The ATM Industry Association (ATMIA), the global ATM industry trade body, has published a “blueprint” for next-generation ATMs. With the ATM industry celebrating its 50th anniversary since the first ATM was deployed in 1967, the ATMIA’s prototype concept is timely, Robin Arnfield reports.
“The ATMIA saw a need for a blueprint for next-generation ATMs which would provide a new app-based model for ATMs in order to fully connect ATMs to the mobile world,” Mike Lee, the ATMIA’s CEO, tells CI.
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In addition, ATMIA has been developing roadmaps for the ATM industry to migrate to Windows 10 and WinCE 2023 in readiness for the “sunsetting” of the previous Windows-based ATM operating systems, Windows 7 and WinCE. At the same time, the ATMIA has been examining the use of alternative operating systems for ATMs such as Android, it says.
In 2014, ATM deployers using Windows XP were forced to migrate to Windows 7, after Microsoft stopped supporting XP
Vision of the future
Under the ATMIA’s aegis, in late 2016, leading ATM operators compiled a vision of the future for ATMs, articulated in the form of an ATM industry Request for Information. This RFI was then sent to the world’s major ATM manufacturers and suppliers in January 2017, with a deadline for comments of 31 March 2017.
“Based on the consensus between the vendors’ vision of the future and the deployer model in the original RFI, a blueprint for next-generation ATMs was developed, as there was sufficient common ground to reach global agreement on the way forward,” Lee says.
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By GlobalDataThe ATMIA has formed a global consortium of ATM deployers, vendors, suppliers and service providers to oversee new standards and create a roadmap for the ATM ecosystem envisaged in the blueprint, which will run concurrently with existing standards. On 27 July 2017, the blueprint was signed off by the consortium, paving the way to build what ATMIA has dubbed “a superhighway to the future.”
Consensus
There is broad consensus in the ATM industry about the need for ATMs to evolve in order to remain a key financial service platform, Lee says. “But the legacy of incompatible proprietary ATM network and system protocols is a key barrier to the expansion of the ATM market, when, by contrast, there is a much greater degree of interoperability in the mobile space,” he says.
The ATMIA has a vision of three levels of ATM operating system architecture, including a standard application programming interface (API) layer, enabling ATMs to interface with consumer devices such as NFC-enabled smartphones.
“We want the ATM industry to develop an open API-based ecosystem for ATMs to support an app model for ATMs and to ensure deployers can easily manage the new types of ATM networks that will emerge,” Lee notes.
The three different operating system architecture models for the ATM of the future are:
- Cloud;
- API;
- Brower-based with resident native software.
“These won’t be separate models as such but all part of a stacked ecosystem which allows for interoperability and yet competitive differentiation,” says Lee. “The browser-based software goes to the ATM end point to link the ATM to the software stored in the Cloud and in the API.
“The API level is crucial because it supports the apps, and the Cloud provides tremendous management potential to the operators. It’s the ultimate Dagwood (sandwich) for software.”
Integration
“The most important thing is to connect ATMs to customers by integrating the mobile world and the ATM,” says Lee. “Next-generation ATMs will be customer-centric, and transacting via smartphones or mobile devices will be the new norm.
“The next key element is supporting a new app model for ATMs, once again with customer experience in mind. The standard API will be a major technology platform for the app model.
“On top of that, use of the cloud for some web-based ATM services will be massively enabling, and will allow Big Data analytics and AI (artificial intelligence) programmes to be incorporated into the new ATM ecosystem. I foresee NFC-enabled ATMs, biometrics, including fingerprint authentication, cardless cash and iBeacons all having a big future in our industry.”
Lee says the ATMIA’s core objectives in creating the blueprint are ensuring the ATM remains an essential financial services technology in the mobile-first era, and developing an interoperable ecosystem for the ATM industry that replaces legacy protocols and networks with true interoperability.
“This is a global future-proofing exercise that should lead to more relevant, cost-efficient, dynamic, faster and highly adaptable ATMs,” he says. “The blueprint could produce new economies of scale for the ATM industry. It will enable the industry to build a superhighway to the future.
“To ensure ATM network/software/device interoperability, we recommend an ecosystem standard which everyone signs up to but which allows custom bank apps to be co-exist with standard apps so that there is competition and innovation.”
