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ATMTalk ATM Speech Upgrade Kits for Hyosung

KahunaMarketingGuru — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:51:52 +0000

Sticker Shock: ATM industry attacks fee-notice rule

KahunaMarketingGuru — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:00:34 +0000

Originally Posted on ATMmarketplace, February 14, 2012 – Suzanne Cluckey

“Enough already.”

This was the gist of a letter sent on Feb. 8 by the NACS and six cosigners to the House Committee on Financial Services.

The letter petitioned the committee for “assistance in eliminating an unnecessary ATM fee disclosure requirement that has encouraged a large and growing number of frivolous lawsuits across the nation.”

The disclosure in question relates to an FDIC regulation (Regulation E — 12 CFR 205.16) enacted in 1991 that required anyone operating an ATM to “post in a prominent and conspicuous location” a notice that fees will (or may) be charged for a balance inquiry or electronic fund transfer services.

The same notice was to be displayed on the ATM screen, though regulations allowed an exemption for machines that lacked the technical capability to comply. When that exemption expired on December 31, 2004, the “placard rule” became annoyingly redundant. Worse, said Bryan Bauer, president of Kahuna ATM solutions, it became detrimental.

“At that time surcharge was just becoming public. Consumers maybe hadn’t used an ATM before,” he said. “But it’s one of those things that’s past its useful life and it’s causing huge problems in our industry.”

By way of example, Bauer described a fax he received in the past week from an attorney in Massachusetts, who was threatening to file a complaint in regard to an ATM in eastern Texas. The fax “basically stat[ed], ‘I have drafted a complaint, I’m looking to file this within the next week or so … Call me to resolve this before I file the complaint,’” said Bauer.

Never mind that the ATM in question was not one affiliated with Kahuna. If a complaint were filed, the company would be required to respond, at which point the clock would begin on attorney’s fees. “In my opinion, there’s no doubt about it, it’s modern day extortion,” Bauer said.

John Ettesvold, president of Express Teller Services, also voiced annoyance that the rule was still in effect given that nowadays the ATM itself is programmed to preclude user ignorance about fees. “It prompts you on the screen and you have to accept the fee,” he said. “So even if [the notice] is not affixed to the ATM, you still have to accept the fee by pressing the button, ‘yes I accept’ or ‘no, I decline’. So to me it’s frivolous.”

Such frustration can be heard throughout the ATM industry, where to date placard lawsuits have been filed 20 states.

And it’s not just FIs and other owners who have found themselves in legal skirmishes over the placard rule, said Howard Latshaw, national sales manager for the ATM branding firm GetBranded.com. “[Plaintiffs] just go in and sue everybody that’s involved,” he said. “They sue the merchant, and if there’s a bank sponsor they sue the bank sponsor and sue the ISO and the deployer. So they just sue everybody and then whoever has the deepest pockets usually ends up paying on it.”

Latshaw said he hears regularly from deployers who have fought — or are engaged in fighting — placard complaints. “We generally field maybe one or two calls a week from customers that are either in litigation or have gone through a lawsuit and they’re looking for a better way to protect the fee notification,” Latshaw said. Generally, he said, these were operators that had applied decal signage. “The big problem is that [people] remove the decal and take pictures of it and start a class action lawsuit.”

One solution to the this problem is to incorporate the fee notice into mid-topper signage, which is much more difficult to remove. Ettesvold largely credited this approach for the fact that his company had not been named in a lawsuit to date. Express Teller replaces the basic mid-topper signage that comes on all of its new machines with a branded panel that includes the fee notification. “If anyone wants to get that ATM wrapped in a lawsuit or accuse us of having noncompliance, they’re going to have tear that entire mid-topper off the machine in order to get it,” he said.

Ettesvold said that the replacement signage cost about $20, as opposed to the cost of a sticker, which was about $2. According to Latshaw, the cost of adding a topper to a machine that didn’t originally have one was about $200 — which is often still less expensive than an hour or two of a lawyer’s time.

Removing the stickers for good

Bauer was confident that the efforts of industry members would eventually result in the repeal of the placard rule. “I think there’s a good chance of us being successful here,” he said. “It’s been brought to the attention of several of the right people to make a change. It’s just with anything it takes time.”

The current pre-election gridlock in Congress and many government departments makes it very difficult to guess when that might be. Additionally, said Bauer, it was not entirely clear whether the regulation could simply be scrapped by the Fed or would require Congressional action, which might be slower and more complicated.

