The Future of self-service in a cashless society

Abstract

The whole world, it would seem at first glance, has been moving toward a ―cashless society‖ ever since the introduction of ATMs and Credit Cards. As a result of on-going and frequent technological advances, society has been experimenting with the diverse use of plastic cards in just about every area of human activity involving financial transactions. The common concept of ―shopping‖ has been effectively redefined to enable efficient customer- care and service through the upgrading of possible alternatives in the use of credit/debit cards. This dissertation, therefore, explores ‗the future of self-service in a cashless society‘ as it progresses to every socio-economic aspect of life today. As the core of the challenge is to correctly predict, and then promote, changes in human behaviour, this promotes an understanding of the dynamics involved and suggests a basis for improving future business and customer interaction for the future. The dissertation reviews a number of literatures under its literature review in order to provide ground work for the selected topic. It ranges from the beginning of trade and currency up to the use of self-service technology today and the social effects that comes with its use. The research‘s methodology include a self conducted survey consisting of quantitative approaches and hypothesis in order to identify the relationship between usage of self-service technology devices and digital cash options available in the society today. The respondents to the survey include predominantly consumers in Sri Lanka, Australia and India in varying demographics. The methodology further take into account published surveys by reputed institutions in the service industry. The findings of this dissertation concludes that there is a gradual progression towards using digital cash and self-service technologies in developing countries while developed economies are moving towards more advanced means of using the same. This study further recommends certain procedures which businesses can adopt in order to gain a maximum benefit of these advancing changes.