News

A change at the top could spur growth for Wincor in U.S.

Alan Walsh, Wincor Nixdorf USA's new vice president of banking, says Wincor is pushing to expand its U.S. presence across the board.

August 30, 2006

Service, maintenance and acquisitions won't be the only focal points for growth in the States, says Wincor Nixdorf USA's new vice president of banking. Hardware and software, strategic relationships with new and existing partners, retailers, financial institutions and independent sales organizations also will be targets.

Long story short, Wincor is going for the whole enchilada, and is hoping Alan Walsh can help it take that first bite.

Alan Walsh is Wincor USA's new vice president of banking.

Walsh replaces John Tyler, who was hired in November 2005 and left in March. The company said Tyler left to pursue other interests.

Walsh, formerly the managing director of Wincor Nixdorf Ireland, has a good track record with the company. After taking the reins in Ireland in 2002, Walsh reportedly turned Wincor Ireland around. By 2004, Wincor Ireland was a recognized service organization with 50 percent of the region's service market share.

Under Walsh's leadership, Wincor Ireland signed an outsourcing deal with Bank of Ireland ($4.1 billion in 2005 sales) that included management of the bank's more than 600 off-premise ATMs.

Bank of Ireland was Wincor's first major customer to sign on with the company for outsourcing.

Facing the challenge, head-on

In the United States, Walsh has been charged with strengthening Wincor's relationships with customers and strategic business partners as well as growing the company's service business.

To help him get there, Wincor has beefed up its U.S. sales force three-fold over the last three months. The company now employs 150 people in the United States, and about 20 percent of its operations are focused on service.

"It's no secret that we're focusing a lot of attention on service, but it's not the only area we're focusing on," Walsh said. "We are openly investigating and looking at existing service companies in the U.S. to buy."

Over the last six months, acquisition hunting has intensified, Walsh said, but so has everything else surrounding U.S. operations.

"We have 1,100 ATMs (on service contract with Wincor USA)," he said. "We have our own servicing business along the West Coast, including Texas, and we hope to expand organically to cover 31 states."

Walsh is accepting his new job with ease, saying the four years he spent leading Wincor Ireland, coupled with his background in software - Walsh earned a degree in software engineering from the Carlow Institute of Technology in Ireland - have prepared him for the job.

"I think the fact that I've been CEO for five years gives me a lot of management experience. But having a software background helps you with processes and gives you the ability to think," he said. "And I think my software background fits well with what we're pushing in the U.S."

Besides, beyond his experience, Walsh sees a lot of similarities between Europe's and the United States' banking markets. By mirroring what he did to turn Wincor Ireland around, Walsh expects to bring similar successes to Wincor USA.

"I think if you look at the European market and the U.S. market, the markets are very similar," he said. "Both are moving toward branch automation and counter migration, both markets want to reduce costs, and both markets demand high service. I think Wincor's solutions are global solutions, and I think what we've deployed in Europe fits very well with the financial institutions in the U.S."

A changing market

Wincor Nixdorf International, Wincor USA's parent and the world's third-largest ATM manufacturer, has struggled in the past to penetrate the U.S. market. Long-standing relationships with NCR Corp. and Diebold Inc., and less familiarity with Wincor's products, historically prevented many U.S. financial institutions from breaking tradition.

But the advent of Windows, and the banking industry's increasing number of acquisitions, have given FIs more flexibility. As ATM fleets have become a blend of hardware from different manufacturers, and as the machines themselves have become more reliant on software and less on hardware, FIs have been given more options.

In February, ATM Marketplace wrote that 2006 would likely be a year of truth for Wincor's U.S. division, and many industry observers agree. They say changes in the industry are opening doors for new U.S. FI entrants, like Wincor and Triton Systems, as well as third-party providers of service, maintenance and multivendor software.

Mike Bodine, sales manager of San Diego-based Advanced Network Inc., an ATM service provider that this month signed a servicing partnership with Wincor, says Wincor is ready to shake things up in the United States. By allowing third parties like ANI to sell its equipment directly to the banking community, Wincor will quickly enhance its presence, Bodine says. And from a service and maintenance perspective, Wincor is giving its partners a lot of leeway.

"It's a very business-partner-friendly contract," he said. "And we think Wincor will help level the playing field."

Walsh said Wincor is working with its partners to benefit the end customer, and that means doing whatever it takes to enhance service.

"It's hard to get in, but once you pass those standards (to become a Wincor partner), we're very open with our information," he said. "We want to be sure our partners are fully armed with the tools they need to serve our end customer."

From across the pond

If Wincor's European performance is any indication of how well it will perform in the States, flexibility and innovation are bound to play big roles, Dominic Hirsch, managing director of England's Retail Banking Research Ltd., told ATM Marketplace in February.

"Wincor has a history of being innovative, and this could be a space for them, with the credit unions and community banks," Hirsch said. "In the last few years, they've done a lot of things right, so it will be interesting to see what they do in the U.S."

Community banks and credit unions will be a targeted segment, Walsh said, but so will the top-tier banks, like Wells Fargo, with which Wincor already works. Wincor also plans to build other relationships, like the one it has with Houston-based ISO Cardtronics Inc. for more than 1,500 ATMs.

"We have a sales and marketing strategy for each of the tiers - tier one, tier two and tier three," said Julia Waugh, Wincor USA's director of marketing. "We will target the complete market, either directly or indirectly through partners."