Filling cash points more efficiently | FEB prof Iris Vis and co-authors win international contest 'Optimize the Real world'

FEB professor Iris Vis of the University of Groningen and her Dutch and Canadian teammembers Roel van Anholt, Leandro Coelho and Gilbert Laporte have won an international prize for their work in applying analytics to financial services. The team found a way to decrease the cost of operating ATMs by 12 percent, potentially saving ATM operators in the Netherlands an estimated €10 million annually. The solution can also increase cash availability at ATMs to improve customer satisfaction.

‘Use data science to make things better’ was the goal of an international competition hosted by FICO , a company in predictive analytics and decision management software. Vis, Van Anholt, Coelho and Laporte were among the top three teams that have each won a prize of US$10,000.

The goal of the team was to optimize the replenishment of automated teller machines (ATMs) in the Netherlands. A large, complicated problem, with no tool designed specifically to solve it. The team quickly realized they would need to develop their own approach. “It led us to create a solution that combines analytics, heuristics and optimization. It was an exciting project and we are grateful to FICO for recognizing the uniqueness of our work,” according to the team.

________________________________________________
> More news from the Faculty of Economics and Business
> FEB experts in the media