Article

Wincor aims to upsize its slice of the American market

Following a US operations revamp, Europe's ATM giant says it's ready to step it up on this side of the Atlantic.

November 11, 2013 by Suzanne Cluckey — Owner, Suzanne Cluckey Communications

A year ago at Wincor World, ATM Marketplace had the opportunity to talk to the then-head of Wincor Nixdorf operations in the U.S., Oliver Weber, about his plans to revamp and revitalize its service organization based in Austin, Texas.

Mission accomplished. Now the Paderborn, Germany-based company is changing things up, sending Weber and his organizational skills to the Netherlands, where he'll head up professional services at the company's newly established software headquarters in Utrecht.

On Oct. 1, Javier López-Bartolomé, president of the Americas and Iberia and member of the Wincor executive board, assumed responsibility for the newly streamlined U.S. division. His mission is not to continue Weber's efforts, but to build upon them.

Last week at BAI Retail Delivery in Denver, ATM Marketplace had the opportunity to talk with the company's new U.S. chief about the important foundational work done to date and the company's ambitions in the U.S.          

Q: I know that there's been a push on to really work with the U.S. market — how are things in the U.S. now?

A: We are talking about the process of transformation we started one year and a half ago, more or less. I think it's delivering specific, measurable results.

On one hand we have a much better sales force so we have a full force of sales specialists which is necessary to implement some of the complex solutions we are selling, software, hardware — everything integrated — and consultants.  Today we have to do much more to get value into what we are implementing.

And what we are doing in the U.S., we have in, let's say the last three months to release our new technologies here — the whole CINEO product family.

Q: Really — so CINEO is in this market now?

A: Yes, CINEO is here and has an important (long pause) … number of units to be deployed.

Q: So, I won't ask who the important customer might be or the number of units they might want.

A: No, but we have some good news regarding an order from them. In a big way, CINEO is here.

Q: What else would you say the company has accomplished with the U.S. reorganization?

A:We have improved a lot the services organization; we've built a really good service team … as we push new adjustment and right-sizing of the organization in each of the markets over all of the states and create new elements of the business, new models that allow us to perform better than before. We have invested a lot in this area.

We have created a very strong, very valuable, very successful business partnership to do logistics for service parts with Fed Ex, which we are running out of Austin and Memphis [and through] which we are able to supply parts all over the region.

So, if somebody asks for a part before 8:00 tonight, they will have a part by 8:00 tomorrow morning in a depot in any city in the states. That makes a lot of power for our service organization to do a very good job. And part of the success is the trust our customers are giving.

Q: I know that software has become a very important part of the business. How does the U.S. software market look for Wincor?

A: I think we have become a partner in transformation for many banks in the world. We see the U.S. as a place where the same thing is happening. So banks are looking at expanding the way that they interact with customers.

We have been able to provide 24/7 options for the customer to choose how they work with [the bank]. It's not, "I'm the bank and I decide how you work with me." It is the consumer who says, "I know how I want to deal with you — I know how to use the branches, I know how to use my mobile, I know how to use the ATM. I decide when and how I deal with you."

You need to have a very good software architecture to do this. And this is the next critical level of the transformation project …

The level of the software is very critical. Because without a software that allows you to integrate this relationship with customers — allowing them to choose how to interact, where to interact, when to interact — this is a challenge.

We have continued to invest a lot of money into R&D for software solutions that are able to do this. And therefore, our structure in software is 100 percent aligned with the demand we see in the market for growth in banks in the U.S., in banks in Mexico, in banks in Germany. 

Q: What is "job one" for you as you take on this market?

A: Short term, it was to [get] my kids into school, which was much more challenging than I would have envisioned …

And then, in any of these jobs the principal — or what I have to do my best to have — is the right team, the right people in place ... Then you are going to deliver the excellence that is expected of a company like us … Choosing the right team is the main priority.

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photo: lisa ouelette

About Suzanne Cluckey

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Suzanne’s editorial career has spanned three decades and encompassed all B2B and B2C communications formats. Her award-winning work has appeared in trade and consumer media in the United States and internationally.