A reputation for ongoing success
Burroughs Inc., in Detroit, MI is a smart safe service provider — and the largest independent ATM and cash automation service organization in North America. With hundreds of field engineers who service more than 100 different products, Burroughs stays on the leading edge of financial tech to better serve its customers.
To keep setting a high bar in the industry, Burroughs approached NamSys in 2016 after reaching the limitations of its in-house system.
The goal was to remotely manage their extensive network of smart safes in a more accurate, reliable and efficient way.
The next step in a 100-year evolution
“Burroughs has an extensive legacy,” says Joe Gagnier, Director of Service Delivery at Burroughs. “It’s over 100 years old. It has gone through multiple lives during that time.”
At the turn of the century, Burroughs made mechanical adding machines. Over the years it migrated to electric adding machines, computer mainframes and financial equipment, until it eventually became the world’s largest check processor. As checks began to decline in use, the company set its sights on cash automation and equipment.
Burroughs first attempted to branch out using an in-house solution. When that no longer did the job, Gagnier’s team investigated NamSys after they were recommended by a customer the two companies shared.
“Our homemade solution became stale very quickly, because the amount of investment required to keep enhancing it was difficult to justify,” Gagnier explains. “That was the genesis for using Cirreon.”
Adapting to new tech
The transition was basically invisible to our customers.
In 2016, NamSys helped Burroughs incrementally migrate to the new Cirreon Smart Safe system.
“NamSys worked very closely with us to get the system up and running, migrating from an existing solution, addressing workflow issues and providing outstanding value to us with hosting. They were forward-looking in their selection of technology.”
With money changing hands every day under the existing Burroughs systems, it was important to make the transition gradually and carefully. The two systems ran in parallel for a few months, allowing Burroughs to provide a more seamless transition for its customers.
“One day our customers gained access to the richer Cirreon solution alongside their cranky, old solution, and then we eventually shut off the old one,” Gagnier says. “Other than that, the transition was basically invisible to our customers. ”
Gagnier says alignment and communication with NamSys was a highlight of the migration process. NamSys was ready and available to resolve any snags that came up during the switch, and they were knowledgeable enough to quickly implement those fixes.
“One issue was that because the Cirreon solution is much richer and more verbose, there’s more data coming from the safe. For this type of system, a big piece of your cost is data services,” he explains. “NamSys took that very seriously and optimized the data flow to protect our business case.”
A solution that’s ‘well worth the investment’
Since completing the transition to Cirreon, Burroughs has gained a number of benefits.
“My uptime, costs, scalability and responsiveness are all much better,” says Gagnier.
My uptime, costs, scalability and responsiveness are all much better.
He stresses two primary benefits of Cirreon Smart Safe: better cash management and provisional credit.
For one, he says, “Large retailers, or retailers in regional cash economies, need to accurately assess all the cash that flows through their point-of-sale.” Cirreon keeps tabs on cash in a way that saves time and provides clear cash visibility. “It dramatically shortens the amount of time it takes to close out your day, especially if you have multiple points of sale, and it gives you an audit trail for shrinkage. If the point-of-sale is ever out of balance with the safe, it virtually eliminates shrinkage or employs skimming. That’s the pure cash management side.”
The other big win for Gagnier is provisional credit, also known as advance credit or daily credit. The function gives retailers credit for their deposits before it is physically counted and verified by the bank.
“For companies who want to do something with that money before the three to six days it takes to show up in their bank account, it’s well worth the investment,” he says.
From a competitive point of view, the platform connects and integrates safes from a wide variety of vendors, which provides Burroughs customers with more freedom.
Cirreon was the beginning of us getting more involved in cash. And now that’s what we do best.
Long history, bright future
With Cirreon Smart Safe in tow, Burroughs will keep looking to the future in order to stay ahead in the industries it serves. Growth is the next big item on Gagnier’s radar.
“I’ve got a very broad spectrum of customers, but we’re making a big push to expand our install base this year,” he says.
Keep customers connected with Cirreon Smart Safe, which supports daily credit and integrates vendors under one centralized system.
Learn moreWhen he looks at Burroughs’ position in the market today, Gagnier thinks back to the company’s legacy of constant adaptation
“When we started on this path to cash automation, we were still a big check processing company,” he explains. “We have divested ourselves from check processing equipment and now we’re the largest independent ATM maintenance provider in North America.
NamSys and the Cirreon platform, he says, played an important role in that growth.
“Cirreon was the beginning of us getting more involved in cash. And now that’s what we do best.”