“ATM of the future” deployments
Lee points to two banks, which are world leaders in innovative ATM deployments – Spain’s CaixaBank and Turkey’s GarantiBank.
“CaixaBank and GarantiBank have smart ATMs which offer over 200 different kinds of transaction,” Lee says. “Their smart ATMs are ‘bank in the box’ ATMs which will play a role in the future for communities affected by declining numbers of branches.
“In addition, there are dozens of forward-looking banks around the world, as well as innovative independent ATM deployers (IADs), which have deployed ATMs with iBeacons, NFC, cardless transactions, biometric authentication, video tellers, bank apps for mobile customers, digital wallet transactions such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, and smart security systems.”
“I love Idea Bank in Poland which has created what I call ‘Uber for cash’,” says Lee. “Its ATM cars take ATMs to the customer, instead of waiting for customers to go to the ATM.
Timeline
“Our vision is already happening in the sense that one of our governing principles in the Consortium for next-generation ATMs is ‘don’t hold up the market,’” says Lee.
“We recognise that innovation is an accumulative process with different companies moving at different speeds into the future. However, I estimate the standards we need for APIs, for example, and for ecosystem security, will be drafted in 2018 and signed off in 2019.
“This will be in time to ensure we have a next generation of ATMs rolling off the production lines on a mass scale for the 2020s when new operating systems like Windows 10 and cloud services kick in globally.”
Ecosystem security
“Security has to be end-to-end because criminals always look for the weakest link,” says Lee.
“We will be looking to bodies like the PCI Security Standards Council and UL (Underwriters Laboratories) to help us ensure there is sufficient encryption at all the right places. What will be critical will be security of mobile devices transacting with ATMs.”
“Coupled with this will be new customer education best practices for security as customers will play an important role, too. In addition, we think Cloud-based data analytics will provide highly sophisticated anomaly detection for the new ecosystem. Finally, we’re working with law enforcement agencies to seek their advice and collaboration. It’s going to be a huge team effort.”
Industry consultant comment
“I foresee the following in terms of ATM hardware,” says Anthony Pickup, a UK-based specialist in retail payments.
Replacement of mechanical card readers (chip/EMV and mag-stripe) by contactless readers which are solid state. This will make ATMs more reliable as there will be no moving parts, and less prone to temperature issues around the world, thus reducing cost of ownership. Also, this will make ATMs easier to use for both able-bodied and disabled users.
“With the development of machine-readable bank, there will be improvements in cash-recycling at ATMs.”
Linked to contactless readers will be a software-based change to the classic user-ATM interaction of present card, enter PIN, select cash withdrawal with/without receipt, select amount, authorise, cash dispense, Pickup says.
“Use of mobile devices could lead to a flow that either reduces the number of steps for a transaction and/or improves the security of the transaction,” he says.
Pickup says a mobile contactless-enhanced transaction flow will enable ATM users to authenticate themselves and select an amount to dispense. “For example, users wouldn’t enter their static PIN at an ATM but either input a unique code to the ATM or the ATM would read the code from the mobile device,” he suggests.
He also envisages that, instead of paper receipts, customers will receive ATM transaction notifications straight to their mobile devices.
Diebold Nixdorf concept ATM
In April 2017, Diebold Nixdorf launched its new concept ATM Essence which incorporates a sleek, modern design and user interface to enhance consumer experience.
Essence, powered by software-driven interactions, features multi-touch functionalities such as swipe, scroll and smart zoom, similar to those found in smartphones and tablets.
The Essence Concept includes an antimicrobial glass touchscreen display and enhanced user interface, an encrypted touchscreen for PIN entry and NFC authentication option, and an EMV chip card reader.
Diebold Nixdorf says it has eliminated the traditional mag-stripe card reader, receipt printer and PIN pad, which help the Essence concept to meet the requirements of busy, technology-savvy consumers.
“Powered by software-driven interactions and multi-touch functionalities such as swipe, scroll, and smart zoom, Essence seeks to enhance and modernize everyday consumer transactions,” a Diebold Nixdorf spokesperson tells CI.
“With an encrypted touchscreen, card access for both EMV chip readers and NFC authentication and large capacity recycler/dispenser, the terminal offers indispensable functionality for the future.”
