The Next Generation of Video in Banking
Banks are using video in innovative ways that include both employee-facing and customer-facing applications. Financial institutions are utilizing video to enable distributed corporate and IT training. They are pushing video out to consumers via social media or on their own Web sites. And they are deploying dedicated video banking solutions that connects customers in branches or at remote locations with specialists and service professionals. How is the use of video in banking evolving? Are there any particular security, legal or privacy concerns around the use of video in banking? What recent technological advances are banks using to leverage video, and for what purposes, and how will banks likely use video in the future?
1. Video Will Continue To Grow
Considering the proliferation of communication technologies available to the consumer like Skype and FaceTime, coupled with the need and desire for human interaction, it seems not only logical but very likely that video customer service will eventually make its way into a variety of service verticals, including the high-trust environment of financial services and banking.
As consumer demands for increased convenience continue to grow, there will also likely be a balancing mechanism of "high-touch" components that serve to offset our increasingly "high-tech" world. Video customer service (and even virtual agent service) seems well positioned to be one such balancing mechanism. While video banking does present some unique considerations, the concerns around privacy and the secure transmission of sensitive data are certainly not new, and should not become deal breakers. Some financial institutions are already using video service components in drive-up lanes and walk-up kiosks; more are likely to adopt. Still, others may jump straight to video service via smart phone, tablet and other mobile devices.
-- Tony Rasmussen (pictured at right), Senior Vice President of Payments/Business Services, Mountain America Credit Union, West Jordan, Ut.
2. Video Security Strong
Video is becoming ubiquitous in our daily lives -- grandparents are Skyping with grandkids, video conferencing is becoming commonplace in corporate settings, etc. -- and it's natural for banks to incorporate consumer-friendly technology into their own customer experiences. As such, we're seeing video used increasingly as a strategy to efficiently deliver services in retail settings as a new model for service/geographic expansion, productivity enhancer and sales generator. The use of video is expanding from inside the branch to ATMs and kiosks to online and mobile.
We believe the security of our video banking solutions is as strong as a bank's own network. Government organizations also are starting to approve the use of video from a regulatory perspective. In the case of NCR APTRA Interactive Teller -- our ATM-based video banking solution -- we've added components such as a privacy handset so that consumers can retain audio privacy in high traffic areas and also offer the traditional ATM security features that consumers know and trust from an ATM.
In January, NCR acquired uGenius, which had pioneered video banking in both kiosk and online environments. NCR partnered with uGenius in 2012 to roll out APTRA Interactive Teller, a unique solution that gives virtual tellers complete, remote control of the ATM. We're continuing to innovate with video delivery, continuing to look at video for integration in new branch automation strategies and also piloting video within digital channel like online and mobile banking.
-- Brian Bailey (pictured at right), Vice President and General Manager, Branch Transformation, NCR Corporation, Duluth, Ga.
3. Convenience Plus A Personal Touch
Across the industry you're seeing video being used for everything from transaction processing (as with our Personal Teller Machines, or PTMs), to simple customer service call center activities, and more recently to consultative selling of products and services within a website, blog or even YouTube. Video seems to be addressing a customer demand that indicates they still want the personal touch that traditional branches offer, but in more convenient locations and times than a branch can realistically provide.
I wouldn't say the security concerns are new or greater, just how you are able to meet the basic "know your customer" and authentication requirements. When video is being used, customer authentication is very different than the typical in-person at a branch, card and PIN, or User ID and password scenarios. An example would be how our PTMs add ID scanners to a device that otherwise looks like a traditional ATM. The ID scanner allows the remote video teller to see and compare an official photo ID to the person standing at the PTM.
At Dollar Bank, the technology that brought a remote live personal teller to an ATM-like device that can be deployed in a drive-thru banking environment has dramatically added to the branch convenience for customers at our two pilot branches. Providing live video teller access 6 days a week from 8 am to 10 pm, and from the convenience of your car, has added 50 percent more available hours to the typical branch model. We're also seeing as much as 40 percent of the weekly transaction volume coming during those extra hours. We believe the availability of the remote teller utilizing video is viewed as a very positive new level of service and convenience by our customers.
-- Ben Benack, Vice President of Marketing, Dollar Bank, Pittsburgh, Pa.
4. Video As Personalized Call Center
Clearly the technology has moved forward, especially in the area of image quality. The image is so crisp that it can feel as though the person interacting with that video is having a personal interaction with someone else. The technology has evolved enough to enable the technology to be used in different ways and in more places.
In the future, we see video continuing to improve. We also see communication speeds improving, so you can get that real-time experience. You can use it to have a meaningful dialog with a consumer, almost as though you were there with the person. People will be increasingly willing to have more valuable and important conversations as video improves, compared to before when it felt like they were interacting with technology, not a person.
Privacy and security is always a concern. Part of the issue is where you choose to deploy the technology. Where do you make it available, what kind of privacy you offer a consumer as they are using the video capability has an impact on security as well as usage. Some consumers like to use headsets or handsets to offer a measure of audio privacy. Diebold is working to leverage consumers' mobile phones to create a more private audio interaction as well, even at an ATM or in other video-enabled environments.
Banks are using video as a more personalized call center, enabling a video interaction with a customer instead of just using audio. This can be used in a self-service or stand-alone environment.
We are hearing strongly from our customers and consumers that they expect a consistent experience across channels, even when it comes to video interaction. It can be difficult for financial institutions to present a homogenous feel across channels. Video shouldn't be inextricably linked to one device or channel. It needs to work with an FI's self-service, online, mobile and branches channels.
-- Rebekah Falconer (pictured at right), Senior Director, Solution Portfolio Business Development, Diebold, Inc., North Canton, Ohio
Peggy Bresnick Kendler has been a writer for 30 years. She has worked as an editor, publicist and school district technology coordinator. During the past decade, Bresnick Kendler has worked for UBM TechWeb on special financialservices technology-centered ... View Full Bio