Review: NCR Self-Service Universe 07

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In May 2007, NCR’s Self-Service Universe welcomed kiosk-interested bankers, retailers and other service operators to Munich to hear a wide range of speakers from across Europe about every aspect of self-service. This year, the theme focused on what Bill Nuti, CEO of NCR, described in his opening key-note speech as “The New Self-Service Movement”. The last 12 months have seen significant growth in the acceptance of self-service technology in Europe, and customers are increasingly demanding self-service as a channel. Today there are still more ATM transactions in one year than there are Google searches, a fact which underlines the manner in which self-service has truly become a part of our society. On many continents, population decline is setting in, with dropping birth rates leading to an increasingly ageing population and a smaller workforce pool – a problem to which self-service can offer an obvious solution.
 
Moreover, usage of kiosks has grown on a global scale as consumers become increasingly likely to choose to shop in a store that offers self-service over a store where self-service is unavailable. Nuti placed particular emphasis on the fact that consumers today are far less willing to wait around to get what they want, as their lives become increasingly busy and full. Most people simply don’t have the time or patience to queue up, and while it’s safe to say that no one has ever enjoyed queuing, time has become so critical a commodity that waiting in line is simply no longer acceptable to the majority of customers. Self-service now occupies an essential role in reducing waiting times, not only in retail but also in financial institutions and the travel industry.
 
Other speakers throughout the conference expanded on the points made by Nuti, some offering up fascinating insights into the psychology behind consumer choice. In particular, some argued that in order to understand consumers, we have to look to the nature of convenience and how information about their lives should be used to develop self-service offerings to best serve consumers. While speed of service is important, it is not the only thing consumers may take into consideration. Research conducted by the Future Foundation suggested that offering consumers too much choice can lead to decreased satisfaction with the eventual choice made; in order to be successful with consumers, self-service must offer the appropriate range of choices without overwhelming the customer.
 
Traditionally, self-service has perhaps been most well-known for its role in the food retail and financial sectors, but this year’s Self-Service Universe saw a focus on a wide range of vertical markets where self-service is not yet quite as established. The healthcare sector is becoming increasingly aware of the benefits offered by self-service – not least the potential cost savings - and it is clear that this growing market could become a major staging arena for self-service technology. Postal self-service kiosks were also under discussion, offering customers the option to pay for, stamp and send their parcels and letters all via one kiosk, while self-checkout for non-food retail appears to be seriously on the increase, with uptake in CD/DVD stores and even clothing outlets, among others.

As might be expected, security also featured highly on the agenda, and a talk given by Neil Stewart of Visa really highlighted some of the issues affecting the self-service industry today, particularly in relation to the consequences of EMV migration throughout Europe in recent times. As expected, EMV has dramatically decreased the level of fraud in transactions where the cardholder is present, but the knock-on effect has driven fraudsters to migrate towards other types of fraud, including cross-border counterfeit, card-not-present transactions and even ATMs in those countries which do not make use of EMV, meaning that new methods of fraud prevention have to be put in place to curb this new kind of fraud. Dynamic password authentication can produce a one-time passcode which is unique to the transaction for which it is created, thereby allowing the card issuer to authenticate the presence of both the cardholder and the card itself. Other options included use of mobile phones to send a one-time passcode via SMS, battery-powered payment cards equipped with PIN-pads, and even dynamic CVV2 numbers which change after each transaction. The advent of contactless payment, also a topic of much discussion during the conference, may both enable and require more advanced security checks, while the idea of mobile phone payment has now become reality, with services already available in some countries to enable consumers to make purchases through their mobile phone. In Belgium, payment via SMS has been launched, while in Croatia, 50% of parking fees are now paid via mobile phone. Consumers throughout Europe are adopting a ‘mobile lifestyle’ which will make them more amenable to the idea of mobile payment, and the success of contactless card technology has led to the creation of an infrastructure for the processing of mobile phone payments.
 
NCR’s Self-Service Universe will next be held in May 2008.
 
A Quick Q&A
 
With Mike Webster, NCR’s Vice President and General Manager, Self-Service.
 
KIOSK EUROPE: Following your announcement to split NCR and Teradata into two separate companies, how is the de-merger going, and how will it impact on your strategy for Europe?
 
Mike Webster: The two companies have already been separated behind the scenes, and we are fully ready for them to be listed separately on the stock market. The two companies have operated independently for some time, and we are prepared for them to compete effectively in their respective markets. Our strategy for Europe will see us offering more applications for even more vertical markets, in particular gaming and the public sector. Beyond our classic strongholds of retail, banking and travel, the health market shows promising growth. Our geographic focus within the European healthcare sector is currently on the UK and Northern Europe, but will be expanded across Europe in 2008.
 
KE: You have recently claimed that the USP of self-service is no longer predominantly cost-savings or convenience, but increasingly customer demand. What evidence do you think best illustrates this point of view?
 
MW: Consumers want quick access to products and services at a time and place which suits them, and they increasingly expect self-service technologies to be available. Streamlining and personalising the experience is the key to the success of any end customer-orientated business today. In addition to providing a more cost-effective model to serve customers, kiosks today are increasingly becoming a revenue generating channel.
 
KE: Digital signage is growing at a massive rate, everywhere that self-service is. How does NCR strategically position itself towards digital signage?
 
MW: The focus of our self-service solutions is transactional. Digital signage has a promotional focus. They are two different things. However, it makes sense in some cases to combine the two. We offer a tool to manage content through an organisation’s existing networks. We do not have any strategic stakes in the content business itself.