Letter To Customers

Valued NCR Customers and Partners,

Many of you run the world’s most essential businesses – stores, restaurants, petrol stations and financial institutions. Some of you are facing the challenges of operating a business through an unprecedented shutdown. None of us could have foreseen the scenarios we are now facing together. And whatever scenario your business finds itself in today, NCR is here to help you keep commerce running.

As we continue to navigate the changing tides posed by this pandemic, our priorities remain the same.

The safety of our employees and our customers is our top priority. Whether NCR employees are performing critical work in factories, in the field, in our labs, across our supply chains or remotely, we are enabling them to do their jobs as safely as possible to keep commerce running.

Our services customer engineers around the world continue to safely take service calls, keeping banking, shopping, restaurants and fuel pumps running. Our dedicated team is proudly meeting our pre-pandemic service-level agreements for you, including peak season support in some segments.

Ninety-five percent of our office-based employees have successfully transitioned to work-from-home environments with no disruption to service levels. Essential labs are staffed with critical employees and we have focused on their safety, including physical distancing protocols and elevated cleaning procedures. And we’re continuing to deliver software enhancements, remote-managed services and installations for you without interruptions.

Though work environments have changed, our commitment to your business remains the same. I am pleased to report that we are nearing normal production and fulfillment levels in North America even after devastating tornadoes impacted our Nashville fulfillment facilities in early March. Over the last year we implemented a new contract manufacturing and supply chain strategy, with each NCR facility having the majority of its parts sourced independently. This gave us the capability to absorb volume changes and unforeseen events. And despite many coronavirus-related national and local restrictions, NCR has secured essential business authorizations so our manufacturing, operations and supply chain partners, can run with minimal to no interruptions. Stories like this demonstrate NCR’s resilience and commitment to your success.

NCR leadership has taken bold actions to weather the storm and keep NCR strong. Last month, I took proactive measures to preserve jobs at NCR and maintain a strong cash position as a company so we remain a healthy, dependable partner to you and carry on our 136-year legacy for decades to come. This includes cutting all unnecessary expenses and making difficult decisions to temporarily pause spending on non-critical projects, many of which were staffed by outside resources. The reason behind this is simple: we choose to pay our people first.

Additionally, I cut my personal salary to $0 for the remainder of the year and reduced all executive compensation. We also implemented a temporary, shared pay cut for all employees who participate in incentive programs. Finally, to further enhance the company’s liquidity position, we drew down on our line of credit and issued additional five-year bonds. Today, we are focused on doing everything we can to maximize financial flexibility and stay prepared to navigate tomorrow’s challenges.

Let’s keep commerce running. Our team is building a resource library for businesses like yours at ncr.com/coronavirus. There, you can find everything from how to properly sanitize your NCR hardware to the best ways to drive digital banking adoption to details on stimulus packages and tips for implementing takeout and delivery at your restaurant.

We are here for you. In our 136-year history, NCR has weathered many storms. Our legacy is one of customer focus and employee care. Together, as a company, we are committed to preserving that legacy for you.

I wish you and your family safety and good health in the weeks ahead.

My best,

Mike Hayford
President and Chief Executive Officer, NCR

Dear valued customer,

For more than 135 years, NCR has lived by a core value to "treat every customer like they are our only customer." This enduring value guides us as we face the difficult challenge of responding to the coronavirus (COVID-19).

In January, we established a multi-functional coronavirus response task force and are following the current guidance from government and local health authorities.

During the coronavirus outbreak, our focus is on the safety and well-being of our employees, who are vitally important to support you and your business, as well as the communities where we operate. Our second primary area of concern is the safety and continued service of our customers.

We are providing an update today on the preventative and precautionary actions taken to date as we focus on health, safety and business continuity, and being your trusted technology provider of choice.

We have implemented a number of actions through our task force, including:

• Instituting guidelines to limit virus spread and keep our employees healthy.
• Providing ongoing and transparent communications for our employees regarding our continuity plans and new preventive measures. We also established a direct line of communication to the task force that every employee can utilize to ask questions and obtain additional information. 
• Implementing operational enhancements, in alignment with public health authority guidance, to limit employee and customer exposure to the virus:
  • Implementing access restrictions at our global facilities, including strictly limiting visitor access to both our manufacturing and office facilities.
  • Highly restricting all NCR business travel.
  • Instituting thermal readings at key locations around the globe.
    
• Providing safety guidance and supplies appropriate for our field employees and the nature of their work in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the WHO. 

Finally, our technology drives interactions with people. For that reason, we have published a best practices paper on how to properly disinfect and clean our equipment to be used by our employees and made available to you.

Our customers’ business continuity is a key priority. We want to minimize service disruptions or impacts to your business. Our goal is to offer the level of quality, responsiveness and support that you have come to expect from NCR.

Multiple governments around the world have implemented new guidelines, including restrictions on gatherings, cross-border movements and so on.  We anticipate further restrictions in the coming days. Our task force has proactively worked with each of our critical business functions and support facilities to adapt to this new working environment while we implement our own continuity plans.

Please contact your NCR representative should you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued partnership. 

My best,

Mike Hayford
President and Chief Executive Officer, NCR