Almost ten months in, you can call our video teller services a success.

“It was like something completely new,” says Carlos Carrillo, who has been a video teller since we launched the program in December, describing his reaction when he started in the role. Previously, he’d been a universal banker and teller. “It’s different from being a regular teller — but the interaction with the customers is still the same.”

Video Teller Supervisor Brittany Dahlke

After North Shore Bank purchased Bank of Kenosha last year, we relocated one of those two new branches and wanted to put it in Festival Foods’ new location in the city. The timing was ideal to roll out our new video teller technology, says AVP Margie Brusa, who oversees the video tellers. “It was just the perfect opportunity — the right branch at the right time.”

Our Kenosha Festival Foods branch is staffed with real, live human beings, but has no tellers — just universal or personal bankers and an assistant manager. Customers who need to do basic transactions use the branch’s video teller machine, called an ITM — an interactive teller machine — which does exactly what you’d imagine: It connects them, by screen, to a teller working at Corporate, who handles the customer’s requests just as if they were working together in person.

“It’s like Skyping,” says Merry Justin, who comprises our video teller department along with Carlos and supervisor Brittany Dahlke. “Some people, I think, thought it might be a little impersonal, but I almost think it’s the opposite.”

The video tellers can do everything a traditional teller can, except for handling negotiable items — for example, issuing cashier’s checks or money orders. “It really is pretty much like being on the teller line,” Merry says.

Video Teller Merry Justin

There are extra benefits, though. For one, video tellers obviously need to dress appropriately — but only when it comes to what customers can see. “On the weekends, I can wear shorts with sandals,” Carlos says.

“It’s more laid-back,” Margie says. “You don’t have to deal with cash or money orders, and there’s no drawer to balance.” Shifts are also flexible, she notes, because video tellers cover 70 hours over the course of the week. “Carlos, who’s a full-time student, has still been able to get in decent hours.”

Besides reducing the bank’s footprint at Festival Foods, the video teller program has succeeded with customers. It got high ratings in our customer survey.

“Our scores were higher than I think any of the other branches’ in the bank!” Margie says. “We got a lot of good feedback from customers because [the ITM] is so easy to use.” Only one person had a negative report. “They thought it was an ATM. They just wanted the machine — they didn’t want a person on the other end of it!”

“The best is when people think it’s the ATM and I pop up,” Merry says, laughing. “They’re surprised.”

Merry and Carlos report that the video teller learning curve is not steep, and that it’s been fun to build relationships with repeat customers from miles away.

“It’s a different way to get to know them,” Merry says. “People enjoy using [the ITM]. They think it’s kind of fun, to be honest.”

“One of my favorite things is the relationship the video tellers have with the branch — for example, at Kenosha Festival Foods right now,” Brittany says. “Although we are in separate locations, we communicate through out the day by phone or email. We assist each other in referrals and sales, as well as with what is occurring at the branch. A video teller could mention a service at the ITM, and a branch employee steps in to further assist the customer with questions or an application. We work together as a team in that aspect.”

The bank plans to begin testing another video teller machine, an outdoor model that also functions as an ATM, soon in Green Bay. And because Carlos’s last day is tomorrow — he’s starting an internship at Rockwell Automation — we are hiring new video tellers now, full time and part time.

“It’s a fun environment,” Margie says. “We do pizza parties and lots of motivating things, and we have all the same types of goals and incentives that the other tellers do.”

“We also get together outside of work to build our relationship with the branch,” Brittany adds. “The Kenosha Festival Foods branch and the video tellers just went to a Brewers game in June, and we’re in the process of planning a fall get-together.”

“A lot of people don’t know what it is, and they’re hesitant to apply,” Margie says. “But it’s very cool, and it’s a lot of fun, and it’s the wave of the future.”