As banks accelerate their digital transformation, ATMs remain a strategic channel — enabling branch remodelling by providing 24/7 access to services, automating transactions, and enhancing operational efficiency. However, managing this channel has never been more complex or critical.
Today’s ATM operations are burdened by fragmented technologies, vendor sprawl, tougher regulations, and increasingly sophisticated attacks. The result? Greater costs, rising risks, and operational strain — especially for financial institutions (FIs) managing the channel in-house. For most FIs, the traditional ATM model is reaching its limits. Here’s why:
Key Challenges Facing In-House ATM Management
1. Ecosystem Complexity
Running a modern ATM channel means coordinating a tangled web of vendors, technologies, and processes. Interoperability and integration challenges not only increase overhead but also hamper agility and ROI.
2. ATM Services Availability
With a lower branch footprint, customers depend on ATMs for reliable access to their everyday banking needs. Downtime frustrates users, damages brand trust, and drives attrition. However, maintaining high availability often requires significant investment in monitoring, automation, and field support.
3. Security and Compliance Pressures
Criminals are devising increasingly more sophisticated ways to access ATMs and compromise consumer data. ATM deployers also need to adapt to a constant flow of new compliance requirements from PCI to new operating regulations for the different global and local card schemes. Finally, cyberattacks are increasingly targeting the ATM channel, while 82% of European Chief Risk Officers of large European banks rank cybersecurity risk as the biggest threat to their business
1. In such a context, ATM deployers are forced to implement more robust, costly, and secure applications, infrastructure and processes to ensure protection and compliance.
4. Need for Flexibility and Modern Services
Consumers expect more from ATMs — cardless access, bill payments, real-time transfers — and banks need the ability to roll out new functionality fast. Yet legacy systems make updates costly and time-consuming, slowing innovation and diminishing customer satisfaction.
5. TCO and Budget Uncertainty
Controlling ATM expenses is increasingly difficult with evolving threats, new compliance demands, technology changes and dependency on multiple vendors. Uncertainty limits long-term planning and strategic investment, and can lead to a stagnant channel.
A Smarter Approach: Integrated ATM Channel Management
What if you could simplify ATM operations — and unlock more value — by partnering with a single, trusted provider?
Imagine reducing complexity, improving uptime, lowering costs, and enhancing the customer experience while retaining full strategic control.
That’s the promise of
SMART Managed Services from Diebold Nixdorf, part of our Branch Automation Solutions portfolio. SMART Managed Services delivers end-to-end management of the key ATM functions on behalf of FIs — from software and infrastructure to security, compliance, and ongoing optimization.
We help you:
- Improve availability and customer satisfaction
- Reduce TCO through simplified operations
- Enhance flexibility to meet market and consumer demands
- Maintain strategic control while offloading execution risk
Your ATM channel can do more — with less complexity.
Learn how Diebold Nixdorf can help you transform your ATM channel into a more efficient, secure, and customer-centric asset or
connect with your representative.
1EY and Institute of International Finance (IIF) Bank Risk Management Survey I June-October 2023
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