application.

Through personalisation, the ATM can now play a bigger part in the omniservice experience for consumers and deliver customers with more time to spend on the things that matter most to them.