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WINCOR WORLD: Banking solutions dominate, with automation at the core

Wincor Nixdorf CEO Eckard Heidloff says a focus on cash automation and the future will differentiate Wincor Nixdorf in the marketplace.

January 27, 2010 by

At the helm of the world's second-largest ATM deployer, Eckard Heidloff is always thinking about ATMs. But he's thinking about them from a higher perspective these days, understanding where they fit into the overall cash scheme.

For Heidloff, the chief executive of Wincor Nixdorf AG, the future of ATMs will depend on how well connected they are to other channels, how easy they are to use and how well they are managed from a 360-degree perspective. Where the ATM fits into the cash chain is key, he says, and could ultimately ensure a future for self-service as the world evolves toward more efficiency.

The evolution of cash handling in retail environments as well as banks has stagnated. Heidloff says most banks, regardless of how developed the markets in which they reside may be, have not for the last 50 years changed the way they deal with cash. Heidloff says Wincor Nixdorf expects to change that.

"One-third of a bank's costs come from managing cash," Heidloff told ATMmarketplace.com. "As the cash cycle is optimized and better managed, the use of self-service increases. The more transactions that are moved to the self-service channel, the more efficient the cash cycle becomes."

Channel integration is the key, he says.

"An increased use of self-service can improve cash management and customer satisfaction," Heidloff said. "So, as more self-service is incorporated into a branch or a retail environment, with cash coming in (automated deposits), the more opportunities we will see for cash recycling within the self-service channel, within the branch or store, and the more integration we will see. This all improves efficiency."

Wincor Nixdorf's new cassette technology also is improving this cycle, as cash cassettes can be taken from teller or cashier lines and then used elsewhere in the branch or store.

"Cash-cycle management. This is a revolution for banking and retail," Heidloff said. "The retail and banking industries work closely together, and once we implement the same solutions for cash-cycle management to both retail and banking, we can see a convergence, a stronger integration, of the two industries. This leads to savings for the retailer and improves efficiency for the bank."

Bringing cash solutions to retail and banking, and then working to integrate the back-offices for a streamlined cash process — one in which the cash taken in by the retailer at the ATM or checkout, for instance, can immediately be credited to the back-office and housed in a cassette that calculates and credits the cash with the bank, ultimately empowering the bank to take over the retailer's back-office responsibilities — is technology that to date only Wincor Nixdorf is offering, Heidloff says. He suggests that Wincor Nixdorf aims to be a trendsetter in this cash-integration space.

Leading by example

"We believe this will change the industry over the next five years," Heidloff says. "We see long-term growth and change in the way banks manage cash. Bankers are interested in integration and so are retailers. We are creating standards that we expect our competitors to follow. They will have to. We were ahead of our competitors with deposit automation and they followed. In this area of cash-cycle management and integration between banks and retail, we expect the same trend. They will follow."