If you’ve been in the ATM processing business a while, you may be feeling like the ATM ISO world has seen better days. Profits are not nearly like we’ve seen in the “good ole days”, especially in the face of the recession and credit crisis. Many can’t help but note how the cost of doing business has jumped, but we’re a resilient bunch—able to weather the current economic storm and come out on top by taking the initiative on a few key issues.
As it becomes more complicated to keep operational costs low, keep terminals compliant, and simultaneously thwart off high tech and low tech ATM thieves, let’s take a look at a few ATM ISO concerns and three tips for coming out on top in the ATM business today.
Fears That the ATM Market Could Be Saturated
Some distributors worry that there are too many players in the ATM ISO and IAD community and that American businesses are saturated with terminals. This simply isn’t true—opportunistic ISOs and IADs with an eye on “location location location” continue to spot storefronts and cultivate relationships that turn into lucrative ATM placement sites.
Outlook on Cash Withdrawals vs. Debit Transactions
Expenses are also a hot concern for the ATM business community. While it’s undeniable that the costs associated with doing business are growing, many ISOs fear the worst when hearing that the total number of transactions are down. The truth: as consumers become savvier about bank fees in the economic crunch, we are seeing habits trend toward choosing consolidated banking services for things like balance transfers, automatic deposits and bill pay. Consumers have even reduced their number of trips to the ATM each month, presumably to mitigate the debits from transaction fees, in favor of increasing debit card usage. Even with such seemingly dismal news, ATM cash withdrawals are hardly in danger of dropping off with cash payments still a very popular option at retailer counters across the nation.
Three ATM Processing Tips For ATM ISO Success
Even as economic circumstances and regulatory changes continue to draw negative attention to the ATM world, there are a number of ways for the enterprising ATM ISO to stay on top.
1. Address security before you experience the sting of a loss.
As joblessness and credit issues continue to plague middle America, so too has ATM thievery grown. All too common today, thieves are trying everything from skimming (by attaching devices to ATMs) to outright hijacking terminals by jerking them from their moorings and dragging them out with trucks. From sensors that detect jarring motions to cameras and high-pitched alarms, investigate the security trends and equipment that make sense for your terminal locations and invest in a solution—taking individual location factors into consideration when purchasing smart security solutions can save you from incredible loss and hassles later.
2. Cover your bases on compliance.
Getting caught without the appropriate ATM signage has become another hot topic of late. Make every terminal visit count by taking advantage of a smart solution for tracking and storing signage and other compliance information by smartphone. The free mobile app, MobileTMS, is a terminal management tool that gives you the freedom to snap compliance photos and store them online. This tool has other features, including the ability to record notes on compliance topics for individual terminals as you upgrade for ADA, PCI, EPP and beyond. MobileTMS stores everything online, making this an indispensable tool for keeping up with key compliance line items in a way that makes sense for the busy ATM ISO lifestyle.
3. Consider a model that allows you to delegate.
While ATM management has a steep time-cost associated with it, there are tools out there, like the Switch Commerce Terminal Management System (TMS), that add more time back into the ATM ISO’s day—it is THE biggest time-saver in the ATM professional’s arsenal and one that can significantly reduce the labor of ATM management and ATM monitoring. Don’t reach the tipping point between handling all your own ATM management to having a significant terminal portfolio without a plan to reach the next stage of growth.
The TMS can set you up for success by allowing any ATM ISO to work fluidly online (alone or with a team) and continue growing the terminal network–simply consider delegating to distributors under you so that monitoring tasks can be taken off your plate. Using some of the TMS tool’s standard features like user management, automated reports and alerts assigned by terminal or by geography, for example, means you can decide to involve a specific merchant or a specific distributor ISO in your business to respond to problems and keep track of ATM uptime while you go on empire building.
Switch Commerce leads the way in high quality ATM monitoring and management solutions. Providing both ATM processing and credit card processing services, Switch Commerce is the ATM ISO’s and IAD’s best choice in world class, secure payment processing.