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Wincor World showcases banking, retail solutions for the 21st century

Self-service is changing the way consumers bank and buy. At Wincor World 2006, companies from across the globe demonstrated what they're doing to meet the needs of an ever-changing marketplace.

February 1, 2006 by Tracy Kitten — Editor, AMC

Innovations in banking and retail are changing the way consumers do business. That was the message this year's Wincor World screamed loud and clear.

The annual trade event hosted Jan. 24-26 by Paderborn, Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf International was a self-service feast for the eyes. From advanced-function ATMs, automated teller solutions, advanced cash handling and cash recycling, to self-checkout, RFID tracking and reverse-vending, Wincor and its more than 70 partners proved that the marketplace is changing. And Wincor World's more than 7,000 attendees were eager to take it all in.

"More and more high-level IT managers came from key growth regions for our company, such as eastern Europe, Asia and countries of North and South America," said Andreas Bruck, Wincor's head of corporate communications.

This year's event was one of the company's best attended, Wincor representatives said.

The 10,000-square-meter exhibit hall - a permanent fixture for the $1.9 billion company - is impressive, but so is the picturesque town of Paderborn, a community of about 150,000 that was founded by Charlemagne in the 8th century. Put the two together and you're bound to draw a crowd.

Wincor also changed its format a bit this year to include more symposiums and workshops, both of which highlighted different solutions being used in markets throughout the world.

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Tying in with the show's theme, "Sharing new perspectives," Wincor and its partners not only talked about changes taking place in European, American and Asian markets, but also demonstrated them on the exhibit hall floor.

Wincor president and chief executive officer Karl-Heinz Stiller said during his opening address that Wincor is bringing in partners from around the world to extend its global presence. Already a dominant player in Europe, the company is now focusing its attention on so-called "growth markets," which Stiller defined as Asia and the Americas.

Over the course of the next 12 months, those markets are expected to be a focus for Wincor.

From fiscal year 2004 to fiscal year 2005, Wincor's revenue in the Americas increased 18 percent. In Asia revenue increased 8 percent. And in Europe, where Wincor now works with 24 of the continent's 25 leading financial institutions, including Barclays and Standard Chartered, and 19 of its 25 leading retailers, the company's performance grew by 2 percent - growth that is expected to remain steady over the course of the next year.

Wincor's global presence, Stiller said, will facilitate "sharing perspectives" across the globe - an ideal Wincor World was striving to illustrate.

Banking: A glimpse from the showroom floor

A quick stroll around the intentionally circular path of the exhibit hall walked attendees through a myriad of solutions. On the banking side, the message was clear - branch restructuring is no longer an option, it's a necessity.

The optimization of processes through integrated software solutions is a reality for the United Kingdom's Barclays Bank. The $41.3 billion London-based FI has been working with Wincor since 2004.

Over the course of three months, Barclay's rolled out 500 financial-services kiosks at more than 400 branches, said Steve Potts, an ATM and software specialist for Wincor in the U.K.

The kiosks are used for basic banking transactions, such as statement printing - a favorite self-service option among U.K. consumers - and cash and check deposits. The ProPrint 2000 prints thermal paper statements and the ProCash 3000, which Barclays launched about six months ago, is used for deposits.

The ProCash accepts up to 10 checks or 50 notes in one deposit. Both kiosks cross promote other banking channels, such as the ATM, teller/concierge and online, and are being used to pull basic transactions from the teller line.

From left are Ed Hannon, vice president of sales for Aston, Pa.-based TDN Money Systems, and Richard Orlando, TDN's president. The two are shown at one of Wincor's retail-store-solution exhibits.

Potts said the bank expects to bring in about 100 transactions a day at each ProCash kiosk.

Ensuring integration and uptime among all channels also has been a focus for Barclays. Because of the bank's merger with U.K. building society Woolich, it runs its ATMs on two networks - Woolich with Diebold and NCR machines and Barclays with Wincor. Both networks, however, communicate seamlessly with the host via Wincor's ProClassic Enterprise, Potts said.

