I’m a little off my blog game as I flit from conference to conference this autumn but I’m picking up lots of great information along the way.  I started out a couple of weeks ago at the ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum in Las Vegas which was very well attended.  This was my first one and I have to say that it was nice to be among a group of people speaking the same language.

While there, I hosted a workshop on successful deployment of self-service.  The group was easily one of the most interactive that I’ve ever worked with and 2 ½ hours flew by with lots of examples of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to implementing new self-service functionality.  I thought I would share with you a couple of key points that came out of that session.

First, there is an overall trend in ATM replacement if not in ATM growth.  With over 400,000 ATMs in the US and the highest per capita rate in the world, there may not be much room for new ATMs in the near future.  However, we still contend with a large number of old machines and those need to be replaced fairly quickly — especially those not yet using Windows.

The bright spot in this ATM replacement rate is that old ATMs will be replaced with new ones that are capable of advanced functionality, even if that functionality isn’t rolled out immediately.  The fact that image deposit ATMs are also able to accept cash make them ripe for bill payment and remittances for both bank and non-bank customers.  And if you remove the need for a debit card (I know you probably think I’m just talking crazy now), you’ve now opened up the ATM to the unbanked/underbanked who don’t have cards but still need to pay bills and you’ve opened up the ATM to integrate with the mobile phone.  I know that might sound like pie in the sky but the technology is available and working – we just have to take advantage of it.

On another topic and building off of Brendan’s last blog entry, I also attended BAI last week.  For a delivery channels analyst, the Retail Delivery show is clearly up my alley.  I generally spend the week rushing from meeting to meeting and that didn’t change this year.  Although the show was smaller, the discussions were still interesting and quite forward-thinking.  I heard a very clear focus on community banks and credit unions, even from organizations that typically like to play with the top 25 banks.  I also heard “rumors” that there would be a lot of new initiatives announced as we end 2009 and start a new decade in 2010.  I’m not sure if that was just from a desire to have something new to talk about or if it was real, but as/if these new initiatives are rolled out, I’ll be sure to write about them here.