My face must have betrayed my confusion and panic. The guard approached me, “Sir, sa taas po.” Mental headslap! I didn’t see the stairs. I climbed the stairs, berating myself for not noticing in the first place. As I reached the top, I searched, and more panic. There were no paper forms! Then an employee approached me, “Sir, deposit po?” and showed me to the terminals. Internal sigh of relief --- or I hope it was internal.
This was my first time in BPI SM North. The tellers are on the second floor, and there are no more paper forms. Instead, they have installed 3 touch screen terminals --- 2 for ordinary clients and 1 for preferred clients --- where you enter the transaction type, account number, and amount you want to deposit or pay or whatever. Then the terminal will print your queue number on a small strip of paper. The queue board will then tell you which teller you’re supposed to go to.
My immediate concern was this system might make for longer lines because not all are computer literate, even if the terminals are touch screen and the interface was pretty straightforward. Quite the opposite, said the teller when I raised my concern. She said that the line goes faster because the tellers don’t have to type the information anymore. All they have to do is confirm what’s reflected on the screen. “Yes, that’s right” and print. Voila, my transaction is finished.
It would sure be nice if transactions at NSO, SSS, and all the other government pila-agencies would be as smooth as my most enjoyable banking experience at BPI. This would make for cleaner, greener and more efficient agencies. Imagine the reams of paper, and ultimately, trees, that would be saved. Imagine also all the time and energy that the thousands of people who visit these agencies everyday could put to better use --- like, I don’t know… work --- which translates to time and energy that could be used to better the business, the industry, and the country.
Christopher John P. Lao
Entry # 11
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