Article

Netkey-Fleet deployment earns KioskCom award

FleetBoston Financial's Investment Access Centers recently won KioskCom's best financial services kiosk award. "It is significant to realize that this is an enormous company that sees self-service as core to its brand. This is key for our industry," said Alex Richardson, Netkey CEO. Netkey software powers the self-serve kiosks. 

May 6, 2003

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of profiles on winners of the Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards from KioskCom 2003 in Las Vegas. The awards recognize the best kiosk implementations during the past year. This story is on the winner of the "best financial services kiosk."

BOSTON -- The banking industry is brutally competitive. The average bank loses two to three customers every couple months. Consumers are searching for quick, secure access to their accounts and investments, and financial institutions need the opportunity to put hundreds of products and services out in front of their customers. Can both goals be accomplished at the same time? FleetBoston Financial proves the answer is "yes."

Fleet has had in place for two years Investment Access Centers featuring kiosks powered by Netkey software. The first center was developed in 2001 on the retail level of the historic MetLife Building at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. In an effort to grow Fleet's Manhattan franchise, the bank targeted this site as a prime location for the estimated 2.3 million people, many of them commuters, who work in Manhattan each day.

Fleet's Investment Access Centers

Today there are 25 Investment Access Centers in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania with 50 online stations. This year, Fleet is planning to build 12 more centers in the metro New York area.

"It is significant to realize that this is an enormous company that sees self-service as core to its brand. This is key for our industry," said Alex Richardson, Netkey CEO.

Michele Barlow, interior communications manager at Fleet, said the Investment Access Center started out as a pilot and "very quickly gained momentum."

"We've continued to see our usage increase. Customers tell us this is a valuable tool," said Barlow. "But more importantly, they are saying that this technology makes them smarter; it's how banks should do business."

Easy access

In the Investment Access Center, customers can access their accounts and conduct transactions using one of six online investment and banking stations. These specially designed kiosks provide fast access to Fleet's online offerings, including HomeLink with Quick & Reilly for personal banking and investing, and Fleet OfficeLink for small business banking. Quick & Reilly is Fleet's wholly owned, nationwide brokerage service. Eight multimedia screens display Fleet and Quick & Reilly special offers and CNBC programming.

To log on and access accounts, customers punch in a pass code or swipe a Fleet ATM card. The intuitiveness of the kiosk impressed KioskCom judges. "I have used this kiosk myself at a branch in New York City and it's very thorough and handles a lot of the commonly asked questions," said Francie Mendelsohn, president of analyst firm Summit Research Associates, and one of the KioskCom judges.

The kiosks were announced by Fleet in 2001, and were in the field by 2002. Today the application is being upgraded to allow users easier access to their personal accounts, and to tools such as calculators. Barlow said some work needed to be done on the kiosk to let users more readily find the card reader.

Fleet, the seventh-largest financial holding company in the United States, has assets exceeding $200 billion. The bank offers an array of financial solutions to 20 million customers in more than 20 countries and territories.

Power of self-serve

The centers allow Fleet to market its products while customers conduct their personal business. Richardson said consumers are more likely to buy financial products and services while doing their online banking at a branch.

"The Internet alone doesn't work as a selling tool, because most people can't surf the `Net from work and they are too busy at night to research investments. Plus, they need to have some training on the system," said Richardson. "The `shopping moment' is when they are there at the bank. That's when they are thinking about financial purchases; life insurance, 401K, setting up a college fund."

He said that's why kiosks work so well in retail. "People don't want to sit at home online. But they love to be out and buy things, and have control over their transactions. Self-service is powerful."

Barlow explained that Fleet has created a special self-service environment in the centers using multimedia. "We didn't want to do what some retailers do; put out a kiosk and just hope people use it," she said. "We make this a customer experience."

Barlow could not share results of field research Fleet has conducted on the centers, but she said both employees and customers are satisfied with the technology.

Added Richardson, "Fleet won at KioskCom because it has been focusing on heightening the consumer experience for years."

Banking on benefits

As important as goodwill is, there are tangible benefits to Fleet, as well. Richardson offered Netkey estimates that teller transactions may cost $1.07, while an automated transaction costs 7 cents. "Plus, you have to pay over $50,000 a year for a bank associate, and turnover is high. With an online kiosk, there is seamless access, 24x7 without a hiccup."

He said, "Banks have to cut their costs. Margins are high for them. They make their money on transactions. And they need to promote, upsell and cross-sell products."

Barlow said the kiosks also help the institution get its money's worth from its online presence.

"Fleet has enormous assets online that they can expose customers to. Thousands of consumers walk by the investment centers each day," Richardson said.

Key features

One concern customers might have with the centers is the feeling of security in a public terminal. Netkey has invested a million man hours and $20 million in security. "We wake up at night worrying about security," said Richardson.

Netkey has a patent on a pressure-sensitive security floormat that activates the system when a user steps on. When the user steps off of the mat after a transaction, sensitive data is removed from the screen.

"There are layers of security. Netkey prevents the ability to surf the Internet, or take illicit actions on the keyboard or mouse," said Richardson. Management from a central location allows Fleet to monitor the kiosks.

"There is enormous behind-the-scenes activity. We aren't just taking a Web site and throwing it in a public place. We have an understanding of what the customers' needs are," said Richardson. The system requires no computer experience, no knowledge of the Internet or Web site.

The kiosk offers track-loop instructions, big buttons for easy use and intuitive learning. A 20" NEC monitor in portrait mode is user friendly. Richardson said Netkey has worked with a "number of hardware components" on the project, but did not name other vendors.

Barlow said Creative Realities in Cedar Grove, N.J., is the integrator for the project.

Neither Netkey nor Fleet would estimate the cost of the project. Barlow said her company still considers this a pilot period. "Next year maybe we can talk about the cost," she said. "We are still trying to value-engineer the project."

Richardson said he expected Fleet to achieve ROI in three to six months. "And ROI is more than customer use. It's also branding exposure, improved customer service, acquiring new customers, gaining mindshare and trust."