July 2001 OKI Technical Review 186 Vol.

68

Special Issue on Service Businesses

ATM Supervision, Operation, Maintenance
Service Business
Seiji YOSHIZAWA* and Junichi MAKINO*

Abstract
Japan Business Operations Co., Ltd. (JBO), whose business will be an outsourcing service for the functions of operations
supervision and operations management of ATM’s, has been established through the joint investment of Oki Electric
Industry Co., Ltd. and Oki Customer Adtech Co., Ltd. (OCA.) It will begin business in the Kanto area (greater Tokyo)
and will gradually expand across Japan, eventually offering an ATM total solution, even handling an information
service, centered on ATM’s.

Business Background set which, when taken “off the hook,” automati-
cally connects to the ATM supervision center.
Along with the increase in the number of installed Used when troubleshooting a machine break-
ATM’s and the extension of operating hours to 24 down and when querying about operation.
hours a day, 365 days a year, the volume of work • BS company
associated with managing the operation of ATM’s Short for “Business Service” company. Basically, a
has become an increasing burden on financial insti- company formed through 100% capital invest-
tutions. At the same time, financial institutions are ment from a bank.
actively moving ahead to improve the efficiency of Each bank has several of these. Their business
management. In this context, their needs are increas- function is all aspects of ATM operation, the (in-
ing for outsourcing of the work of ATM operations formation or data) centralizing work, etc.
management with the objective of reducing the cost The content of each of the services is described
of operating ATM’s and cutting associated expenses. below.
In this environment, Oki Electric, has decided to
offer an efficient service for the work of operations Supervision Service
supervision and operations management of ATM’s, By supervising a number of financial institutions via
which would be directed not only to the (ATM) a common infrastructure supervision system, this
products of Oki Electric, but also to “multi-vendor” service enables reduction of operating cost by hold-
equipment. To do this, Oki will utilize its know-how ing down system investment, effectively using hu-
concerning ATM operation (which it has built up man resources, etc. In addition, by positioning people
over many years), the strength of its top market share knowledgeable about ATM’s in service centers, it is
in this business area (approx. 40% of the installed possible to accurately determine the situation and
base), and the broad-area maintenance network of respond effectively. The result is a service that makes
OCA, with more than 300 locations nationwide an important contribution to improving CS. This
(in Japan.) service is made up of four service components:
• ATM supervision service:
Service Content It performs monitoring of ATM operating condi-
tion, remaining amounts of media, such as cash,
This new business is based on three pillars: [1] Super- receipts, etc.
vision Service, for monitoring the operating condi- • Trouble response / dispatch order (request) ser-
tion, remaining media (receipts, etc.), and other pa- vice:
rameters of the ATM, [2] Operation Service, cash When trouble occurs, any of the following can be
requirement forecasting, establishing a plan for load- sent from the service center: a “remote restoration
ing cash, etc., and [3] Maintenance Service, which response,” an order to dispatch personnel to help in
puts major emphasis on preventative maintenance. recovering from the trouble, or an order to dispatch
The overall image of this service is shown in Figure 1. help to exchange or refill various types of media,
<Explanation of Terms> such as cash or transaction slips.
• Auto phone • Phone call receiving service:
Installed together with the ATM, it is a telephone It responds to a variety of inquiries from the auto-
* System Solutions Company, Japan Business Operations Co., Ltd., Business Promotion Dept. phone which is installed in the ATM corner.

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 ATM Supervision, Operation, Maintenance Service Business

Supervision Operation Maintenance

Service Service Service

ATM service center

Supervision server / operation server / maintenance server

Order (request) for dispatch

Equipment information BS
DDX-P "Auto phone" telephone company
ISDN
Financial
Institution "A"
External
(outside branch
Branch of Financial Branch of Financial premises) ATM Security
Institution "A" Institution "B" company
Directions as to
destination and route

Maintenance
company
Account host of Financial Institution "A" Account host of Financial Institution "B"
Dispatch

Figure 1: Overall image of this service

• Graphic image monitoring service: • Automatic inspection service:

It monitors the situation at the ATM corner, such Based on the plan for loading cash, it creates a plan
as the entry of suspicious persons at night, etc., by for automatic inspection (detailed checking) and au-
monitoring electronic images. tomatically generates the necessary order (request.)

Operation Service <Explanation of Terms>

Using one of our “core competencies,” cash forecasting • Automatic inspection
algorithms, this service systematizes and automates the Automatically counts the amount of cash inside an
complicated and troublesome work of cash management ATM and, after a transaction, automatically per-
which in the past had basically been done by hand, forms verification (inspection) against the account.
relying on experience and intuition. In this way, operat- • Management information provision service:
ing costs can be cut, through reduction in cash require- It supports the development of plans for CS im-
ments and decrease in expenses related to dispatching provement/ retail strategy and ATM installation
support units to ATM locations. The service also has the efficiency, such as ATM equipment usage rates
feature of offering comprehensive operating support, and analysis of volume of usage
even including the cleanup of ATM booths. • File delivery service:
This service is made up of six service components: By means of automatic downloading, the service
• Cash forecasting service: delivers payment files and software programs from
Gathering and analyzing data on the amount of cash a service center. In the past, (payment-related)
used at each ATM, which varies daily, this service work had been done manually and placed a large
forecasts the optimum amount of cash to be kept on and bothersome workload on local branches.
hand, avoiding overages or shortages. • Cleanup service for equipment and booth:
• Planning service for cash loading: It takes care of the cleanup of ATM machines and
It establishes plans for loading cash, based on the the booths in which they are installed, putting to
results of the cash forecasting. use our know-how about the equipment mainte-