In the meantime, Ettesvold said, an ATM operator could minimize the likelihood of a lawsuit with a mid-topper, or barring that option, could employ simple procedures that would prove that physical notification had been applied to the ATM, but that it had either fallen off or been taken off. He recommended that deployers:

Address signage requirements in policies and procedures. Include instructions in all implementation, service call and cash drop checklists to confirm that the notice is in place.
Conduct periodic reviews of ATMs to ensure that fee-notice stickers are affixed. At the same time, take date-stamped photos of the terminal, including buildings or landmarks around it for visual context. Take new photos if an ATM is moved to a different location.
Document that stickers have been applied at the time of installation. Take a date-stamped photo of the sticker being placed on the machine.
Demonstrate that a sticker has been removed by taking photos of the sticky residue left behind.

“It’s sad that we have to play defense on this,” Ettesvold said. “When [a change] happens we automatically have to try to figure out, okay, how are we going to prevent a lawsuit and you have to get creative, and unfortunately it’s not cheap to do that.”

Which Chip Technology is Right for Credit Unions?

KahunaMarketingGuru — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:47:03 +0000

Posted: January 25, 2012 on Credit Union Times By Aris Jeharian. Click Here for full article.

The industry has generally agreed on EMV (the Europay-Mastercard-Visa standard) as the necessary next step for the U.S. card market. As a result, another question has been presented: Which type of chip technology, chip-and-PIN or chip-and-signature, is best suited to support the country’s migration to EMV?

Even as the terms “EMV” and “chip-and-PIN” became nearly synonymous over the past few years, some players have chosen a different route – namely, chip-and-signature. But to many, the assertion that issuers should add chip technology to their plastic without also configuring the chip to work alongside a customer authentication code, like a PIN, is not a great idea.

To understand why, let’s start at the beginning.

The EMV Back Story

EMV was developed because European card issuers needed a way to provide merchants with quick, secure authentication. Europe’s poor telecommunications infrastructure and a great number of unmanned terminals and kiosks made it difficult to provide this authentication with traditional mag-stripe cards. EMV, supported by chip-and-PIN technology, became the answer.

Only after the chip cards were in play did the European payments industry realize the cards’ natural resistance to duplication. Coupled with the security of PIN authentication, the cards presented two significant hurdles to would-be thieves.

In the U.S., the telecommunications system is vast and sophisticated, which makes the need for EMV’s offline authentication less desirable stateside. The technology’s fraud resistance, on the other hand, is extremely attractive to the U.S. payments industry – particularly given the fact that card skimming attacks are only becoming more sophisticated and more frequent.

This is not to say fraud prevention is the only benefit the U.S. stands to gain from migration to EMV. As well, we understand that Americans, who quite regularly leave the country for business and pleasure, are among the last to carry mag-stripe plastic. U.S. card issuers working hard to maintain wallet share know how important it is to enable international transactions.

Traveling without a PIN

While there are international terminals capable of accepting chip-and-signature transactions, the ones that don’t are generally unmanned, making completion of the transaction impossible. Take, for example, a cardholder traveling by train in Europe. Many European train-ticket kiosks require a PIN for offline authorization, leaving a chip-and-signature cardholder without options.

Even in manned-terminal situations, chip-and-signature cardholders may have a difficult time explaining the technology to merchants abroad. The merchants may not be familiar with signature authentication; they may also speak a different language than the cardholder, further complicating communication.

The fraud-prevention benefit, too, stands to be weakened without a PIN. Experts agree an authentication code known only to the cardholder (such as a PIN) is among the most successful strategies to prevent fraudulent transactions. For this reason, many retailers are expected to push for chip-and-PIN to lower the incidence of fraud in their stores.

The Best Return on Investment

To build momentum for a U.S. migration to EMV, Visa has launched a series of directives for merchants and processors. In addition to requiring all processors to support chip transactions by April 1, 2013, the network is giving merchants an added incentive to also support chip-and-signature transactions.

By October 2012, any merchant who accepts 75% of its Visa transactions through a chip-ready terminal will not have to validate compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard – an effort that can cost upwards of a half million dollars each year.

It’s easy to understand why Visa – with its vast signature network – stands on the side of chip-and-signature. The network has a vested interest in continuing to run credit and debit card transactions over signature rails. There is a huge revenue distinction between signature- and PIN-based authentications. Issuers have to remember, the loss in interchange revenue from EMV technology will be substantially exceeded by the fraud prevention cost savings.

Other major card issuers, including Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America, have announced intentions to migrate to chip-and-PIN, leaving many credit unions confused about the right direction for their unique cardholder groups.

So, which chip technology is right for the nation’s credit unions?

I believe the answer is clear. With two main benefits – lower fraud risk and more interchange from international transactions – chip-and-PIN technology will provide the best return on an issuer’s investment.

