Innovative value-added services (VAS) can generate revenue as well as enhance consumer convenience, which leads to loyal, happy customers. These services leverage established remote banking, such as ATM, POS, Internet and mobile devices, and the direct connections to the authorization centers of banks.

According to Celent Communications, using ATMs as a one-to-one marketing channel for targeted upselling and cross-selling is most significant new trend. Celent predicts the number of one-to-one marketing from 2001 being fewer than 1,000 ATMs worldwide will reach 80,000 by 2005. Multichannel integration is essential to all successful ATM initiatives.

An emphasis should be placed on integrating the ATM with other channels to ensure consistent data throughout multiple customer touchpoints. For the last decade, many larger banks have invested in new solutions to start migrating customers out of the bank branches to reduce cost.

The goals for most banks are to retain existing customers by offering new services while capturing new clientele with competitive products. Combining multiple product offerings at various customer touchpoints not only allows banks to reach a larger demographic audience, it also allows banks to understand the type of transactions their customers are performing.

Value-added services can include recharge solutions, bill payment, event messaging and advertising. With these features implemented, banks profit from the revenue generating opportunities and benefit from the competitive advantages of differentiated services that will help attract and retain client.

Using ATMs, POS devices and mobile phones to sell prepaid mobile airtime, known as electronic recharge, enables consumers to top-up their prepaid mobile phone accounts. Participating banks can benefit from a new revenue stream, an increased transaction volume and expand on its brand recognition by providing a unique value-added service.

Electronic Bill Payment
With electronic bill payment (EBP), banking customers can make payments to merchants, utilities or individuals from ATMs, POS devices, the Internet, the telephone or mobile devices. EBP offers financial institutions the ability to provide a new valuable service, which can dramatically extend its current retail banking services, and enables the banking customers to pay their recurring bills in a fast, convenient manner.

Event Messaging
Event messaging enables a bank to deliver customer-defined information directly to customer's mobile phone. It comprises SMS message alerts that are initiated by the bank's core banking system. Each event-messaging customer can register his personal selection of alerts, such as ATM and POS transaction notification, daily account balance notification, deposit/withdrawal notification and suspect transaction notification.

Event messaging provides many benefits to banks. Event messaging gives banks an opportunity to provide a service that works in harmony with the individual needs of each customer. The messaging serves as a mechanism to solidify customer relationships and build brand loyalty. It is also a new sales channel that gives banks the advantage to regularly appear in front of customers.

Advertising
The amount of advertising through standard media such as TV and print is constantly on the rise, resulting in a considerable decline in consumer attention. Markets have become fragmented and more difficult to target, and results are hard to measure.

As a result, companies are looking for new and innovative methods to draw attention to their goods and services. The use of ATM screen advertising and coupon receipts, because of its simplicity, mass appeal and cost-effectiveness, has quickly grown to become a popular advertising method.

Multiple advertising solutions are available to choose from, such as ATM welcome screen advertising, bank-specific welcome screen advertising, authorization screen advertising, coupon receipt advertising, and information receipt advertising. With such a diverse offering of ATM advertising capabilities, the bank is able to add a new revenue generator to its value-added services portfolio.

As you can see, these value-added services and solutions offer a multitude of revenue generating opportunities for banks. Euronet offers a comprehensive line of payment options, including electronic recharge software and services and EBPP for any postpaid bill, such as utility bills. Euronet can initiate, implement, operate and support these solutions. Euronet, through its software, infrastructure, outsourcing and consulting services, ensures that an investment in one or more value-added solution today means a flexible and strategic investment for the future.