Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and other Self-Service Terminals have gained widespread global acceptance as a convenient channel to facilitate financial transactions. However, Financial Institutions (FIs) and private ATM deployers face a continuous challenge in minimizing the downtime of their self-service network and providing the best possible service to their customers. Next to the branch offices, self-service network comes second in the line of contact with customers. Hence, it is all the more important to maintain the uptime and to ensure availability of the self-service channel. For improved customer engagement, banks need to ensure high ATM availability and a positive user experience. However, the complexity of ATM operations and maintenance is a major challenge to the banks with a growing multi-vendor ATM fleet and its geographical distribution of sites compounds the problem. Moreover, banks face the daunting challenge of dealing with multiple parties, the ATM Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) on one hand and Cash Replenishment Agencies (CRAs) on the other hand across onsite and o_ site ATMs. Typically banks either use a disparate set of tools or manually engage in the ATM management activities like ATM configuration, remote administration, electronic journal retrieval, reconciliation, cash level reporting, terminal monitoring and reporting, replenishment of supplies and incident management. This approach leads to many inefficiencies resulting in major• Inconsistent ATM availability• Revenue loss• Negative customer experience• Performance data vs maintenance activities being out of sync.Hence, it becomes essential to have an integrated ATM Management system which allows central management, configuration, monitoring and remote admin of the ATMs. A regular analysis of key performance metrics, triggering maintenance requests and on-time resource replenishment becomes key to the successful fulfillment of the self-service channel objectives. Real time monitoring of the self-service terminal and the capability to pinpoint the exact root cause of failure at a hardware component level would facilitate a quick response to down time. Before we jump into conclusions on how to address this problem, let us take a quick look at the widely used ATM deployment architecture. Over the years, there has been very little innovation on the terminal management side of Switch Host, because the Switch Host vendor’s priority and primary revenue stream has been alongside its primary functions. Hence, there is a huge gap between what is required and what is met in terms of terminal management and monitoring capabilities. Let us look at what is the actual requirement and how a specialized Terminal management solution will address the gap.Primary functions of Switch Host include• Transaction acquiring, routing, EMV processing and authorization• Support multiple transaction types and bill payments• Multi-financial institution processing of card and non-card transactions• Securing transactions with TDES, MAC and key distribution• Card Management and Customer Management• Transaction Charges / Fee management / Reconciliation / Fraud ManagementTraditionally, the Switch Host application vendor’s focus of development and innovation has always been around its primary functionalities listed above and tuning them towards generating additional revenue through value added transaction types. In addition, the Switch Host has a Terminal management module that drives the transactions on ATM terminals.Terminal Management functions of Switch Host are limited to• ATM screen transition work flow based on card bins• Multi-language display screens and receipt print text content• Cash position and other supply maintenance• Problem reports of device malfunction• TDES key exchange for PIN encryption• Electronic Journal recovery TOP 6 REASONS WHY YOU MAY NEED A SPECIALIZED TERMINAL MANAGEMENT SOLUTION 1. Dispute resolution process is too long• ATM transaction journal• Camera imagesDoes the second line support officer have access to these data points? Typically no. A request to fetch this data will be submitted to the ATM back office team. The back office team would take anywhere between a day or two to fetch these details. The transaction journal record provides vital information about the point of failure. However, the journal record is not always the silver bullet, there could be innumerous reasons behind the transaction failure.• It could be a simple network timeout issue somewhere between the complex sub-systems of transaction processors leading to non-reversal of transaction• It could be an ATM cash presenter malfunction which can be spotted if one has access to the cash slot camera images of the transaction• It could be a transaction performed by a fraudster using a cloned card which can be spotted using the ATM surveillance videosImagine, the second line support officer having instant access to the journal record and transaction images, majority of the disputes can be resolved in less than an hour’s time. However, does your Switch Host provide instant access to transaction journal record and transaction images? No Switch Host provides real time access to transaction journals and images. Only a specialized terminal management solution will give you instant and real time access to journals and on-demand fetching of transaction images from the ATMs.Imagine, the second line support officer having instant access to the device level failure record of the transaction. The Switch Host typically provides superficial details on device level failures. However, the CEN-XFS technology on which the ATM device architecture is built, gives full access to the device level failure details. CEN-XFS’s failure notifications of device malfunction can be harnessed on the terminal by a resident agent on the ATM. A Switch Host does not have any agent architecture. Only a specialized terminal management solution will give you instant and real time access to hardware failure notifications of the CEN-XFS model through its agent-based architecture. 2. Switch Host has no idea what happened on an ATM when it was offlineWhen an ATM loses connection with the switch host, it goes Online. And the switch host is kept blind on what happens during the online period. There could be multiple configuration changes, multiple admin entries and exits, multiple peripheral status changes, etc. These changes could prove to be vital to be reviewed in case of a dispute or for debugging. However, switch host protocol ignores such sequence of changes and only is bothered about the current status of peripherals. On the contrary, an agent based monitoring approach will ensure no such data is lost. The agent resides on the ATM and is recording all events irrespective of ATM being online or offline. 3. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Monitoring of the self-service channel is absentMost Switch Host vendors do not provide a KPI performance dashboard of your self-service channel. There is no well-defined set of measurement mechanisms of these KPIs. FIs are now interested in performance measurement of their channels. So, there is a need for a specialized terminal management system which allows FIs to define their own KPIs and a customized dashboard of Channel performance. 4. Performance Improvement Plan is not facilitated with the right toolsContinuous monitoring of the KPIs, week after week, will tell you if your ever evolving self service network is working at its optimal best. In order to make this happen, a system which can collect KPI data and produce custom visual dashboards of week-over-week, month-over-month performance metrics and allow detection of performance degrade is not only a necessity but a must-have mechanism for serious FIs looking to optimize the Return On Investment (ROI) of their self-service channel. Interface to ticketing systems and measurement of SLAs with respect to service and maintenance of the self-service network is of very high importance to ensureoptimal performance. A pivot report of component failure patterns will give a sense of exactly where the “time, e_ort and cost” is spent on the servicing and maintenance activity. This indication can prompt FIs and ATM deployers to attack the top pain points which contribute to maximum downtime. 5. Cash Replenishment and Cash Forecasting Systems are obsoleteFIs are forced to work with non-standard interface access to cash position data. Cash position data is provided by the Switch Host and the same needs to be sent to CRA. Most FIs have a spreadsheet-based system to collate this data and have no automated means to notify CRAsabout critical replenishments. Many FIs typically require a customized cash forecasting system that give priority to cash replenishment on high transacting terminals. Further, typical systems lack measurement of downtime due to supply shortage. A different kind of Service LevelAgreement (SLA) is need for CRAs to enable them to function at their optimum so that the end customer is never left disappointed with cash starved ATMs. 6. Terminal Software is not up to date, posing security threatsIt is not the core functionality of the Switch Host to ensure that the self-service terminals are up to date with respect to software patches. A separate centralized software distribution tool is required to ensure that the complete fleet of self-service terminals are well patched to keepup with the security threat landscape. An agent based architecture is necessary to enable an efficient roll out of patches. Why BONCYTECH?Boncy Technical Nigeria Limited is an innovative and leading provider of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) supporting Wincor, Hyosung, NCR and associated services for banks. With the mission of helping banks reach out and having pioneered ATMs for deployment even in the most difficult and challenging environments, Boncytech officers a suite of services for ATM management. With a strong foundation built on years of R&D, a steady focus on self-service banking products for emerging markets, Boncytech in partnership with Vortex is now changing the face of banking with its new rugged and reliable range of ATMs.