Chip, PIN … and Mag-Stripe

Many large retailers have made public announcements regarding their ability to accept EMV. However, smaller merchants are not quite ready, choosing the “wait and see” approach.

Until such a time when EMV achieves critical mass in the U.S., issuers must also consider leaving mag-stripes on all EMV plastic. Even with Visa’s deadline, merchants across the country are still evaluating whether or not to invest in chip-card terminals now. And after they inevitably make the decision, switching POS and back-office systems to the new technology will take time.

In a post-Durbin Amendment world, achieving card portfolio profitability has become increasingly complex. Chip-and-PIN technology, coupled with a mag-stripe, is the credit union’s one-size-fits-all approach to EMV, enabling more interchange income, increased security, and overall, more satisfied and loyal cardholders.

Aris Jeharian is vice president of client relations at The Members Group in Des Moines, Iowa.

ADA: How are ATM deployers Preparing?

KahunaMarketingGuru — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:39:10 +0000

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice issued Standards for Accessible Design, which included updates to the 1991 ADA standards for ATMs. The DOJ spent the next year clarifying the more ambiguous sections of the new regulations for anxious ATM makers and owners, who spent most of the year after that figuring out how to implement the guidelines.

There’s no way to reckon the number of ATMs in America that have achieved compliance with the new standards, which become law March 15. But a major uptick in the sales of upgrade kits and new and refurbished machines would seem to indicate that owners are taking the deadline seriously.

“The fourth quarter of 2011 was just a huge surge from our standpoint as far as the distributors and ISOs taking on the whole upgrade process,” said Dan Swain, vice president and general manager of ATMGurus. “There’s been an incredible in the uptick in demand and dialogue and chatter — everything is at a much-increased level.”

ATM owners have had to decide whether it makes more sense in the long run to refit or remove their older ATMs. Unfortunately, there is no simple equation for determining whether it’s better to replace a workhorse of an older machine at a cost of thousands, or bring it up to par at a cost of hundreds on the assumption that it won’t die a year later — or fall victim to a subsequent guideline that makes it obsolete.

This may explain why many operators have taken the new standards as a cue to bring their fleet into the 21st century. Community Trust Bank of Monroe, Louisiana, was one such case. Lonnie Scarborough, executive VP of retail banking at Community Trust, said the new guidelines made it easier to make a decision about outsourcing that the bank had been considering for years…..

To Read the full article, Click Here

Article Posted on ATMmarketplace.com, January 27, 2012 – Suzanne Cluckey

Use Stars Effectively in Gmail

KahunaMarketingGuru — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:08:42 +0000

For those of you using Google Mail or Gmail, chances are you’re familiar with the “stars” feature, which serves as a visual reminder to follow up on certain messages or mark their importance. You may not know, though, that you can use different types of stars. To do so, click on the Gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen, click Mail Settings, and on the General tab look for the Stars section.

You will see many different types of stars that you can cycle through. Drag the stars between the lists that you want to use and in the order you prefer. Another neat trick is to use the name of the star to filter messages. Simply hover over the star to learn its name (i.e., “red-bang”), then use the “has” prefix to filter by star name. For example, typing “has:red-bang” in your search box will show all messages with that star name.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Kahuna Names Josh Hendon Vice President of Operations!

KahunaMarketingGuru — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:09:53 +0000

BLOOMINGTON, IL — Kahuna ATM Solutions is pleased to announce that Josh Hendon has been promoted to Vice President of Operations.

Previously, Hendon worked to identify and execute various business improvement projects and to create efficiencies within the Client Services and Software Development Departments. “Josh is a gifted leader; his team excels day in and day out ensuring Kahuna’s commitment to excellence from an operational and client service standpoint”, says Frank Lunn, CEO and Founder of Kahuna ATM Solutions.

In his new role as Vice President of Operations for Kahuna ATM Solutions, a company providing ATM solutions to independent deployers and operators, Hendon oversees Kahuna’s three departments within Operations; Software Development, Client Services and Technical Support/Service. He is focused on maximizing productivity to benefit Kahuna Affiliates through the creation and implementation of new software modules and technology, and the streamlining of current processes.

“Josh has innate leadership skills that are absolutely mandatory for an individual in his new position”, says Bryan Bauer, President of Kahuna ATM Solutions. “We are excited to work with and beside Josh to continue to grow our capacity to add new clients and find ways to better serve our existing clients.”

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Communication from Western Illinois University, and is an active member of the ATM Industry Association and the National ATM Council.

Prior to joining the Kahuna team as a Business Analyst in 2009, he worked in the fields of project coordination, procurement and management.

