Winners announced at Bank Customer Experience Summit Awards Show

The Bank Customer Experience Summit, held this year in Chicago from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1, recognizes innovation in the banking sphere with an annual awards event. This year was no exception as the winners run the gamut of the banking world.

After an exciting evening of panels, guests at the Bank Customer Experience Summit got to relax at the award's show and see innovation in action with videos from the winning submissions.

This year's winners included:

• KeyBank as Best ATM/self-service experience for financial institutions nominated by The Bliss Group.
• CR2 for Best ATM/self service experience for vendors nominated by Jemy John at CR2.
• Columbia Bank for Best Branch Experience nominated by Allison Winters at Columbia Bank.
• Broadway Bank for Best Digital Solution (financial institution) nominated by Andrew Ramos at Broadway Bank.
• SilverTech for Best Digital Solution (fintech) nominated by Kim Smith of SilverTech
• Reco McCambry, CEO of Novae for Innovator of the Year, nominated by Arielle Dothard of 4 PR.

KeyBank won the Best ATM/self-service experience award for financial institutions for its ATM experience makeover. The bank introduced a software platform for ATMs, which it rolled out on 213 ATMs, according to Kristen Friedt, senior channel manager, KCB ICBS physical distribution, KeyBank. However, the bank heard "a lot of negative feedback," Friedt said, as the bank had changed a traditional keypad ATM to a touchscreen display, but many times the ATM was not able to register the customer's touch input.

In order to fix this issue, the bank identified clients to find solutions and discussed the issue in Zoom calls. It then set up employee workshops to gather more insight. In addition, the bank showed potential customers examples of ATM screens to gather more feedback. With all of this data, the bank was able to improve its ATMs internally with tools.

CR2 won the Best ATM/self-service award for vendors for its Cardless ATM Access solution. With COVID-19, many customers are less willing to touch a physical screen. To address this need, CR2 built its cardless solution where customers can scan a QR code on the ATM screen to withdraw cash.

The company has rolled out this tool in eight countries in Africa, which in addition to improving customer experience has also reduced waiting times at the ATM.

Columbia Bank surveyed more than 7,000 clients to gain data into its branch experience. It received a 91% approval rating from clients due to its innovative branch design. Its branch design includes low profile desks, community tables and an open design.

With this design, bankers can host financial literacy webinars, share one-to-one demos on iPads and showcase local small businesses.

Broadway Bank won the Best Digital Solution award for its branch search function. With this tool, customers can search for the nearest branch and features such as ATMs. Customers can also gain updates of changes to operating hours. Broadway also designed the solution to be ADA-accessible.

SilverTech won the Best Digital Solution award for fintechs with its KuberaDX website solution for mid-sized banks and credit unions. Built on the Progress Sitefinity CMS, this software-as-a-service solution allows banks to build digital experiences for its customers.

Kubera has a variety of modules such as alerts, FAQs, online banking login integration, product comparison cards, global rates management, locations and more.

Reco McCambry, CEO of Novae, won the Innovator of the Year award, a new award for the Bank Customer Experience Summit. McCambry has been an entrepreneur since he was 20 years old and is currently a Forbes Business Council Member and has been featured in the Who's Who in Black Atlanta for more than a decade.

In addition to being the founder of Novae, he also wrote an autobiography called The Fatherless Father to help empower single mothers, fathers and children to reach their full potential.