Editor’s note: On Tuesday, April 27, the KioskCom Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards 2004 were handed out at a reception and ceremony at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. The KioskCom Interactive Kiosk Excellence Awards awards were established in 2002 to honor, recognize and promote the best interactive self-service kiosk implementations over the past year. The 2004 awards honored kiosk excellence in 11 different categories. This is the first in 11 profiles covering the winners and runners-up in each category.

From cash payments to automated check deposits, the nominees for the best financial services kiosk applications meet the financial needs of a wide variety of consumers.

The runner up in this category was Circle K's Cricket application.  This novel bill-pay application addresses the needs of customers who want to pay thier Cricket mobile bill in person or who pay in cash because they are among the growing population of the unbanked.

This application was launched when Cricket Communications, Info Touch Technologies and Kiosk Information Systems partnered to offer Cricket customers a more convenient way to pay their cellular phone bills using Info Touch- and KIS-designed ZapLink Internet kiosks located in Circle K stores.

"The Cricket application has given customers a convenient way to pay in person with no wait," said Hamed Shahbazi, chairman and CEO of Info Touch Technologies. "Last month we put through our one millionth customer. This machine has driven income for the stakeholders and it drives value to the consumer."

Speaking about the award Shahbazi said, " We are lucky and we earned it. I was humbled to be recognized in a room full of brilliant and innovative people. They all work quite hard; it's not the easiest profession to make money in."

Reallocating resources

For the second consecutive year, Fidelity Financial has taken home the award for the best financial services kiosk application with its Automated Deposit Machine.

“Netkey is proud to be one of the many technology partners involved in the development of this project,” said Director of Marketing Bob Ventressca. “And we are pleased to see this innovative self-service initiative be recognized by this award.”

Prior to launching this application, Fidelity Investment representatives processed more than two million checks per year. With an average processing time of two minutes per check, bank representatives had little time left for revenue-driving activities.

Fidelity developed its ADM project not only to free up valuable rep time, but also to allow customers to control the transaction process and quickly deposit checks on their own.

The project has been a huge success. In 2002 alone, some 500,000 checks were deposited using the ADM. At two minutes per deposit transaction, that's more than 16 thousand rep hours reallocated to revenue-generating activities.

The Fidelity check deposit kiosks feature a weight-sensitive security device that launches the program when a customer approaches, and it will end the transaction if the customer steps away. It also uses innovative touchscreens that guide customers through the transactions process.

Once the transaction is complete the money is allocated into designated accounts, and the customer gets a time-dated receipt that includes a scanned image of the deposited check.

While Fidelity customers benefit from the convenience and shorter wait times, the biggest advantage for the company is that representatives can now concentrate on more complex issues.

According to Rachelle Robin, director in the investor center technology group of Fidelity Investments, "The representatives are freed up to do other things such as assist with or facilitate sales opportunities and, secondly, work with customers on more in-depth service issues," Robin said. "It’s just much more efficient and much more professional and much more accurate."

These days' things have gotten to the point where it’s about the value, not just the cool factor," said Shahbazi. "Now we are impacting the customer."