Josh can be reached by e-mail at Josh@KahunaATM.com or by telephone at (888) 357-8472, ext. 1121.

2012 ATMIA Conference in Texas

KahunaMarketingGuru — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:43:39 +0000

(Information written and distributed by ATMIA)

The time is now to reignite a passion for ATMs as new technology increases their power.

A challenging time offers the opportunity to reenergize yourself about the future of the ATM industry, your customers and your business so you can increase your market share in this period of extensive change.

The place to do this, and recharge your batteries, is “The Power of ATMs,” ATMIA’s annual US event and the largest dedicated ATM industry event in the world, Feb 29-Mar 2, 2012 in San Antonio, TX.

The Power of ATMs Event will recharge your industry knowledge with up-to-date information on:

Current legislative issues
improving ATM customer service
New ideas on ATM innovation for saving and ways to make money
ADA compliance
ATM Integrated Payments
Mobile Cash
EMV for the USA?
Reaching the underbanked
And so much more

for more information on the Upcoming Event and Registration Details, Click Here

Transaction and Interchange Analysis: To Be or Not to Be?

Bryan — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:29:38 +0000

Picture this…you take your car to the auto garage for a simple service and after they ask you ‘how has it been running’ and you reply ‘I’ve had no problems at all’ they say they want to run some diagnostics, pull the fuel tank off to inspect a gasket, and remove the manifold to make sure it isn’t cracked. None of it is complimentary, but instead rather costly and it will take all day.

A consumer who agrees to move forward in this scenario would not make a wise investment of their time or money. If you have time and money to burn it would be great to know your car is in tip-top shape; but on the other hand you could save the money and use it towards your next car or invest those dollars.

As ATM business owners we are forced to similarly choose how we will invest our time and money, and we often fall prey to countless activities and distractions which waste our precious resources.

In our industry it is extremely common and easy to spend resources studying and analyzing interchange for example. Many organizations jump right into transaction detail and think they will find a mistake that will pay off in tens of thousands of dollars in savings. While this has happened occasionally, it is definitely not the norm. Furthermore, when one Independent ATM Deployer (IAD) brings a mistake to a processors attention you can certainly bet it is fixed on all accounts moving forward.

Analyzing Transactions & Interchange

We are asked by clients frequently if we can help them analyze transactions and/or interchange detail. In my opinion analyzing interchange should be compared to herding cats. I don’t have first-hand experience herding cats but I do have some experience analyzing transaction and interchange detail. If done correctly, analyzing transactions can provide nice safeguards with minimal ongoing expense. Maybe this is where my analogy of herding cats breaks down…is there ever a need to herd cats?

On the other hand, transaction analysis can be a dark abyss where time and money are thrown with fruitless return. With this in mind, what do we tell our clients to better position them and keep their focus in the money?

Looking at Numbers Globally

Our internal processes involve looking at numbers more globally and holistically as a start. We look at total NET interchange divided by total transactions. This allows us to set a benchmark and track historical trends from month to month; and from processor to processor. If you are large enough to work with multiple processors this strategy works out very nicely.

Comparing Processors

Drilling down on individual networks and comparing it across processor lines is something we used to do more of, but candidly it nearly always provided little to no return on investment. The bigger picture to me is not whether Processor A gateways a connection to a network or networks. Gatewaying can be effective for a processor if it helps them streamline and focus on better ways to add value to their clients. In the end what is your Total NET interchange per total transaction AND what is your total expenses to support those transactions? What does your processor do on both sides of this equation (i.e. NET Interchange per Total Transaction-to-Value Added Services to keep your support expenses down?). This ratio is where you win or lose.

Dos & Don’ts

To provide a bigger picture, here are some dos and don’ts for analyzing transactions:

DO: establish a monthly benchmark for your total NET interchange per total transaction summary ratio; analyze it monthly.
DON’T: aimlessly look at transaction detail in an effort to “catch” your processor doing something wrong…otherwise, congratulations…you might find penny or two!
DO: be prepared to drill down into transaction detail if necessary (i.e. if your total NET interchange per total transaction ratio is out-of-whack based on trends), but keep in mind the dollar value you are chasing based on your volume
DON’T: consider your actual cost per total transaction from the processor as an end-all, be-all. Instead, combine this with other expenses you have to support your transactions to get a total NET Expense per transaction.
DO: look at your total NET interchange per total transaction directly from the processor AND your NET expense ratio on a regular basis (you can call it your Triple NET ratio).
DO: focus on continued improvement of your Triple NET Ratio.

