5. Banking

In the past, the only way to withdraw money from your account was to queue up and wait to speak to a bank teller.

Most workers were paid their wages in cash every week. A lot of workers didn't need bank accounts as they bought what they needed with cash. This meant that banks often weren't very busy.

As ICT developed, businesses began to pay salaries directly into a bank account instead of by cash. Employees had to open bank accounts and visit the bank every time they wanted to deposit or withdraw money.

This meant that banks became much busier and they had to take on a lot more staff. This of course cost them a lot of money. They wanted to find a way to reduce queues and cut down on staff wages.

And so, the Automatic Tellar Machine (ATM) was developed. Customers could serve themselves. They could withdraw cash, check their balances and order statements without ever having to speak to a member of staff.

This helped reduce the workload on the 'real' bank tellers, but the popularity of ATMs has grown so much, that it actually reduced the need for many staff and led to job losses.