Next in line! Despite earlier predictions of its demise the teller queue today continues to meander through our lobbies. But emerging technology is starting to reshape it. Here's where the line is headed.

• Author: Stewart, Deb
• Position: Lobbies

The teller line. Ten years ago, the consensus was that it would be gone by now--or certainly greater diminished. After all, with ATMs, online banking and other new channels, customers would have no reason to enter the branch.

Well, it's 2004 and recent research by the TowerGroup, Needham, Mass., shows that the number of teller transactions is far from declining. In fact, transactions are expected to grow from 12.4 billion in 2001 to an estimated 13.6 billion in 2005. Ninety-three percent of all households have used a branch. Eighty-five percent of all online households have used a branch in the last month. So customers are continuing to use the teller line--and use it in record numbers.

This ongoing growth creates challenges and perhaps some opportunities. Bankers are faced with the need for more, rather than less, branch capacity. At the same time, they face expectations for lower costs and increased customer profitability. And for some, there is a growing notion that perhaps the seemingly routine teller-line experience can become a point of differentiation.

So the teller line is, and will remain, a key element in the consumer's banking experience. But, perhaps in anticipation of its demise, the teller queue is the one area of the branch that has seen the least change and innovation in the recent past. Customers still fill out deposit or withdrawal slips at the check desk. They still wait in a single file line (albeit tensa barriers rather than velvet ropes), generally staring into space. The teller still takes the paperwork and turns away to process it. The same process has been playing out for the past 50 years. That is until now ...

Let's review the three basic parts of the teller transaction: the wait, the process and the teller interaction. Banks in the United States and around the world are tearing these pieces apart and devising ways to reduce costs, increase capacity and create a more desirable customer experience. Below are some of the things banks are doing in these areas.

The wait

Who said you have to wait in line? A new queuing technology currently deployed in Europe and Australia and being tested in the United States allows consumers to wait for a teller without waiting in line. As customers enter the branch, they swipe their banking card at a small kiosk. On a touch-screen monitor, they select the type of teller transaction they want to complete (simple deposit/withdrawal, merchant or some other). The kiosk prints a ticket...