In this game of analyzing transactions, volume is a huge factor. For example, a mega-IAD can make a legitimate business case to employ a transaction analyst; where a smaller IAD really cannot. If a smaller IAD spends limited resources simply tracking the monthly summaries mentioned above and uses the majority of their resources selling, they will come out like a cat’s meow!

Are Decreasing Profits Affecting your ATM business?

KahunaMarketingGuru — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:37:36 +0000

According to a recent survey, decreasing ATM profitability is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry today. Contributing factors include an oversaturated ATM marketplace, skyrocketing costs, increased government regulations, decrease in the number of ATM transactions and more.

One factor that affects decreasing ATM profits is the growth in ancillary banking products. More and more people are migrating to an online banking environment and making fewer trips to an ATM. From the convenience of their home, they can easily transfer money, deposit paychecks, pay bills, etc.

Americans are increasingly relying on debit cards and straying away from cash transactions. According to a recent survey, debit card spending increased from 48 percent in 2003 to 59 percent in 2008. Not surprisingly, the percentage of debit card purchases is expected to surpass 67 percent by 2013.

Network fee increases and market consolidation are other key factors that play into declining business profits. In 1995, when the industry was first emerging, the top three networks had a market share of 39 percent. Today, the top three networks have the majority share at more than 70 percent. Networks have used this market power to take profits directly from IADs and redirect them to themselves or their own FIs.

To avoid paying extra fees, ATM customers are limiting the number of times they visit an ATM and increasing the dollar amounts being withdrawn per visit. Prior to the economic crash of 2008, the average withdrawal amount was $78 per ATM transaction. Today the average dollar amount being withdrawn from an ATM is $84.

3 Reasons to Still Be Optimistic About the ATM Industry

Frank — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:35:22 +0000

Imagine if the ATM industry was a person sitting on a Psychiatrist’s couch lamenting about all the problems and difficulties in the ATM industry today. The conversation might start off with sharing a little about the good ole days when margins were good and regulations were few. The conversation continues reminiscing about the childhood of our industry when customers didn’t know pricing and every trade secret we have. Remember when you could afford to hire and compensate good sales people and the internet was just the equivalent of your Yellow Pages ad? Memory lane continues into young adulthood as it was easy to compete because you had a good relationship with your customers, the product lines and options were simpler and triple DES was the concern of the day.

This session continues and the ATM industry personified begins to complain how difficult life is today. Areas like competition, PCI, remote key management, market saturation, declining transaction count, fraud monitoring, due diligence, ADA, frivolous Reg. E lawsuits, hyper competitive environment, data breaches, internet competitors who lie, lack of capital and more just keep coming at us in our mind like bugs hitting the windshield on a hot summer nights drive through the country. How do we grow? How do we hire and keep good staff? How do we ever get value out of our business? It is almost too much to take. Is it even worth it anymore??

Before you get too discouraged, please let me share 3 reasons why you should let your competitors worry and fret about all of this while you continue to grow and prosper.

Reason #3- S.U.R.F. Happens!
Industries change and adapt. From the real to real to the 8 track to the vinyl record to tapes to MP3 and digital, the recording industry has and continues to change. Wishing and hoping 8 tracks come back in style will not help you. Don’t fight the change, rather see where it is going and adapt your strategy and business plan to make the most of what you have. Let others complain and moan or even quit. Change will continue to happen and business models will change. If you can’t see it because you are to close, ask someone you trust to help you take stock of your advantages and opportunities to make the most of the waves coming at you.

Reason #2- Every Challenge Brings Opportunity
ADA stinks right? Not so fast. Every challenge we currently face is really an opportunity in disguise. It is a chance to better serve our clients and customers. It is a chance to sell new products and services. We need to look at whatever faces us and look for what can be gained rather than what may be lost. This isn’t just ‘happy place’ thinking it is absolutely practical and leads us right into the #1 reason to be optimistic about our industry…

Reason #1- It IS Difficult! (A Hidden Advantage)
OK it is true; our industry used to be much easier. The margins were good and it was easy to pay people. The residual base was a great way to build and there was opportunity everywhere you looked. It was easy! But easy led to a glut of people looking for easy and the barrier to entry was low or non-existent. A lot of companies and home-based competitors working on a website in their underwear in their basement but popped up making promises knowing they would never be held accountable for. As the industry matures and it is more challenging, many of the fly-by-night competitors fly away to the next easy thing.

For all the reasons it used to be easy, it is more challenging today. However, don’t let any of this discourage you. Instead, let it make you stronger and more committed to growing a professional business. The truth is there is still plenty of opportunity for business success within our industry but you have to be willing to look beyond the obstacles. What others may see as challenges and difficulties are nothing more than opportunities in disguise for your business.