"Gradually the infrastructure for allowing these transactions is being built," said Andy Orent, a vice president with ATM manufacturer NCR. "What has been theoretical and prospective for a few years is now becoming practical."

Orent and other NCR executives have scheduled a series of eight half-day sessions around the country at which credit union and community bank executives can be brought up to date on how check imaging and detailed customer relations management can be brought online at a financial institution's ATMs. As of press time, two of the manufacturer's sessions have been held.

Orent explained that NCR decided to offer the seminars after it became clear that credit unions and other smaller financial institutions which, paradoxically, were often limber enough and small enough to most easily adopt the new technology were the very ones least likely to get the information they needed at trade shows.

"What we are actually finding is that the smaller financial institutions, the credit unions and community banks, are putting these technologies into place more quickly," Orent said. In part because smaller financial institutions face smaller costs and other logistic challenges when making changes to their ATMs, he explained. This meant that it was worth it, from NCR's point of view, to put some of its executives in front of credit union and community bank leaders.

Orent also acknowledged NCR needed the seminars to make the case for technologies about which some credit union executives might be initially skeptical or even hostile.

"Look, I would be the first to admit that the ATM industry in the U.S. is littered with products and services for the ATM which have worked overseas or which seemed like a good idea here and which were not," Orent said. "What we are finding when it comes to these two, particularly imaging, is that this is not one of those."

ATM users love the check imaging technology, Orent said, explaining how recently an ATM user had said that getting the check image back on his receipt was the best part of the transaction. Orent added that NCR had data from deployers or check imaging that showed that the longer a check imaging ATM was in place in a location, the more users would use it for making deposits. He admitted this was somewhat counterintuitive since the use of checks, overall, has begun to decline, but he said that NCR expected ATM users would have a need for check imaging for many years into the future.

"It very well may be that our grandchildren may look back on when people used checks for payments for different things," Orent said, "but I don't expect we are going to see that for many years yet."

Orent explained that the other seminar focus–the improved software allowing ATM deployers to more closely tailor a cardholders' ATM experience to the ATM–became possible after most of the ATM industry upgraded their machines to Windows. That change, Orent explained, allowed NCR to also make practical something that has been predominantly theoretical for some time.

The chief benefit the new software brings will be an ability to use software to tailor an ATM experience in a very short amount of time, Orent explained.

"We knew that we had to do whatever needed to be done in a very narrow time window," Orent explained. "That is what having Windows on machines has allowed us to do." Software in Action

Orent illustrated what the new software can do with the example of an ATM user with a hefty balance in their share account. With the new software, as the cardholder's transaction is processing, a window can pop up asking if he or she would like more information about the CU's rates on CDs. If the user responds yes, he or she will receive a call later from a customer service representative to talk about it.

"The whole transaction or information doesn't have to happen there, in fact it can't," Orent said. "What can happen at the ATM is the check-in, the point of contact, that's all."

Tom Rogers, CEO of the $33 million Memorial Hermann CU of Houston, said he looked forward in particular to this new software from NCR. The CU has 11 NCR machines deployed already, all of the cash dispensing variety, as well as three other cash dispensers on order.

Rogers said Memorial Hermann expected to finish upgrading to Windows over the next year and then beginning to bring the new software online.

"We have statistics that show that eight out of 10 of my members never come into a branch for a branch transaction," Rogers explained. "That means those are eight members who are not communicating with me on a regular basis and that makes me nervous. This lets me keep the contact up in a very time efficient way."

Significantly, he cited costs and lack of member demand as the reasons Memorial Hermann had not yet deployed any full-service ATMs. Even though the CU has 21 SEGs in addition to the Memorial Hermann medical system, Rogers said that the system's employees are still his primary focus and since almost all of those are on direct deposit there was no need for deposit-taking ATMs.

Further he explained, at $50,000 per ATM for a full-service machine versus $9,000 or $10,000 for a cash dispenser, there is just no way that the CU could afford a fleet of full-service ATMs.