Top 5 Reasons Why Card Issuance Kiosks Are No Longer Optional in 2026

In consumer-centric industries like banking and telecom, customers prefer a seamless visit with minimum complications.

Service providers need to understand and address their customers' pain points. 76% of customers expect a seamless experience, while 59% expect on-demand customer services. Beyond the availability of mobile apps, customers want to transition smoothly between different channels.

Customers can no longer put up with long queues and wait times at any physical location. An instant card issuance kiosk can fulfil customers' on-demand requirements without requiring them to visit the nearest branch. Instant card issuance kiosks have evolved from a mere “convenience” factor to a necessity. Valued at around $11.81 billion in 2022, the global market for card issuance kiosks is projected to grow to $19.89 billion by 2032. Here's a deeper understanding of why card issuance kiosks are no longer considered optional in 2026.

Defining Card Issuance Kiosks and How They Work

Also referred to as a self-service kiosk, a card issuance kiosk is essentially a standalone machine that enables customers to perform tasks like registering and verifying their identity, and requesting personalized and non-personalized cards such as credit cards, mobile SIMs, and driving licenses. With its instant card issuance, self-service kiosks can deliver cards in as little as 10 minutes, thus boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Here’s typically how a card issuance kiosk works:

The customer verifies their identity using an ID card or phone number.
The customer selects the type of card they need, such as a banking card, SIM card, or national identity card.
After verifying the customer, the kiosk issues the requested card using its self-service card printing facility.

Here are 5 reasons that make instant card issuance kiosks mandatory in today's business domain:

Reason 1: Surge in Demand for Instant Card Issuance

With the growing customer demand for “instant” services, self-service card issuance kiosks have emerged to fill this requirement.. Besides instant delivery, modern customers expect card service providers to issue their cards in multiple ways, including online or in a branch. Self-service kiosks also make it easier for customers to obtain their preferred card at the closest location.

With instant card issuance, companies can also improve their customer engagement, thus leading to higher usage and improved experiences. Additionally, in the competitive banking and telecom sector, self-service kiosks can provide companies a distinct advantage by offering digital convenience to their customers. These kiosks can also be used across diverse industries, including banking, financial services, telecom, and healthcare.

Reason 2: 24/7 Self-Service Availability

With the facility of 24/7 card issuance, companies using instant card issuance kiosks can offer round-the-clock service to their customers. For instance, banking customers no longer have to wait for regular working hours – and can use these self-service kiosks outside the banking hours.

24/7 self-service can help meet growing customer expectations by:

Reducing friction caused by customers having to wait in long queues or travelling to a branch location.
Building resilience during periods of business disruption caused by the unavailability of employees authorized to issue physical cards.
Delivering instant fulfilment to customers by issuing any form of card, instead of them having to wait for cards to be dispatched to their specified address.

Reason 3: Branch Efficiency & Resource Optimization

Besides improving the customer experience, card issuance kiosks can also improve the branch efficiency by reducing the staff workload. By reducing their queues, customer-centered industries like banks can allocate their human resources to other customer servicing activities. Additionally, self-service kiosks in 2026 can eliminate the costs of delivering physical cards through the postal service, as well as the hassle of emergency card replacement due to theft or damage. Overall, companies can improve their card issuance kiosk ROI primarily due to reduced operational costs and higher customer engagement.

Reason 4: Security and Compliance Assurance

With technologies like facial recognition and document scanning, self-service card issuance kiosks can authenticate any customer for KYC requirements and issue a highly secure card on the spot. Companies can also minimize fraud by using biometric data such as fingerprints and facial scans to verify the customer's identity at a later stage. By providing real-time audit trails, self-service kiosks can also deliver compliance-related assurance by fulfilling requirements during customer onboarding and registration. These branch transformation kiosks can also protect the customer’s sensitive information, thus complying with data privacy regulations.

Reason 5: Omnichannel Integration and Digital Transformation

As more customers interact with digital channels, they expect a seamless omnichannel experience from their service providers. Termed as the “phygital” approach, this omnichannel approach allows customers to switch smoothly between physical and digital touchpoints. For instance, a phygital bank can improve the digital branch strategy by integrating physical branches with digital banking. For instance, a customer can request for a card using their mobile app, and then print the card at their nearest kiosk. With a self-service kiosk installed in the branch office, enterprises can improve their customers' experiences by eliminating any wait time or delays. They can also leverage self-service kiosks to optimize customer onboarding and account opening, thus enabling them to reach out to more customers.

How to Choose the Best Self-Service Solution for Card Issuance Service

When choosing the right self-service card issuance solution, here are some factors to consider:

1. Compliance, security, and data protection: Choose the best self-service solution with advanced security measures like data encryption, secure data management, and biometric scanning for customer verification. Besides that, the solution must also be compliant with regulations related to data privacy and chip card requirements.

2. Queue management integration: Besides data security, the self-service card issuance service must be easy to integrate with third-party systems like customer feedback systems, CRM, and business intelligence (BI).

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3. Scalability and flexibility: A self-service card issuance solution must also have built-in scalability to deploy more kiosks across multiple locations, thus helping in servicing more customers. Additionally, this solution must be flexible to provide personalized customer service and to cater to a variety of card-related requirements.

4. Business Intelligence and Analytics: With advanced BI and analytical capabilities, a self-service card issuance service can help service providers track their real-time kiosk performance, monitor any fraudulent transactions, and gauge customer satisfaction.

Why Choose SEDCO’s Card Issuance Kiosk Solution?

With its self-service kiosks for instant card issuance, SEDCO can enable your customers to access a variety of services, including card issuance, card distribution, SIM (or eSIM) issuance, and payment cards. Here are some reasons to choose SEDCO’s card issuance kiosk solution for your business:

24/7 card issuance and distribution with zero waiting time
A future-ready CX builder tool to design your self-service kiosk
In-built business intelligence to transform data into actionable insights.

Interested in knowing more about our instant card issuance kiosks? Contact us now