If you’ve ever watched a sci-fi movie set in the future, then you may know that pop culture has long fantasized of an automated future.
As it turns out, fiction is rapidly becoming reality (depending on which film or show you’re basing it on). According to recent research, 50 percent of the world’s current jobs could be automated within the next 40 years. And, largely, customers are happy about it — the majority of surveyed consumers tell researchers that they find self-service terminals to be convenient and time-saving.
It should come as no surprise then that several providers recently rolled out new automated machines that customers use on their own. Panasonic, for one, recently debuted a new automated checkout machine designed to scan and bag items all by itself, in an effort to make any transaction at a cash register as painless as possible.
And it isn’t just retailers who are embracing unattended and self-service solutions. New Zealand’s Auckland Airport recently introduced mobile self-service kiosks to its international terminal, which will allow travelers to check in for flights and print boarding passes and baggage tags.
Similarly, back stateside, drivers at more California DMV locations will now have access to automated services. Customers at 10 new locations in the state will now be able to use self-service terminals to complete registration renewals and, they hope, cut down on the dreaded DMV line.
Yes, the future may well be upon us.
Protecting unattended purchases
With increased consumer attention and use comes interest from fraudsters, looking to seize upon some of those unattended dollars. According to Sydney Green, senior director of risk and authentication products at Visa, these unstaffed terminals can be particularly appealing to bad actors, because there are no employees to spot them in the act of committing fraud at the register.
In a recent interview, Green told PYMNTS the company is working to combat unattended retail fraud with Visa Transaction Advisor, a product designed to keep bad actors away from self-service terminals — and is finding success with it.
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