Since June 2004, Barclays' ATM downtime has dropped from 3.6 percent to 1.4 percent at moderate volume ATMs and from 7 percent to 2.5 percent at high-volume machines. "For Barclays, which has a lot of cardholders in the U.K., availability is the key driver for the network," Potts said.

Through an outsourcing deal, Wincor oversees service and maintenance for Barclays' ATMs - the only deal of its kind Wincor has secured with a U.K. FI. "We're working with Barclays on an end-to-end solution."

The Namos Compact POS & Management Workstation is designed to meet the needs of convenience stores and gas stations, where space conservation is a necessity.

The end-to-end solution is one Wincor is expected to focus on in 2006.

Expansion of the company's service offerings is going to be driver. During a Jan. 24 press conference at the show, Stefan Auerbach, a member of Wincor's board who is responsible for the global services business, said Wincor has spent the last 12 months focusing on outsourcing deals with FIs, including Barclays, the U.S.'s Wells Fargo and Germany's Hamburger Sparkasse and Sparkasse Bremen, and retailers.

Today, Auerbach added, only 40 percent of Wincor's revenue comes from manufacturing - software, security and service are taking lead roles.

And as Uwe Krause, Wincor's director of marketing for financial services, pointed out, cash management is a big part of that. "For cash management, we are showing a complete process of what you need in the branch. In the branch, everything is integrated. We handle all services, from beginning to end."

Cash and coin recycling at the teller and the kiosk is helping FIs secure transactions. The less currency handled by employees, the better - a truth that exists in not only the FI space but the retail space as well.

Applying its banking knowledge to retail solutions makes sense for Wincor, said Joachim Pinhammer, Wincor's marketing director for retail. "We really are a total solution provider in the retail space, just as we are in banking. Everything can run on one platform (TP.net or TPLinux)."

Retail: The future is here

Cash handing is a big deal for retailers. "Automated cash handling reduces the risk of robbery and eliminates human errors," Pinhammer said. And with Wincor's iCash line, retailers take the guesswork out of cash management.

Wincor partner Symbol provides the handheld tech for Wincor's retail self-checkout solutions.

"In the international market, 40 to 60 percent of all payments are made with cash, and we are trying to automate that process with a new line of products for cash acceptance and recycling."

Cashiers and consumers use the iCash 4000 and the iCash 50 for cash deposits. Rather than putting money into a register, money is inserted into a module, which then automatically calculates the deposit.

The 4000, a through-the-wall unit, has eight rollers that can each hold up to 220 notes. Inserted notes are deposited into a back-office safe that only the cash-in-transit company can access.

The 50 is a smaller version of the same concept that's actually been in pilot mode at four European retail locations, including Shell, since November.

Wincor is taking some of those same cash concepts and moving them to self-checkout.

"The real revolution is taking place in checkout," Pinhammer said. "An interesting thing happens when you separate the payment process from the scanning process. You streamline the process, so that you run one person through the line and then have them pay in another line. It takes much less time."

Wincor is piloting all of its checkout solutions in Europe but is expected within the next several weeks to have those same solutions ready for deployment worldwide.

Cash recycling for coins and notes at the checkout lane is one such solution. The recycling solution has been designed for both the cashier and self-service checkout lanes.

More research on these key terms: Retail Cash handling POS

Recycling modules, which are separated from the card reader, include three drums that accept up to three cash denominations. Deposits are automatically calculated and placed in a box that can hold up to 150 notes at a time. (Some larger models can hold up to 10,000 notes.)

And because coins are recycled, coin refills are dramatically reduced, Pinhammer said. If refills are needed, the retail management software (TP) sends an alert.

"These are all areas of revolution in the retail market. We are seeing radical change in our store solutions Â… with software being the main thing that is different."