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 July 2001 OKI Technical Review 186 Vol. 68

nance program and the important external charac- function of finding the location of mobile repair
teristics of the installation environment which personnel, through utilization of GPCTI, can be
result in maintaining and increasing ATM opera- used, and if a repair person is located nearby, the
tion rate. procedures for dispatching him to the site can be
completed. In this way efficient, speedy response
Maintenance Service is achieved.
This service has improved the work of maintenance. • Centralized trouble receiving service:
Through introduction of a remote maintenance system Linked to the ATM trouble information database
(maintenance server), what used to be of the “fix the of the Supervision System, this service performs
problem after it occurs” type has now been improved supervision of equipment operation and at the
into the “eliminate problems before they occur” type. same time acts as a centralized receiving point for
This has resulted in increased equipment utilization information on equipment trouble. It compares
and decreased maintenance cost due to greater effi- information on a new problem to histories of past
ciency in maintenance work. In addition, through trouble and, based judgments, which take into
the systemization of the positioning of mobile (sup- account all factors, it deals with the problem in an
port/repair) staff and work progress management, efficient way.
this system increases the efficiency of the work of • Service for issuing dispatch orders (requests) to
dispatching mobile staff and, through linkage to the equipment maintenance companies:
supervision system, it has the special feature of excel- In cases where it is necessary, based on the fault
lent equipment maintenance management. condition, an order is issued to the appropriate
This service is made up of four service compo- equipment maintenance company to dispatch help.
nents: In addition, besides the above cases, there are [1] the
• Preventative maintenance service: “ATM total service” where JBO provides even the ATM
With this service, ATM’s regularly notify the main- equipment itself, and [2] the “business activity central-
tenance server of equipment utilization data en- izing service” which, acting as an agent, performs the
abling the maintenance server to gather and ana- business activities of a financial institution’s business
lyze preventative maintenance data. Then, by ad- centralizing center.
vising the appropriate staff to take the appropriate The content of each of those services is described
preventative steps before there is a breakdown, the below.
frequency of breakdowns can be reduced ahead of
time. ATM Total Service
• Primary maintenance service: • All the previously installed ATM’s of a financial institu-
To handle minor trouble such as card jams, the tion are bought by a leasing company.
• Our company leases back the ATM’s from the leasing
company.
Financial institution Sell all
*Investment cost can be existing ATM's Leasing Sell new OKI
smoothed; the items company ATM's
(equipment) can be JBO operations Office work
obtained through a
monthly lease fee. Proceeds from center The work of centralizing center of
*Slim down the balance sale of ATM's centralizing office work financial institution
sheet; a simple note can Registration of
describe the content of Proceeds identification seals Registration of
ATM leaseback

bkkpng. server

the lease agreement. from sale of ATM's •Registration

identification seals
Query server

*Possible to treat as loss; of

bkkpng. server

2 identification 1
lease fees, as a rule, can
Query server

Housing, seals
be treated as "losses" [for Business
Japanese tax purposes]. Lease payments business
•Bookkeeping agent
*Avoid equipment Provide ATM total agent data entry
Input terminal service service
obsolescence; we can service
provide the latest Input terminal
systems each time the
lease term is renewed. •Registration
*Easing of cost • ATM's of
[illegible] / improved • Property and casualty JBO Registration of 3 identification
efficiency of office work; insurance identification seals ASP seals/
under a blanket contract queries
• Supervision service service
which includes the service
menu of supervision / • Operation service
operation / maintenance, • Maintenance service Branch office of
etc., it is possible to financial institution
manage all the expenses
related to adoption and Service fee
Input terminal
use of the subject
equipment as a fixed
monthly lease fee.

Figure 2: ATM Total Service Figure 3: Office work centralizing service

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 ATM Supervision, Operation, Maintenance Service Business

Supervision server Operation server Maintenance server

Supervision Cash forecasting Centralized receiving of
work database (management of amount on hand) fault information
Delivery server Establishing optimum routes for Management of
WS Management of
deliveries / location checking preventative maintenance
dispatching
Program delivery Management of personnel Management of the work
Help desk
Payment file delivery requirements of maintenance personnel

Router Date Branch office terminal

Notification of equipment trouble
Verify completion
ISDN/PSTN Loading cash (detailed checking)

Router

Host
PC server
Network for accounts /
ATM payments

PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network, the traditional telephone network for general subscribers-in contrast to ISDN.

