Tech Crunch Tuesday: Interactive teller machines

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — We're all familiar with an ATM—or automated teller machine—because they've been around for decades. But what about an ITM?

ITMs—Interactive Teller Machines—operate just like an ATM, with one big exception. An ITM gives you the ability to video chat with a member of your bank's customer care team and complete almost any transaction that you would normally do at the teller line inside the bank.

Locally, Pioneer Bank has been using ITM's since 2015 and they're currently available at 13 branches around the capital region. Pioneer's customer care officer, Lyn Wiltsie, says the ITMs make banking much more convenient for their customers.

"One of the biggest ones is extending our branch hours. We can start our ITM transactions for customers from 8 o'clock in the morning to 7 o'clock at night and 8:30 to 1:30 on Saturday. It's really extended our hours about 13 hours a week, on average, for a customer to be able to do a personal banking transaction," Wiltsie said.

One of the biggest differences from your typical ATM is how an ITM dispenses money. ITM's carry 50s, 20s, 5s, and 1s. They can also dispense coins; meaning if a customer has a payroll check for say, $112.45, the ITM will dispense the entire amount including the 45 cents.