Facing the prospect of having to go through another ATM upgrade – the January 2020 migration to Windows 10 – Duke Credit Union decided it was finally time to get out of the ATM business and turn its fleet of machines over to Dolphin Debit.

Dolphin Debit, the full-service ATM management company, took over Duke CU’s machines earlier this year, providing the complete range of maintenance, repair, and upgrade services.

Dan Berry is CEO of 50-year-old Duke Credit Union in Durham, North Carolina, which serves faculty, employees, students, and families of Duke University and the Duke Health System. The credit union has more than $146 million in assets and more than 16,200 members.

“We became frustrated with how often you have to update a machine,” Berry explained. “It’s always something, from ADA to Windows to EMV. It seemed like every time you turned around there was another upgrade. Most of our machines were 10 years old, and while they were functionally fine, how much do you spend on an upgrade when a new machine may actually be less expensive?”

Now, Berry added, “We can let Dolphin Debit handle those upgrades while we concentrate on the member experience.”

Dolphin Debit installed eight new machines for Duke CU and took over operations of the ninth machine, a newer ATM that had been installed only a year ago.

When considering an ATM management partner, Berry said that Duke CU was convinced that Dolphin Debit was the right choice after seeing how well Dolphin performed for a fellow credit union in South Carolina.

Now, after working with Dolphin Debit for several months, Berry concluded, “We’re pleased. You can’t have a better compliment than that.” He added that it is a great relief to no longer have to worry about future machine upgrades.

Duke strategically locates its ATMs in areas of high student and faculty traffic and in convenient locations for Duke Health System employees. Eight of its machines are in Durham, with one at a hospital site in Raleigh.

“Major events like the coming Windows 10 migration are real tipping points for credit unions, especially institutions with older machines that may not be worth the significant expense of an upgrade,” said Gary Walston, co-founder of Dolphin Debit. “This is a pivotal time for these decisions, and we’re seeing a surge in credit unions making the choice to hand off the task of future upgrades to a trusted partner.”