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Tech firm NCR sees growth for ATMs


More companies worldwide and in the Philippines will likely deploy self-service and automated teller machines (ATMs) to follow the changing behavior of consumers, technology solutions firm NCR said Tuesday. Studies showed that customers “prefer to spend more if it saves them time" and “people who visit a business for service expect instant attention," said Brian Bailey, NCR vice president for financial services solution. “Nowism," or the lust for instant gratification ingrained in the consumers’ psyche, is changing the way both companies and consumers behave, he said. The 126-year-old NCR is following the trend by rolling out a host of new solutions capable of gratifying the customer’s lust for quick and easy services. Among its new products in the country are multi-channel solutions for banks to better serve clients doing branch, mobile, and online transactions. It also introduced non-cash ATMs/Transaction Services Kiosks and multi-function self-service ATMs that accept cash and check deposits. Mike van der Wal, managing director of NCR Philippines and Indonesia, said ATMs with self-service functions have the potential for growth in Philippines where the density of ATMs is low and mostly in urban centers while most of the machines are old. Today’s markets require a new way of doing business and enterprises should look for ways to address the changing behaviors of consumers, according to Bailey. He cited an ACNielsen survey showing that one of the three factors contributing to key consumer trends in the Philippines is the “increasing patronage for convenience as consumers want quick and easy to use goods." NCR is responding to the “nowism" syndrome by reducing the number of steps and wait time ATM users go through as they withdraw or deposit money. Bailey cited a bank in India that programmed its NCR ATMs to have a menu option called “favorite" so that a client may choose the service he or she regularly makes. Despite the growing popularity of online banking, Bailey said the trend has not had an adverse impact on the use of ATMs but has in fact increased banking activity as consumers simply got a new option to transact with banks. NCR, which counts IBM founder Thomas Watson as one of its early employees, said its products and services account for more than $400 billion in annual commerce and 23 billion consumer serf-service transactions. The company’s Philippine office established in the 1960s currently operates a research and development facility in Cebu with about 500 employees. -- Melvin G. Calimag/SVD, GMANews.TV

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