How to Turn Retail Bank Branches into SMART Branches

Your portfolio of bank branches might not be ready for robots, but a few technological tweaks may be in your (near) future. With more and more consumers prioritizing online time rather than retail bank branch visits, it is important to rethink the layout of these brick-and-mortars.

What is a Smart Branch?

Smart branches provide comprehensive offerings for a digital age. Not only are smart branches focused on energy conservation, but they also aim to provide streamlined customer experiences. This entails meeting people where they’re at – having mobile apps available, 24/7 customer service, ways to implement data collection, and truncated banking times. From a management perspective, IoT solutions offer peace of mind; systems are able to function with less supervision and at reduced costs.

What IoT-enabled solutions can be incorporated into existing bank branches?

The cost of opening a new smart branch outright might not be an option, but there are several efficiencies that can be incorporated into current bank branches.

Install a smart lighting system to collect data.

Upgrade branch lighting to LEDs to reduce energy costs while also incorporating sensors into the installation (which will collect data such as how many people are in a bank branch at one time, which conference rooms are in use, and other analytics). A lighting upgrade does not necessarily require an entirely new system; branches may be eligible for retro-commissioning.

Smart lighting systems allow remote management and data collection across a branch portfolio. Some of the tasks an IoT lighting solution offers are: ATM vestibule light alerts rather than paying employees to drive around and check if lights are functioning, adjusting light brightness based on daylight harvesting, and conference room monitoring to adjust lights when rooms are not in use.

The sensors within these LED lights are continuously collecting data for better management of branch portfolios, comparing branches that are saving the most energy versus least energy-efficient branches. Use high energy-savers as models for other branches, adjusting along the way based on findings.

Incorporate smart thermostats or comprehensive IoT-driven HVAC solutions.

Smart lighting technologies can work in conjunction with HVAC systems to ensure vacant rooms are not being heated or cooled when not in use or even change the temperature of a given retail bank branch based on capacity. Sensors can also monitor server rooms that are sensitive to temperature – these IoT solutions have alarm triggers set up to alert contractors when temperatures surpass a set level.

“The whole system is a smart control system,” Tony Garcia, Chief Technology Officer at SBT Alliance, explains. “Unlike a smart thermostat you would have in your house where it would jump on your wifi network, these are all ZigBee low power and they talk to a gateway, like an access point in the bank. And then that gateway is the brain, so that’s someone who talks to the Cloud that pushes and pulls info to the user interface and to the system in the cloud that is the mechanism used for sending emails.”

An email alert from an HVAC system when something goes wrong could prevent catastrophic events from happening across a branch portfolio.

Give bankers tablets so they can roam the floor.

Much like retail stores incorporating tablet checkouts, bank branches can implement this technology for faster transaction times. Partnered with data collection, tablet screens can instantaneously offer information about a given client. Tellers are then able to customize their conversation based on each customer, discussing mortgage loans if that customer is interested in home ownership or even financial advisement if that individual is over-spending.

Getting bankers out from behind the desk offers a more personable approach to customer relationship management. They can have a one-on-one conversation without waiting in line or having a partition between them and the teller. Tablet banking can also increase efficiency, since bankers are proactively walking to clients rather than waiting for customers to arrive at their desks.

Are smart branches worthwhile?

Smart branches can be cost-effective solutions in an increasingly tech-savvy market. The ways customers use retail bank branches is shifting; in order to keep up with demand, incorporating smart IoT-enabled technologies is a step in the right direction.