At ARCA, one of our core values is We Put Customers First. So when it came time to refresh some of the models in our cash dispenser product line we knew exactly where to begin. We wanted to hear from the people who use our machines everyday in the retail and financial industries. We knew we could make our machines better by listening to the voice of our customers.
Another ARCA core value is We Have Fun. Recently ARCA Systems Development Leader Dave Boeberitz developed an opportunity to Put Customers First and Have Fun at the same time by teaming up with the North Carolina State University College of Design. Together they worked to discover fresh ways to improve our machines and make customers happy.
Over an eight-week period, ARCA and students from the NCSU College of Design visited four customer sites in North Carolina and Virginia. They performed market research, analyzed ARCA’s products, brainstormed and developed concepts.
“The students had to focus a lot on the interaction between the users and the machines. They had zero experience with these ARCA machines so they had to go out and open themselves and really listen to the customers,” according to Professor Tsai Lu Liuz.
The students then built cash dispenser prototypes to illustrate their concepts and presented their ideas to ARCA. The results were impressive.
“The students came up with ideas that were a nice blend of practical and blue sky solutions, some we can apply to our product line as we move forward,” says David Boeberitz, ARCA Systems Development Leader. “It’s been a great benefit to us and I hope we can do this again with other product lines in the future.”
“It was a really good learning experience for them as far as how cash is handled, moved and secured in a banking and retail environment. It gave them a taste of how our industry works,” adds Boeberitz.
ARCA is committed to innovation in cash automation technology in the retail and financial industries. The North Carolina State University College of Design is recognized as a leader in design cognition, education and innovation. It is one of only four Ph.D. in Design programs in the United States.