Webinar analyzes findings of 2022 ATM and self-service software trends report

The ATM industry is evolving. As banks have had to make adjustments in light of COVID-19 and customer expectations, they have had to rely more, not less, on their self-service channels, including ATMs. Recently, KAL ATM Software and ATM Marketplace released the2022 ATM and self-service software trends report, which takes a deep look at where the ATM industry is at and how financial institutions and other businesses are using them. A live webinar hosted on ATM Marketplace, on Oct. 11, took a look at some of the report's key findings.

Bradley Cooper, editor of ATM Marketplace, moderated the webinar with panelists Marylin Bell, head of marketing at KAL, and Steve Hensley, EVP of global sales at KAL. Bell kicked off the webinar by discussing a few demographics information from the report, as it gathered insight from 318 individuals, of which 46% were financial institutions. The remaining 54% consisted of "ATM companies, independent ATM deployers and others," Bell said.

Of particular note, 43% of respondents had one to 500 ATMs, 31% had 500-to-2,000 ATMs and 26% had more than 2,000 ATMs in service.

"Respondents were fairly evenly distributed, particularly among the larger group," Bell said during the webinar. Larger banks share was also up from last year, which had a share of 14% of more than 2,000 ATMs in service in 2021, Bell said.

Although usage of cash has decreased, Bell said the ATM will not go away as ATMs are moving to offer more branch services and as a result more banks are relying on ATMs.

A survey question in the report asked respondents whether they had become more or less reliant on their ATMs in the last 12 months: 45% were more reliant on ATMs, with 34% saying it stayed the same and 16% stating they were less reliant on the device.

Bell also shared insight from respondents on the topic. Ryan Loesch, of Truist Financial Corp., said, "Yes, most certainly during periodic COVID spikes, ATMs and self-service in general was the only option for clients when lobbies were required to be closed. Closing on our merger this year, ATMs (and branch locations) are a critical client need and we've found our clients vocal about the number of locations and presence in certain geographies."

When it came to ATM software, 41% of respondents had already implemented mobile phone integration into their ATMs, with another 32% saying they had put in contactless transactions. In addition, 37% of banks said touchless ATM withdrawals are a major priority for them to implement in the near future.

Bell said banks identified the primary reason for integrating these features as improving the overall customer experience.

"I think that is not only about the pandemic situation but how you can give better experience for our clients. (You can save your time). We have already implemented touchless in Czech Republic," Miroslav Šimončík, of the Czech Republic, said in the report.

To hear more insights, click here to download the webinar. You can download the 2022 ATM and self-service software trends report here.