Figure 4: System Configuration

• We add all the services of ATM supervision, operation, the user’s initial investment, so for connection to
maintenance, insurance, etc. to the ATM’s we have the ATM, it is possible to select either “ATM direct
leased back and then re-lease them to the financial accommodation system” or accommodation via a host
institutions. computer.”
The image of this business is shown in Figure 2. System configuration is shown in Figure 4.

Office Work Centralizing Services Business Scheme

• A service whereby management and business func-
tions are performed in an “agent” role, utilizing the Our company will take on, as a contractor (outsourcing
existing centers and systems of financial institutions. supplier), not the above services, but also the total
• A service whereby both the housing of existing sys- business package related to ATM operation, includ-
tems and management and business functions are ing transport of cash to the ATM’s and the work of
performed in an “agent” role. “secondary maintenance.” The method of operating
• An ASP service which utilizes our company’s jointly this contracted business will basically be along
owned centers and systems. the lines of the cooperative work we are currently
The image of this business is shown in Figure 3. doing with BS companies and security companies.
In addition, we will sub-contract equipment security
System Configuration work to a security company and secondary main-
tenance to the maintenance companies of each equip-
Here we will discuss the system configuration built ment vendor.
of our three business pillars: Supervision Service, The basic business scheme is shown in Figure 5.
Operation Service, and Maintenance Service.
Individual servers are installed for Supervision Ser- <Explanation of Terms>
vice, Operation Service, and Maintenance Service, so • Secondary maintenance
partial service provision, such as Operation Service only, This refers to work which only the ATM vendor’s
can be offered. Also, because each server is connected to maintenance personnel can do, such as handling equip-
the same LAN, the structure enables timely information ment breakdowns, parts exchanges, equipment main-
linkage. We have given consideration to holding down tenance, etc.

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 July 2001 OKI Technical Review 186 Vol. 68

Photo 1: ATM Service Center (entrance) Photo 2: ATM Service Center (inside center)

Activity

Our activity up to this time is as follows.

• April 3, 2000 Company Outline
Established Japan Business Operations Co., Ltd.
Company name:
Opened an ATM service center in the Tokyo area. Japan Business Operations Co., Ltd. (JBO)
• Mid-September, 2000 Location:
Began ATM supervision service at Bank “A” Head office: Shibaura 4-10-12
• Mid-October, 2000 Minato Ku, Tokyo
ATM Service Center: Ishijima Sokei Bldg.
Complete transfer of ATM supervision service of Bank “A” Koto Ku, Tokyo
Capital:
Future Business Development 480 million yen (Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.:
60%; Oki Customer Adtech Co., Ltd.: 40%)
First of all, earnestly pursue acquisition of new clients Date of establishment:
among regional banks, which are Oki Electric’s major ATM Company founded: April 3, 2000
users and online terminal users and expand the number of
adopters of our systems. In this way, quickly establish a Business year:
April 1 to March 31 of the following year
business foundation. At the same time, in business year 2000
we plan to establish our second base which will be in the

BS company

• Cooperative work on
supervision function Outline of alliance
• Cooperative work on • Receipt of cash
Financial operations management (Transportation of cash /
institution function
loading of cash)
• Cooperative work on
BS company
maintenance function Security company
• Supervision function
BS company
Alliances Subcontracting of
JBO Subcontracting
equipment security
JBO • Orders/requests for of security
• Equipment security
system operation /
• Subcontracting of personnel dispatch
Subcontracting supervision function JBO Maintenance company
(outsourcing) • Subcontracting of
of operations operations management function Subcontracting of
Subcontracting
• Subcontracting of maintenance function of maintenance secondary maintenance
• Secondary maintenance

Figure 5: Business scheme

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 ATM Supervision, Operation, Maintenance Service Business

Government / public
Financial institution host Private enterprise host
Administrative institution host (distribution, manufacturing, etc.)
information Information on
• Resident cards products and services
• Investment trust • Ticket sales
• Public money • Various reports • i-mode
and notices
• etc. • etc.
• etc.

Authentication office
ASP/ISP (service bridge)

ATM service • ASP / ISP

center relay service
LSP
• advertising
Network agencies
* Internet, specialized (dedicated) • information
* ATM network generation
• etc.

ATM ATM ATM

Various financial institutions Jointly installed ATM's ATM's for various businesses

Figure 6: Provision of "one stop" service

Kyushu region and will also serve to back up our Tokyo ISP’s, etc. (refer to Figure 6.) In this way we intend to
region “ATM Service Center”, and to develop services aimed become a total solutions company focused on ATM’s.
at approx. 10,000 ATM’s, primarily those of Oki’s ATM
customers in the Kyushu region. Afterward, we plan to <Explanation of Terms>
expand our services on a nationwide scale and gain users • LSP
accounting for over 60,000 ATM’s which is equivalent to a Abbreviation for Local Service Provider, these organiza-
50% or greater share of the installed base of ATM’s nation- tions (from bases affiliated with JBO) provide useful
wide. information services for the benefit of customers.
In addition, we are planning to provide one-stop service The term is used to make a distinction compared to
using ATM’s linked to various types of business hosts, Internet Service Providers (ISP’s.)