{"id":15966,"date":"2012-06-20T10:27:16","date_gmt":"2012-06-20T08:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=15966"},"modified":"2012-06-20T10:43:01","modified_gmt":"2012-06-20T08:43:01","slug":"absa-unveils-test-lab-branch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/15966\/absa-unveils-test-lab-branch\/","title":{"rendered":"Absa unveils &#8220;test lab&#8221; branch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Absa\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/forum\/showthread.php\/1877-Absa-Bank\">Absa<\/a> bank has officially opened up a conceptual test-lab branch at Clearwater Mall on the West Rand, dubbed &#8220;The Branch of Tomorrow, Today&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The concept branch will be used by Absa as the testing ground for products and processes before rolling them out to the entire Absa branch network.<\/p>\n<p>The branch will focus on prototyping technology, streamlining processes and strategically-placing interactive digital media, while also serving as a platform for Absa to test concepts within a live environment.<\/p>\n<p>The branch has been operating since 1 June 2012; since then, developments such as Quick Service Enquiries and interactive touch-screens have been tested, while staff educate customers on how to use the new systems in the branch.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the opening, <a title=\"Bobby Malabie\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/forum\/showthread.php\/3538-Bobby-Malabie\">Bobby Malabie<\/a>, chief executive of Absa retail and business banking said that the branch is a &#8220;glimpse of the future of retail banking in South Africa&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Absa said that the branch concept is not about &#8220;dazzling&#8221; customers with innovations, but more about launching services that are relevant to the bank\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n<p>Absa has over 12 million customers in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"BusinessTech Article\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/15864\/fnb-defends-r24-atm-charge\/\"><strong>FNB defends R24 ATM charge<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"BusinessTech Article\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/15447\/absa-readies-for-full-2-0-online-banking\/\"><strong>Absa readies for full 2.0 online banking<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"BusinessTech Article\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/15451\/absa-attracts-120000-mobile-customer-each-month\/\"><strong>Absa attracts 120,000 mobile customers each month<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Absa bank has officially opened its conceptual test-lab branch at Clearwater Mall on the West Rand, dubbed &#8220;The Branch of Tomorrow, Today&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":15967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[29,25,3239,3238,3237],"class_list":["post-15966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-absa","tag-active","tag-bobby-malabie","tag-conceptual-branch","tag-test-lab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15966"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15971,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15966\/revisions\/15971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}