CASE STUDY: Influencing ATM Usage through Service Design

Today, we are proud to publish our first Service Design Case Study :-)

The Reserve Bank of India recently mandated that bank customers can use any ATM (not just their own bank’s) without any additional fee from April 1, 2009. Earlier, a bank would charge a customer anywhere between Rs.15 to Rs.50 for the use of ATMs belonging to other banks. This fee acted as a disincentive for customers to use the ATMs of other banks. In absence of this, customers will freely use any ATM.

When Bank A’s customer uses Bank B’s ATM, Bank B charges Bank A a usage fee of Rs.17-20. This was passed on to customers. Now that the bank cannot pass on this fee to the customer, it has to bear this cost for every transaction that its customers use another bank’s ATM for. A Bank with a small ATM network will be saddled with huge costs as customers start using the ATMs (of other banks) that are closer or more conveniently located.

“Influencing ATM Usage through Service Design” outlines how a bank can design its service to minimize the use of ATMs belonging to other banks by its customers. We analyze the different scenarios in which customers would use the ATMs of other banks and create a service model to deal with each scenario. We also studied the usage patterns and pain areas for customers in the current system to devise a new service that allows customers to record, track and account for cash expenditure, which otherwise appears as a single-line “ATM Withdrawal” entry in the bank statement, without providing any details of how the withdrawn cash was used.

Download a PDF of the Case Study here. (824 kb)

We would love to have your comments and suggestions on the process, content and presentation of this case study. Please comment here or write to abhi@gutse.in

Airtel is India’s Largest Music Company

Business Standard reports that Bharti Airtel has become India’s largest Music company, surpassing Saregama which has revenues of around Rs.150 crore.

Late last year, Bharti Airtel had bagged the ‘Best Mobile Music, TV or Video Service’ award at the GSMA Asia Mobile Award 2008 at Macau. Airtel’s Music-On-Demand was awarded for creating a uniquely intuitive, personalised user experience of music on mobile.      Airtel had bagged the prestigious award among stiff competition from global leaders such as Telstra Corporation, Australia, Geodesic Inc, US, Artificial Life Inc, Hong Kong and Gracenote, US.     

This is really revealing of trends we might see in the future with service companies leveraging their reach and interaction with consumer to sell other services.

Another amazing fact that I recently highlighted in a presentation to a bank’s management: Vodafone is the largest bank in kenya. Yes, it is still a mobile service provider, but its mobile based money transfer service (M-Peso) is the most widely used banking service in a nation where a majority of the population doesn’t have bank accounts (but have mobile phones!)