Efficient Software Development.
With a view to reducing the cost of our software from development through to administration, we have adopted the principles of SOA and net-centric thin-client (Glossary) architecture. Software components developed using SOA principles can be reused, while thin-client architecture involves storing large parts of a program on servers and only small components on our mobile devices. This makes it possible to reduce costs for software distribution and maintenance. The software platforms developed by Wincor Nixdorf along these principles are constantly being expanded. By way of example, our upgrade work on the ProClassic / Enterprise Retail Banking Solution Suite focused on providing support for mobile sales channels and integrating a series of functions that enable the banks to strengthen customer loyalty by displaying targeted advertising messages. We also added a new customer-retention component to the TP Application Suite (Glossary) , our software portfolio for retailers. TPLoyalty takes many of the functions offered by the suite and builds on them to create a flexible tool for improving customer retention. At branch level, we added a host of new features to our existing portfolio with a particular emphasis here, too, on the provision of mobile services.
Efficient Hardware Development.
As regards hardware development, we make use of standardized platform and component technologies. This is the only way we can efficiently reproduce global requirements in terms of functionality and model diversity by using a forward-looking modular system. Another benefit of this approach is that it shortens
the time needed from product definition to market rollout (Glossary) , as work on refining the product can be conducted in a decentralized manner in our global development network. Thus, it helps to keep our costs and the costs of our customers as low as possible.
