Automated teller machines (ATMs) provide essential financial services, and any disruption to their availability can significantly impact customers and financial institutions. Therefore, establishing a maximum acceptable period of downtime, typically expressed as a Recovery Time Objective (RTO), is crucial. For example, a bank might set an RTO of two hours for its ATMs, meaning the goal is to restore service within two hours of an outage. This objective influences decisions about backup systems, redundancy, and disaster recovery procedures.
Defining and adhering to an RTO minimizes customer inconvenience, reduces potential financial losses from lost transactions, and helps maintain the reputation of the financial institution. Historically, as ATMs became more integrated into daily life, the need for robust recovery strategies became increasingly apparent. Downtime can stem from hardware malfunctions, software glitches, network outages, or even power failures. A well-defined RTO ensures a swift and organized response to these incidents, limiting their impact.
