ATM’s were once thought of as revolutionary devices in the financial industry, they made offsite banking a reality. While they remain a convenient method to obtain cash quickly today, they have also gotten themselves a bad reputation for their rather weak security measures.
For this reason, among others, Diebold Incorporated, a worldwide leader in integrated service solutions, has set out to revolutionize offsite banking with the help of Microsoft’s Kinect for Windows motion sensing hardware. Their solution, called the Responsive Banking Concept prototype, is designed to make self-service banking simpler, more intuitive, and most importantly, more secure than existing solutions.
The Responsive Banking Concept uses a combination of touchscreens, NFC, location-proximity sensors and the Kinect sensor to securely identify customers before asking them to proceed with their transactions. The entire system is card-less and PIN-less, which should significantly shorten queues.
The system also features and “intelligent avatar” to assist customers in more complex transactions, or those that are new to the system. Customers use natural language to communicate with the avatar that also features directional audio technology, so as not to get confused in crowded areas like malls.
“It’s very exciting to hear customer feedback on how they could leverage the capabilities and data behind this concept. Our research insights, iterative design-engineering cycle and strong collaboration are yielding truly innovative outcomes – fast,” – Devon Watson, vice president, new business and solution incubation, Diebold.
Diebold is looking to get customer feedback (from national banks, not you) on this prototype in order to improve and streamline the technology before banks slowly start rolling them out in public locations such as malls, airports, and other high traffic locations. How long that will take is not yet clear, but just knowing that a better solution to offsite banking is coming is a good start.
