Seacoast Bank

Delivering on a commitment to be there for customers—even in natural disasters.

WHAT THEY NEEDED

Improving customer experience with a resilient ATM channel

Seacoast Bank is one of the largest community banks in Florida, US, a state with an extensive warm-water coastline that makes it highly vulnerable to major hurricanes. The bank was hearing from customers that they wanted expanded self-service banking options without surcharges. There was also a growing concern, after a series of back-to-back hurricanes in the state, about being able to access bank services during crisis situations.

Julie Kleffel, chief banking officer at Seacoast Bank, said, “Hurricanes are part of our nature in Florida. Customers were telling us they didn’t want to have to worry that if the banking center was closed due to a hurricane, they could still get cash. We wanted to be able to give them that confidence in us.

“And, of course, they also wanted better self-service options on an everyday basis, because consumer expectations have changed,” she said.

Seacoast was also facing several challenges in monitoring performance, understanding uptimes and availability and ensuring it had the skillset and resources to run its ATM fleet effectively. “We needed a way to aggregate analytics and reporting and better understand uptimes, to staff the expertise needed to run the fleet effectively, to prioritize the spend from a capex perspective,” she said.

WHAT WE DELIVERED

Expanded access with ATM as a Service and the Allpoint network

By choosing ATM as a Service with NCR Atleos, Seacoast was able to transform and modernize its fleet to improve self-service options for customers. Seacoast Bank also joined NCR Atleos’ Allpoint network of over 40,000 surcharge-free ATMs in key retail locations in the US. The combination of outsourcing its ATM channel and joining the Allpoint network has expanded financial access to Seacoast’s customers and ensured an available and resilient self-service channel. “We made a choice to use outside experts for things that were outside our expertise, to let them help us be great at them,” said Julie. “Being able to have access to experts, who have access to literally tens of thousands of people who interact with these machines every day, means I can get the answers I need to enable us to better serve our customers.

“We made a choice to use outside experts for things that were outside our expertise, to let them help us be great at them.” –Julie Kleffel, chief banking officer, Seacoast Bank

“Keeping our ATM network readily available is NCR Atleos’ first priority. When we managed it internally, it was third or fourth priority.

“I don’t worry about whether it’s going to work, because NCR Atleos is monitoring our network 24/7 and providing real-time reporting,” she said. “In the event of a natural disaster, we’re able to see what’s going on with our network much faster than we could within our own database.”

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

Increased deposits and deepened customer relationships—without expensive brick and mortar branch expansions

Through its strategic partnership with NCR Atleos, Seacoast has improved operational efficiency and now offers customers a better experience at its ATMs, which has led to increased deposits.

“Our ATM uptime is over 99% for the fleet, and our KPIs on communication are off the charts,” Kiefel said. “We can offer our customers access to more than 40,000 ATMs nationwide, which are easily accessible at retailers they visit every day. The combination of the Allpoint Network and ATM as a Service is a real win-win for us,” adds Julie. “Particularly when it comes to hurricane season. The new machines are better, safer and more secure.”

Since the modernization, uptimes are over 99% for Seacoast’s fleet, and KPIs on communication are off the charts.

“Getting our fleet back up and running after the hurricanes was much quicker. NCR Atleos was responsible and that made a huge difference because we needed to focus on the safety and soundness of our associates and our customers and getting our banking centers open. We didn't have to worry about the ATM channel or the Allpoint network,” she said. The bank has peace of mind that NCR Atleos has its back and has the expertise and resources to ensure that customers can continue to access cash.

The bank's finance partners consider the change a huge win because capital expenditures have been substantially reduced.

“I don't have to go to six different people to run my ATM channel. I go to a single source. My accounting, my operations teams as well as my third-party risk management function have a single point where they can go and triangulate and get information and move forward. “Through leveraging ATM as a Service, Seacoast has redirected resources towards growth initiatives and enhancing member experiences. This strategic focus has not only strengthened customer relationships and improved performance but also enabled a concentrated effort on M&A activities.”