Wincor banks on services business to boost its U.S. market share

Wincor banks on services business to boost its U.S. market share

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2/1/07 - Tracy Kitten

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PADERBORN, Germany - Wincor Nixdorf International says it expects to increase its field-service support in the United States by 12 percent every month between now and 2008. The goal: Penetrate the U.S. market with technicians to support Wincor products.

At end-January 2007, Wincor had 71 technicians working in the field in the United States.

Dirk Bockelmann, who works for Wincor USA's servicing arm in Austin, Texas, said during Wincor World - the company's annual trade fair in Paderborn - that Wincor has divided the U.S. territory into seven regions, in an effort to strategically and aggressively get its name out in the States.

Wincor has a servicing presence in 20 states, he said. By the end of February, it expects to be in 24 states; and by mid-2007, Wincor should be in 31 states.

"We have covered the basics," Bockelmann said. "Now we can grow."

Between July 2007 and March 2008, Wincor also plans to open one servicing office in each of its seven regions.

"It's a very aggressive plan," he said. "We learned in the U.S. market that we need established service in order to build our product business."

Dirk Bockelmann, a Wincor services employee in the United States, explains to Wincor World attendees Wincor's agressive plan to build a field-technician network in the United States over the next six months.

Wincor is building its business progressively, Bockelmann said, focusing first on first- and second-line maintenance and service deals, like the servicing arrangements it has with San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. and Pennsylvania-based Susquehanna Bancshares. After the servicing arm is established, Wincor will focus its attention on a complete service offering, which includes real-time monitoring through an Oracle-based server in Paderborn.

"We'll eventually expand out into cash management, but for now we're starting

basic with maintenance," Bockelmann said.

Throughout the world, Wincor's spending on servicing and outsourcing operations has increased 10 percent over the last year, said Sven Kassner, Wincor's director of outsourcing.

"We are carrying out our first projects in retail today," he said. "Up until now, we have focused on servicing the banking market."