Service Takes a New, Personal Approach

Interactive Teller Machines Connect Members

By Tiffany Kjos

Vantage West Credit Union is flipping the script on banking tech with interactive teller machines that offer more personal interaction with bankers, not less, and allow employees to spend more time focusing on what really matters – meeting members’ needs.

The ITMs enable users to conduct transactions via a video connection with a live banker “like an ATM 2.0,” said Jimena Valdés-Walls, Vantage West’s senior VP of member experience. “Think about the ATM today – you can make deposits, withdrawals, payments, transfers. You can do all that at an ITM, but now you have the option to talk to a live banker if you have additional questions or have a more complex transaction and you need assistance.”

Vantage West deployed ITMs in Phoenix in 2023, and they are now in lobbies, and outside or at drive-thrus at 17 of its 18 branches, including Southern Arizona.

“One of the biggest differences that I’m excited about is we’re able to offer extended hours for our members,” Valdés-Walls said. “Usually, our hours are 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, 9 to 1 on Saturday. But with the ITMs, we now offer assistance with a live banker an hour before we open and an hour after we close.”

The credit union introduced the machines in response to a decline in teller transactions as members increasingly opted for online and other services.

“Our members were starting to adopt our digital services and ATM services, so we were starting to see a downturn in transactions (in branches) and we thought, let’s be proactive and reimagine the teller role and see how we can keep these team members engaged so we have less turnover in our branches and have more satisfied members overall,” Valdés-Walls said.

Initially, members worried that the ITMs would eliminate jobs. But the technology still employs local bankers, and the credit union trained its team members as “ITM ambassadors” to help members navigate the technology.

“We have reimagined the teller position so they’re able to do what they actually love doing, which is to help members achieve their short-term and long-term financial goals,” Valdés-Walls said. 

Even credit union members who were initially hesitant to try the new technology have now welcomed it, often with assistance from the ITM ambassadors.

“Jimena and her team understand that the one-on-one, direct approach when members walk into the branch is the best way to explain the new features and to gain adoption, as well as to highlight that the virtual bankers are all local,” said Keysha Webb, the credit union’s senior VP of market development.

At their core, the ITMs have allowed the credit union to strengthen its commitment to a consultative banking approach rather than a purely transactional one, Valdés-Walls said.

“Before, when you walked into a branch and made your withdrawal or deposit or transfer, we didn’t have the opportunity to talk to you about your financial goals because we had a long line of members waiting behind you who also needed help,” she said.

“We wanted to shift that approach to being more consultative, where you can self-serve for your transactions by using the ITMs, and then you can sit down with a banker who has the time and the ability to really help you achieve your goals. That’s really where we feel that we can offer more benefit to our members rather than just processing transactions all day long.”

And benefiting members and the community is at the heart of everything the credit union does. That includes reenvisioning branches as community centers that Vantage West uses for celebrations and nonprofits use for meetings, while creating welcoming spaces for members. 

“I think of it as when you walk into one of our branches you are greeted by a friendly face, someone who knows you by name, an individual who makes you feel comfortable and will provide solutions for you that make sense,” Webb said. “We never push products. We offer tailored solutions.

“That, to me, is much more community-focused – it’s not about making the most profit and distributing it to shareholders. It’s about making our membership stronger, because if they’re more financially stable, that makes a community stronger overall.”

Pictured above – Jimena Valdés-Walls, Senior VP, Member Experience, Vantage West Credit Union. Photo by Brent G. Mathis

READ THE FULL SPECIAL REPORT HERE.