DBS was recognised for the successful implementation of its proprietary solution, the first-of-its-kind in the banking industry in Singapore, which helped increase its ATM Network efficiency and customer satisfaction. DBS’ network of 1,100 ATMs is one of the busiest in the world, processing more than 25 million transactions every month. Any down time in a single ATM would mean inconvenience for its customers.

“ATMs are an important customer touchpoint. By putting ourselves in the shoes of our customers, we were able to identify areas, such as machine availability, that we can improve to create better experiences for our customers,” said Nimish Panchmatia, Managing Director, Consumer Banking Operations, DBS Bank.

To ensure that its ATMs are operating at the most optimal levels, DBS partnered SAS Analytics to develop and implement an innovative solution that seamlessly integrates disparate operating concepts from manufacturing and logistics industries as well as operations-research techniques such as forecasting, optimization and queuing theory to optimize the cash loading process.

While many banks rely on analytics to forecast ATM activity and to predict customer behavior at different locations, DBS goes one-step further by converting that information into a daily execution plan for optimal reloading at just the right time. The adoption of a preemptive model also helps the bank minimise undesirable situations, such as out-of-cash occurrences.

Panchmatia added, “By innovating the way we use data, we are able to reduce the number of customers who had to wait while the ATM is being reloaded by over 350,000 in a year.”

DBS sets out to accurately assess customers’ withdrawal patterns across the entire network for each individual machine. Using these forecasts, the bank was able to generate an optimized schedule that achieved minimum cash outs and trips while being operationally realistic and robust.

The solution also allows the bank to cater to out-of-the-norm withdrawal patterns as a result of festivities or peak periods at month end. In addition, the bank was able to reduce the amount of cash returned from each replenished machine.

Since the implementation of the solution, DBS has reduced ATM out-of-cash occurrences by over 90 percent. The number of customers impacted by the reloading process was reduced by 350,000 from the previous year. At the same time, the number of trips required to reload the network is down by 10 percent, while the amount of leftover cash returned to the bank has decreased by over 30 percent.
Over the past four years, DBS has completed more than 200 projects to improve customer journeys and to increase the efficiency of its technology.