The Citizens' Blog

Today during our Monday morning officers meeting we were talking about technology and how we should be handling different technology.  The technology in question is ATM’s, I’m sure many people reading this will remember when ATM’s first came out and where you made your first ATM transaction, and how there were no surcharges at first.  Like any technology, ATM’s were going to be the downfall of the brick and mortar bank, people could get cash anywhere and deposit at any ATM.  Well as most of you know that has not been the case, but as technology continues to evolve there are new technologies that are supposed to make the customers life easier. 

These new technologies range in how soon they will be offered in the US, and some are already here such as mobile banking.  This is a technology that is new and has security for all involved still evolving.  On the horizon though is something called Near Field Communication or NFC.  This is where you store your information on your smart phone and instead of pulling out cash or plastic to pay, you pull out your phone and wave it by the NFC terminal and it pays your bill.  There is a lot of potential here across the board form being able to track you purchases better to getting targeted coupons and product offerings, think of it as Pandora for your wallet.  There are also many security and over spending concerns that have arisen because of this technology and the fact that you won’t feel the “pain” of exchanging cash at the transaction and possibly over spend. 

Like anything in life change is the only constant, and you need to evolve or suffer the consequences.  The technology will always be looking at new ways to get customer to access their money and make it easier for the customer to spend their hard earned money.

If you would like to read more on Near Field Communications (NFC) below is a link to an informative article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304887904576398220617110318.html