N Discover How Much Easier and Cost-Effective ITM Implementation Has Become By Scott Fieber, CSO, Cook Solutions Group Nearly 10 years ago, I sat down across the table from Gene Pranger, inventor of interactive teller machines (ITMs) and video banking, interviewing for a job while completing my college education. I loved his passion for the community financial space. At the time, large national financial institutions were growing at such a rapid pace that the community financial institutions were struggling to keep up. His vision was to find a way for these community and regional banks to grow their footprint with a small amount of capital, without sacrificing the faceto-face interaction that makes them great, and truly differentiate themselves from national banks. Additionally, how can we find a way to allow the existing branches to become profitable as branch traffic saw year-over-year declines, on average, without sacrificing the consumer experience? I was ecstatic to join the cause and couldn’t wait to start making a difference. Fast forward and a large global technology company announced the acquisition of a technology company pioneering video banking software to add ITMs as part of their portfolio. This gave ITMs the visibility and platform now to be globally recognized, among several other great resources to mature the product. Inadvertently, ITMs started to be sold and implemented the wrong way. Some saw the technology as a super ATM or an ATM with video chat instead of a teller platform capable of doing so much more. This made a simple product overly complex, and competition started to arise to match the growth being seen and clouded the strategy that was initially conceived. Incomplete planning and training lead to unsatisfactory deployments and negative reviews of the product. After four years of helping to educate the market and working with financial institutions of all different sizes all across the country, I decided enough was enough. We had to get back to the vision. We had to pause and get the process right to match a great technology the market desperately needed. When I met Brian Cook and Randy Neu at Cook Solutions Group (CSG), I felt as if I was back in Gene’s office with people that cared more about the experience than just making money. Here we had a recipe to partner with the manufacturers on the technology but put a unique twist around the deployment and strategy, which in turn would provide a holistic approach once again that the market deserved. Convert from ATM to ITM in 3 Easy Steps Step 1: Understand the ITM solution and how it fits into your FI market strategy. ITMs are not ATMs. An ITM strategy is a branch strategy, and, when deployed as such, can have an amazing impact on your institution. I can’t blame anyone for this, but it happens when you go from a sales force of three to 5,000 overnight — the important details get lost. It took years to educate the market on what an ITM is and how it can work. Joining this with other third-party reviews, it has taken time for everyone to grasp what video banking is capable of doing. Step 2: Reduced costs, investment is no longer the hurdle. You know this is the direction you want to go, but now how do you afford it? In the early years, this was a major expense hurdle for the community and regional banks. From unit cost to professional fees to call center integration. It was complex. But, over the past five years, entry costs have been reduced by An ITM strategy is a branch strategy, and, when deployed as such, can have an amazing impact on your institution. Colorado Banker 18
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