Article

New CEO, strategic focus headline Wincor '07

Wincor Nixdorf will use its annual trade expo to introduce its new CEO as well as a handful of newly integrated banking and retail solutions.

January 15, 2007 by Tracy Kitten — Editor, AMC

With a new chief executive and a stronger focus on integrated technologies, Wincor Nixdorf Internationalexpects Wincor World 2007to stand out from previous years.

 

The annual exposition, held near Wincor's headquarters in Paderborn, Germany, is scheduled to run Jan. 30 through Feb. 1. Approximately 60 partners - including companies like Fujitsu Siemens, Sun Microsystems and Intel - are expected to attend.

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A first for new CEO

 

This year's expo will be the first for Eckard Heidloff as Wincor's chief executive. He saysgrowth and improving the company's market position in the United States will be key in 2007, and they will be focal points during Wincor World.

 

Wincor, whose net profit for fiscal year 2005/2006 came in at $107 million, up 46 percent from the previous year, says it will spend 2007 extending its footprint in the United States.

 

In FY 2005/2006, Wincor's net sales in the Americas increased 17 percent from FY 2004/2005. In 2007, Heidloff said, the growth should be much more substantial.

 

"Over the next 12 months our focus in the United States will be to increase overall market share," he said. "In addition to our U.S. focus, we also intend to increase our penetration of the Asian market."

 

In FY 2005/2006, Wincor's net sales in Asia-Pacific jumped 18 percent.

 

"In the last 12 months, we've moved to being much more of a solutions company, an outsourcing company. We see ourselves more strongly as a software company, too," Heidloff said. "And we're much more focused on international growth. All the regions are doing better than budgeted."

 

Wincor's U.S. presence is established. In September, the company named Brad Waugh chief executive of U.S. operations, based in Austin, Texas. And in August, Wincor Nixdorf USA named Alan Walsh its new vice president of banking. Walsh replaced John Tyler, who left the company in March. (Read also,Wincor's penetration into U.S. could be uphill battle.)

 

"There is very strong support form headquarters in Germany to promote expansion in the U.S.," Heidloff said. "We are all focusing on it. We have products that are automating processes like Check 21, and we see a strong potential in the U.S. for both hardware and software portfolios. We are in a good position to grow in the market."

 

Heidloff, 50, joined what is now Wincor Nixdorf in 1983, when he was hired to work in the accounting department of what was then Nixdorf Computer AG.

 

Heidloff says he won't change the company's course; he'll merely follow the path Stiller forged during his nine years as Wincor's CEO. 

 

"We (Stiller and I) did everything together," he said. "We worked closely together, helping the company focus on the same things together. So the change we're seeing now is the logical continuation of things that we've already started. We're focusing on a profitable growth strategy, on special countries, on being innovation leaders, and on keeping a strict customer focus in the countries where we have a presence."

 

Banking innovation

 

Part of that focus means greater concentration on net-centric, integrated offerings that help financial institutions and retailers improve their operational efficiencies and returns on investment.

 

Wincor's total number of partners is down slightly this year, a reduction that's come from the banking side, where partnerships have been aligned more strategically, said Uwe Krause, Wincor's director of marketing on the banking side.

 

"In the banking area I have fewer partners because I have focused more on strategic partners that can show integrated solutions," Krause said. "Last year we had partners that were not integrated in our environment. This year it will be more focused."

Eckard Heidloff

 

During the expo, Wincor will showcase solutions that automate services, staying true to this year's Wincor World theme: "Your compass to innovation."

 

"Cash management across the two industries - banking and retail - security, IT enterprise management and outsourcing: These are the main bullet points of the event," Krause said.

 

On the banking side of the 10,000-square-meter exhibit hall that hosts Wincor World, branch designs of the future are expected to take center stage. Technology that automates the branch, from assisted self-service and security perspectives, will be the focus, Krause said.

 

"We will show complete net-centric branch solutions for self-service and teller operations," he said. "It's one step ahead from last year, and we have a special exhibition area just for branch innovation this year. Here we are discussing the typical branch of the future: What is the customer segmentation in the future?"

 

Wincor's ProClassic Enterprise suite, which previously focused on the self-service channel, is now coming to the table with a more integrated approach to banking, Krause said.

 

Cash management within the branch plays a key role in branch innovation as well.

 

"We are showing a lot of new systems for cash – such as recycling systems – but the focus this year is that we show the (automation) orientation process. And in this area we can highlight a lot of new products."

 

Those new products include the ProCash 2100xe and the ProCash 3100xe. Both terminals come from the ProCash line's xe generation - a group designed to address international-customer requirements and trends.

