Banking: Maintaining your customer connections during social distancing mandates

The key focus of the bank branch is the ability for customers to interact, face to face, with financial institution staff. But during the coronavirus pandemic, a growing number of bank branches are reducing hours, limiting the number of customers inside at one time or closing temporarily. 

During this period, technology plays an important role in staying connected with your bank or credit union customers and members.            

Remote tellers    

The use of video banking and remote tellers via Interactive Teller Machines (ITMs) is a popular solution in the U.S. and Middle East. For some, it has become the ideal way to provide ongoing and face-to-face communication with customers.

What's more, tellers don’t have to travel to a contact center to serve customers; they can log in at home, enabling them to work and practice social distancing at the same time—keeping the bank or credit union available to customers looking for assisted service. Learn how Vantage Credit Union enhanced their member experience with shorter wait lines at the bank by fully integrating the ITM.

Drive-thru ATMs    

Many drive-thru ATMs can enable customers to handle most routine, in-branch transactions. This provides an option for customers who prefer not to come inside the branch or interact directly with staff. 

Remote check deposit    

For small businesses, check deposit is an important function of their local branch. And with remote check deposit, you can offer your customers multiple ways to deposit their checks: at the branch, ATM, online from corporate and small business locations, or using mobile devices—both business and retail banking deposits go directly to back office processing centers.

Tap and go    

Customers are looking to reduce contact with shared surfaces as much as possible, including the ATM. And as self-service becomes a focal point for consumer banking, contactless NFC debit cards are one way to help protect and reassure your customers.

And contactless debit cards are on the rise during the pandemic, particularly in the U.S. A little over two years ago, only 3 percent of U.S. cards were contactless, while 64 percent were contactless in the U.K. and 96 precent were contactless in South Korea. But, between the months of March 2019 and April 2020, contactless cards in the U.S. grew by 150 percent.

With tap and go, instead of inserting a card into the ATM card reader, customers can instead place their card near the reader to complete the authentication and transaction. This creates a faster, safer, digital-first experience—and, as an added benefit, eliminates the potential for card skimming.

ATM idle screens    

The idle screens on the ATM are a great way for banks and credit unions to communicate with customers. Whether general messages, or personalized communications when a customer has signed in, your screens can attract users, encourage interaction, promote your digital banking options and update customers about changes to hours, availability and other information. 

Newer ATMs offer larger displays that are significantly brighter than older solutions. Simple features like this could help financial institutions to grab customer attention, connect with the brand and drive adoption of digital products and services.

You can also use your screens to offer health and safety guidance, such as, “Don’t forget to use hand sanitizer after removing your card or cash.”

In a time of uncertainty, count on NCR    

NCR is committed to helping financial institutions of all sizes navigate the many challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak. For more information, please contact NCR. 

Our banking solutions experts are in the trenches with our customers, working hard to help provide guidance, solutions and recommendations.  

You can call us in the U.S. at 1-800-CALL-NCR or outside of the U.S. at 1-937-445-1936.