
Yet another of the large US retail banking networks goes digital...
Having experimented with a number of different vendors over the years (Gensler, John Ryan, etc.), ING seems to have settled on Rise Vision, of Toronto, as the provider of software and integration services for its digital signage network. Rise Vision nows drives the screen network in each of ING's North American locations, with a number of others (Honolulu, a 2nd Manhattan location) on the books for the coming year.
It was announced this past week that Woodforest National Bank, a roughly $2.8 BN in assets bank who have rapidly expanded their retail branch footprint over the past three years, would deploy digital signage to all 550+ locations. Woodforest, whose network spans 9 states including Texas (its headquarters) and much of the South, is known primarily for its partnership with Walmart to develop in-store branch locations, its marketing and efforts to serve the underbanked (eg. recent immigrants, those with prior credit problems), and its adoption of a 7-day operating model.
Woodforest's digital signage network will consist of screens located at the entrance to its in-store branches, where they will be visible from the store checkout area and retail floor, as well as located behind the teller counter. Content, which will include promotional spots as well as news updates, will be developed and managed centrally.
Woodforest had been experimenting with digital signage in its in-store locations for the past few years using the Inlighten software platform, but chose instead to move forward with Omnivex for its full deployment. Cindi Stewart, the bank's VP of marketing, indicated that Omnivex's ability to handle data at scale was a key factor in the decision.
Sorting through the inbox this weekend, we noticed that Diebold have quietly announced a substantial rollout at KeyBank (long rumored), starting with 8 of the bank's recently refurbished upstate-New York branches. The rollout, which is slated to address ~650 of the bank's 950 branches over the course of three years, is part of a broader upgrade of the bank's customer-facing electronic interfaces--including large-scale electronic displays behind the teller counter (visible displaying Key's logo, above), enhanced ATMs, and self-service deposit machines.
According to the press release, the core objective of the program is to migrate customers to more self-directed service options, freeing up branch staff to provide more in-depth assistance on more complex, consultative issues, and ultimately reducing transaction-driven branch traffic.
Once deployed, much of the content on the screens will be centrally developed and directed, but each branch will also have the flexibility to program its own community content (e.g. uploading images from community events) and provide customized local offers. Content will be delivered over the bank's existing network infrastructure, and managed using software provided by Diebold. Ostensibly, content will also be delivered to the ATM screens, where offers can be customized using the bank's CRM data.
This is one of only a few cases we are aware of where an ATM provider such as Diebold is also providing digital signage infrastructure and software, but it would seem to us to be a logical extension of the existing service agreements such companies provide.