The Society has implemented a wireless money transfer query system at its Half-Way Tree branch in the form of tablet PCs, where customers are told whether a transaction is in fact at the bank for them while waiting in line. Phillip Powe, manager of the Applications and Database Management Department at the society, said the implementation of the wireless money transfer query system was part of the society's continued drive to improve the service for remittance customers in the branch for the Christmas season.

"We needed the Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) in the location to be able to walk the lines and provide information to customers about the status of their transaction. This process eliminates the tellers doing this check and it would also let the customer know if his/her transaction is here while still in the line," Mr. Powe said. The new system is also able to check incorrect spelling of names or addresses, which would have had to be corrected by tellers. "This saves both the teller and the customer a whole lot of time," Mr. Powe stressed.

This meant that the solution had to be easy to use and carry around. The tablet PC came out as the option of choice as the society's existing application would run on it without modification and the interface would be familiar to its users. "We therefore had to ensure that the proper network infrastructure was in place and we decided to do it as a pilot project in a heavy remittance branch to prove that it would make a difference to the service," Mr. Powe explained.

POSITIVE FEEDBACK

The society's Technical Services Department started the pilot project just before the money transfer peak period.

"Overall the feedback has been very good from the tellers on the impact it has had. During the month of December, some 52,000 customers were served. We have a few issues to resolve but overall it has been a great success and example of using technology to have a direct impact on customer service," Mr. Powe said.

Nigel Thomas, Information Technology Manager at JNBS, said Management Control Systems, one of JNBS' subsidiaries, also did a lot of work in improving the overall performance of the application in the months coming up to Christmas, which also contributed to our improved handling of remittances this year.

"We made some changes to the money transfer application to accommodate that ability to search for customers' transaction number. It's basically the same money transfer system that we use, but we have added some functionalities," he noted.

"We are providing another means by which persons can have access to our e-money application. It's just the same, except it's a wireless device," Mr. Thomas added.

He said CSRs have the ability to print transactions so by the time the customer reaches the teller, he/she would have the transaction number and the teller would be able to speedily do the transaction and get the person out of the branch much faster.

"The original pilot was just for a simple tablet PC with a portable printer attached. Due to the volume of transfers in the branch, we've had to increase the number of PCs in use. Currently there are three such pieces of equipment in the branch, but we only have one that is attached to a printer, because that was the original plan."

Mr. Thomas said one of the key demands of the pilot is to ensure wireless communication, "so we had to do some research to ensure that it was secure."

If it (the system) wasn't secure then we couldn't do it, so we found ways of locking down our wireless device to prevent any hacking.

PLANS FOR EXPANSION

"Expansion to other branches is in the making from what we've seen so far," Mr. Thomas said, adding that other applications may be developed to add value to the existing system.

Recently, the society also introduced a Money Transfer Card to customers, which will allow them 24-hour-seven days per week access to cash sent to them via the JN Money Transfer service. "The money is available to customers almost immediately," Mr. Thomas said.

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