News

Who's who: Kyle MacDonald

The fact that she's no techie hasn't hurt the high-tech business of Kyle MacDonald, founder and chief executive officer of software developer Phoenix Interactive. A year-and-a-half ago, her company won a contract to convert 3,400 National Australia Group (NAG) ATMs from an OS/2 to a Windows-based platform.

August 12, 2004

Though she heads a cutting-edge technology company, Kyle MacDonald is the first to admit that she's no techie.

"I'm not a programmer," said the founder and chief executive officer of software developer Phoenix Interactive. "I'm a strategist who has surrounded myself with a group of very talented people."

While she's developed technical chops along the way, MacDonald credits her strong business background as her secret to success.

"One of the things that happens with a lot of small companies, especially technology companies, is that they're founded by someone with a wonderful idea who doesn't necessarily know how to build and run a business," she said.

MacDonald studied finance, marketing and management at the University of Western Ontario's Ivey School of Business, an institution with a reputation exemplified by its selection last year by the Wall Street Journal as one of the world's top 10 business schools.

She gained an insider's perspective of retail banking during a part-time stint as a teller for Canada Trust while earning her degree at Ivey. After graduation in 1983, she went to work for interactive media company Cableshare, developing marketing programs that appeared on kiosks at sites such as shopping malls, automotive trade shows, and yes, financial institutions.

'Untapped opportunity'

Based on her early career experiences, MacDonald said she recognized an "untapped opportunity" for software and content development in the financial self-service market. At the time, she said financial institutions in Canada and elsewhere were experimenting with using kiosks to display information and offer teller-like transactions.

She mortgaged her house, cashed in her RSP (Retirement Savings Plan, Canada's version of an IRA) and convinced a business associate to loan her $50,000 to get enough capital to found Phoenix Interactive in 1987. Only 29 at the time, MacDonald is glad she took the plunge then. "As you get older, it gets tougher to make those kinds of decisions," she said.

It didn't take long for her instincts to pay off. An early client was Royal Bank of Canada, which enlisted Phoenix to create applications that allowed customers to update passbooks and print copies of bank statements at kiosks positioned next to ATMs in lobbies. Royal Bank also hired Phoenix to create the customer interface seen on its ATM screens.

MacDonald is justifiably proud of her customer interface design team, which is headed up by a former Cablevision colleague and one of her first hires at Phoenix, creative director Peter McLay. " We designed the interfaces seen on every major bank ATM in Canada," she said, noting that the team's talents are seen in other countries as well – including the United States, where Bank of America is a customer.

McLay said he followed MacDonald to Phoenix because of her relationship building skills and business smarts. "She has the ability to talk to people at the high levels where decisions are made and to help them understand the costs and the reasons things need to be done," he said.

MacDonald said it's a "constant challenge" to convince financial institutions, which are not known for their risk taking, to work with a third-party developer like Phoenix. "You know what they say," she said. "You'll never get fired for buying IBM."

'The whole enchilada'

Despite that truism, Phoenix has captured its share of high-profile business. In September of 2000, Phoenix won a contract with National Australia Group (NAG) to convert its 3,400 ATMs from an OS/2 to a Windows-based platform. The Phoenix VISTAatm software is live at NAG subsidiary Bank of New Zealand and will be rolled out later this year at National Australia Bank and four other NAG-owned banks in the UK.

MacDonald can't contain her pride when she talks about delivering what she calls "the whole enchilada," a solution that encompasses six financial institutions, two switches, two message protocols and a disparate network of NCR and Diebold ATMs.

While the technological challenges were formidable, it was a bigger coup to win the business from competitors like NCR, MacDonald said, crediting her company's customer-first philosophy. "You must deliver excellent technology, but you can't do it at the expense of understanding the customer relationship."

MacDonald said it doesn't hurt that she possesses a natural competitive drive. "I'm damn tenacious. I like to compete, and I like to win," she said.

Friendly competition

Her strong relationships with vendors such as NCR and Diebold were an invaluable asset when Phoenix began designing its open architecture applications meant to run on any ATM hardware – even as those companies and Phoenix began competing for some of the same business.

"We already had a ton of experience working on everybody's equipment and all of the different platforms," she said. "What the manufacturers tend to do is build applications to run on their own machines and then do whatever they have to do to make it run on everybody else's. We took away all of the differences and started with a more abstract solution."

Phoenix has "shown up the big corporations a little bit," said Reg Bohler, managing director of Diebold Australia and a longtime friend of MacDonald's. "I think clients see her enthusiasm and passion come through in her presentations, and it often wins them over. She's determined to win, and she understands what drives the customer."

Bohler enjoys getting together with MacDonald when she's in Australia on business, and the two always make time for a friendly chat at the annual BAI Retail Delivery Show.

MacDonald values such relationships. "That's one of the most gratifying parts of my job – the friends I've made around the world," she said.

As if the travel for her own company wasn't enough, the globe-trotting MacDonald enjoys attending trade shows with her husband of 12 years, John Franklin, whose company makes home ventilation systems. "I always tease him about being a widget maker," she joked.

MacDonald and Franklin reside part of the year in London, Ontario and spend the colder months in St. Petersburg, Fla. The busy pair sometimes manage to coordinate their travels with MacDonald's two stepsons, Patrick and Ken.

It's now easier for MacDonald to make time for family and leisure pursuits such as power boating on the Great Lakes, as she's become more inclined to delegate responsibilities to others at Phoenix.

"I'm less hyperactive these days; I'm trying to take more time to smell the daisies," she said. "I've realized that success is never about one person."

Included In This Story

---

Diebold Nixdorf

As a global technology leader and innovative services provider, Diebold Nixdorf delivers the solutions that enable financial institutions to improve efficiencies, protect assets and better serve consumers.

Request Info

Learn More