{"id":1871,"date":"2021-04-01T09:10:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T09:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tt100.co.za\/?p=1871"},"modified":"2021-04-01T09:10:20","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T09:10:20","slug":"theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparks ATM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Spark ATM Systems, winner of the Management of Technology Award in the large enterprise category  <\/p>\n\n\n

There\u2019s more to Spark\u2019s ATM machines than meets the eye<\/h1>\n\n\n

It\u2019s well known that repeat customers are more profitable than new customers, and that the costs of retaining an existing customer are significantly lower \u2013 up to five times, some studies say \u2013 than the costs of acquiring a new customer.  <\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Which means that Spark ATM Systems is on to a very good thing. <\/p>\n\n\n

Its business is to deploy, install, support and maintain ATM machines on behalf of banks, for which purpose it signs five-year contracts with host merchants such as retail outlets and petrol stations.  <\/p>\n\n\n

After five years, the host merchants can decide whether or they want to stick with Spark. By far the majority of them do, according to Russell Berman, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. <\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got something like a 92% renewal rate, which is a statistic that we\u2019re very proud of,\u201d he says. \u201cI always say to my team that it\u2019s free business because you\u2019ve got them to come back for a second and in some cases a third term.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

Russell says this enviable renewal rate is driven by dedicated customer service and the top-notch systems in place at Spark, the wholly owned South African subsidiary of US-based Cardtronics, the world\u2019s largest ATM operator.  <\/p>\n\n\n

So what does Spark, which has over 4\u202f500 ATMs across South Africa, do so well when it comes to managing technology?  <\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had a policy of developing our systems in-house rather than buying software off the shelf,\u201d he says. This includes the operating platform on the ATM, which Spark developed in conjunction with its South Korean machine manufacturers, the data monitoring platforms and its own switch.  <\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cOrdinarily in the payment space, the switch is an off-the-shelf package that comes with significant costs and transaction fees. We\u2019ve run and maintained our own switch since 2013.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

The benefits of in-house development are substantial. \u201cIt allows us to operate at a lower cost per machine and a lower breakeven number of cash withdrawals per month per device,\u201d says Russell. <\/p>\n\n\n

While Spark develops its own software, it sources the hardware, the ATM machines, from a South Korean company. Designed to Spark\u2019s specifications, these ATMs have up to now arrived in South Africa fully assembled.  <\/p>\n\n\n

But change is in the air, says Russell. <\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cImportantly, what\u2019s coming up this year is we\u2019re actually going to be assembling our own ATMs in South Africa for the first time. The components are going to arrive from various parts of the world and we\u2019re going to put it together and do a lot of the engineering ourselves at our labs in Paarden Island in Cape Town.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

Local assembly of ATMs has not been done in South Africa before, Russell says, and will reduce the cost of ownership. Known as the Touchline, the new machine has a 22-inch touch screen, much faster transaction times and a Linux operating system, further reducing costs. \u201cIt will be the state-of-the-art device and very quickly become the gold standard in the country.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spark ATM Systems, winner of the Management of Technology Award in the large enterprise category  There\u2019s more to Spark\u2019s ATM machines than meets the eye It\u2019s well known that repeat customers are more profitable than new customers, and that the costs of retaining an existing customer are significantly lower \u2013 up to five times, some studies say \u2013 than … Continue reading “Sparks ATM”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2020-excellence-awards-article"],"yoast_head":"\nSparks ATM - tt100<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sparks ATM - tt100\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Spark ATM Systems, winner of the Management of Technology Award in the large enterprise category  There\u2019s more to Spark\u2019s ATM machines than meets the eye It\u2019s well known that repeat customers are more profitable than new customers, and that the costs of retaining an existing customer are significantly lower \u2013 up to five times, some studies say \u2013 than … Continue reading "Sparks ATM"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"tt100\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-01T09:10:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tt100.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/JCP-48-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/#\/schema\/person\/515de6b13b8acffc6900fc841674dd53\"},\"headline\":\"Sparks ATM\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-01T09:10:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/\"},\"wordCount\":580,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.tt100.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/JCP-48-1024x683.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2020 Excellence Awards Article\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tt100.org\/index.php\/2021\/04\/01\/theres-more-to-sparks-atm-machines-than-meets-the-eye\/\",\"name\":\"Sparks ATM - 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