Cash automation: from tradition to innovation

Another service offered by the Buenos Aires facility is Cash Today, a key element of the automation process offered to clients. This service offers banknote validation technology and visualisation of operations via the Internet, which optimises processes and deposit control.

“"Making any device smart is a game changer, and what Cash Today enables is just that, making a safe smart. It's still just as secure for the customer, but it also enables an automated feeding system with ultra-fast counting of banknotes. The machine is connected online and sends information to the servers every time a deposit is made," Zubillaga says. And he concludes: "This service is not a canned software, but we offer solutions that can be adapted and customised for each client. I would say that it is not just about providing security and cash management, but we can advise businesses and offer them a consultancy service: we try to understand their business and give them answers and support on what they need to improve their cash collection, as added value".

What happens in a smart safe when we deposit cash in it? What if future ATMs recognise us by our biometric data and no longer require a password? Prosegur Cash's research and development department is trying to answer these and other questions about innovation in cash management. When the first armoured trucks started to circulate, no one could have guessed that a few decades later, traditional safes would give way to a plethora of services where technology and innovation go hand in hand.

The qualitative leap in cash collection services involves a 360-degree view of cash processing. It is no longer just about collection, custody, transport and deposit. One of Prosegur Cash's growing businesses is self-service solutions. What are they? They are terminals capable of doing almost any type of cash-related management in an automated way. Smart deposit acceptance safes, card vending machines, ATMs or self-service terminals for customer service, based on biometric authentication. Scanning of documents, invoices and receipts are some of the possibilities offered by self-service solutions.

“"We offer an end-to-end service, with a comprehensive view of each of the processes, from developing applications and integrating them into systems to customising hardware to meet customers' needs. This allows us to increase productivity in each scenario, find the best alternatives, perfect the customisation times and the implementation of the solutions," says Raúl Reynoso, General Manager of Prosegur Cash Argentina.

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To make all this possible and to further expand the integral self-service business, Prosegur Cash has built the first self-service solutions facility - a first in Latin America - in the Technological Park of the city of Buenos Aires (Argentina).

The more than 4,000-square-metre facility is the driving force behind the company's process of transitioning to technology and integrating all services in one place to improve productivity and efficiency.

For example, the journey of a ATM, from customs clearance to commissioning and maintenance, begins at this facility. The huge self-service solutions centre has a warehouse for equipment and spare parts, its own internationally certified repair laboratory and more than 7,000 ATM maintenance products of various brands. It also has a department for the development and programming of transaction software, which adapts the machines to the tasks required by the customer, and training rooms for all areas of the company.

"We are no longer just a company that provides transport, cash-in-transit and cash management services. Now we are improving the technological tools available to be the driving force behind the business transformation process towards innovation," explains Walter Zubillaga, Self-Service Solutions Manager at Prosegur Cash in Argentina. And he adds: "For customers, for example, it is an added value to be able to replace traditional collection boxes with machines that allow them to have the money available as soon as they deposit it. We can enhance productivity and lower costs by doing what we always do, which is to design, develop, and manage machines; in other words, we provide solutions for services that may be improved."

Since there is no other company in Latin America that can offer these services, the Buenos Aires plant is expanding its business to the international market. For example, it offers maintenance and repair of ATM modules and equipment in countries such as Peru, develops transaction software for a ATM network in Australia and for the ATMS and TAS networks in the Philippines, and collaborates with Spain in the design of front-end software for ATM networks.