 

The 2100xe allows complete branch functionality in one system, Krause said. It's a full-function ATM designed for indoor placements. It can be installed as a freestanding or through-the-wall unit.

 

The 3100xe combines deposit, dispense and cash-recycling functionality - making it possible for a financial institution to shift its cash transactions to the self-service channel. It can hold up to 12,300 deposited notes and can dispense up 12,600 notes. Between four and five note denominations can be recycled, if recycling is of interest at the branch.

 

A bulk-coin deposit and single-coin dispense sidecar for the 2100xe and the 3100xe also is available. (The sidecar fits the ProCash 4000, an ATM with cash-recycling capabilities, too.)  The sidecar is touted for helping FIs automate their coin-acceptance processes by allowing them to offer self-service coin-handling.

 

"Migrating this routine activity to self-service allows banks to deploy their staff on higher-value-generating activities," Wincor says.

 

Overall branch security as well as video-surveillance, money-monitoring, remote ATM key-loading and biometrics solutions also will be on display, Krause said.

 

Retail revolution

 

A unified platform for hardware and software also is the core on the retail side of the expo, said Joachim Pinhammer, Wincor's marketing director for retail.

 

"It allows retailers of any segment - supermarket to cash-and-carry - to optimize their business processes and increase their profitability and productivity to support a better customer experience," Pinhammer said. "With one software product, one unified customer platform - TP.net - we can show how this can be used in all segments."

 

As ProClassic Enterprise now works on the banking side to integrate all of a branch's channels, TP.net Enterprise is advancing on the retail side to integrate the retail enterprise - including data analysis and reporting, administration, and campaign management.

 

"These things will enable the retailers to be closer to their customers," Pinhammer said.

 

Software innovations will be a driving force on the retail side this year, Pinhammer said, but hardware also will garner attention. The Beetle X series is expected to be a highlighted hardware innovation during the expo. Introduced during the fourth quarter of 2006, the Beetle X series, is a modular Beetle box that optimizes POS service and total cost of ownership by allowing retailers to easily replace and/or change system parts, Pinhammer said.  

 

"It all can be remotely controlled and monitored, so it saves from a prevention perspective," he added.

 

Beyond integration, checkout systems are poised to play a significant role as well.

Partners Fujitsu Siemens Sun Microsystems Intel Act´o-Soft GmbH BIZERBA GmbH u. Co. KG Cash Bases Ltd. Cisco Systems GmbH Datalogic GmbH Dialogic Dorma Ergonomic Solutions International Inform Solutions GmbH Intermec Technologies GmbH Kompetenzteam MAKU Informationstechnik GmbH Metrologic Instruments GmbH Mettler-Toledo GmbH Microsoft GmbH Mosaic Software AG PSC GmbH Retalix (U.K.) Ltd. SAP Deutschland Scantech-ID B.V Selecta-Werk GmbH Solquest Consulting GmbH Symbol Technologies Verifone ACI Worldwide GmbH & Co. KG Alphyra Group Business Objects Deutschland GmbH C.A.R.U.S. Retail Information Technology GmbH CASIO Europe GmbH Combase AG-Korona Kassensysteme Concept Bankware GmbH EL-ME AG EuroHandelsinstitut GmbH Gempsy France SA Hess Cash Systems GmbH & Co KG InfraRed Integrated Systems Ltd. Kranz InnenArchitekten LANDesk Software GmbH Online Software GmbH OPTICON-SENSOREN GmbH Orbis AG Penkiu Kontinentu Bankines Technologijos, UAB (BS/2) Pironet NDH AG Powervar Ltd. Profit Base AS prosystems IT GmbH Safecor Saperion AG Signotec GmbH Sparkassen Informatik GmbH &Co KG Thales e-Transactions GmbH/Wynid Technologies TPG Inc. Transact GmbH Vensafe GmbH VMI - Visual Merchandising Initiative e.V.

 

"Checkout is one of our focus areas," Pinhammer said. "We are not trying to give the retailer one self-checkout product, but a family of products that meet the segment he's in. For instance, different store formats require different solutions, and different shopping behaviors and different market sizes require different solutions."

 

One innovation that was introduced last year but has just been put into practice by one of Wincor's Germany-based retailers is separating scanning from payment at the checkout lane.

 

"It's an effective way to improve the process," he said.

 

The use of RFID transponders as a way to improve efficiency and reduce labor costs also will be showcased.

For additional information about Wincor World, visit Wincor's expo Web site.