{"id":8830,"date":"2021-11-30T07:02:45","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T13:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/?p=8830"},"modified":"2021-11-30T07:02:50","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T13:02:50","slug":"the-instrumental-presentation-ncrs-ceo-used-as-toilet-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/30\/the-instrumental-presentation-ncrs-ceo-used-as-toilet-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"The Instrumental Presentation NCR&#8217;s CEO Used As Toilet Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wouldn&#8217;t be a good week if there wasn&#8217;t another opportunity to guffaw at NCR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When NCR&#8217;s new CEO took over we don&#8217;t think he knew &#8211; or frankly cared &#8211; what he was getting into. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mike Hayford, NCR CEO: &#8220;$10M a year, a fancy new title, and a private jet? Wahoo!&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By our read Hayford was a bean counter who rode the coattails of successful entrepreneurs at Metavante and saw an opportunity to earn an undeserving sum of money while piddling around a struggling hardware business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spencer Stuart conducted the CEO search for NCR, and we were privy to the process; in fact the now-CEO at a public restaurant POS company was given an opportunity to take the role but passed for a number of very good reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead NCR ended up with a rubber stamp board and a CEO that <em>many<\/em> would describe as someone who believes himself to be omnipotent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How&#8217;s that been working out for shareholders? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Hint: it&#8217;s been a disaster: NCR has barely eked a 20% return while the DOW, Nasdaq, and S&amp;P are up 131%, 167%, and 305% respectively over the same period of time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"770\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=770%2C326&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=1024%2C434&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=300%2C127&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=768%2C325&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=1536%2C651&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=2048%2C868&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=370%2C157&amp;ssl=1 370w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=270%2C114&amp;ssl=1 270w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=570%2C241&amp;ssl=1 570w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screen-Shot-2021-11-14-at-8.51.18-AM.png?resize=740%2C313&amp;ssl=1 740w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite getting their asses handed to them by Toast in the restaurant vertical (and writing off what we&#8217;ve heard was $38M into a failed Aloha nextgen build), and doubling down on a loser ATM hardware business, and making bad decision after bad decision, NCR still feels compelled to shell out millions for a CEO to make these blunders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A quick call with Hayford in 2018 was all that we needed to know that he&#8217;d crash the ship, but that didn&#8217;t prevent us from giving him an opportunity to understand what he was getting into, and where he could make changes for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But you don&#8217;t need to listen to anyone when you&#8217;re a deity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So he didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let&#8217;s deconstruct what he ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"scribd_iframe_embed\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/embeds\/539547469\/content?start_page=1&view_mode&access_key=key-EWlDDFmn1i9TSDLJpzld\"  data-auto-height=\"true\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"scribd_539547469\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\t\t<div style=\"font-size:10px;text-align:center;width:100%\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/539547469\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">View this document on Scribd<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We started off by pointing out the obvious to anyone who&#8217;s watched digital transformations: they start slowly then become inevitable. Inertia had taken over and we predicted NCR would lose even more market share, and of course they have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We then showed Hayford that he was losing accounts across all segments of the market, from SMB to legitimate enterprise accounts like Arby&#8217;s. Cloud POS was not some fringe technology anymore even though he dismissed it as such and was more focused on convincing customers to pay a recurring fee for their old, shitty Aloha systems to generate multiple arbitrage as a &#8220;SaaS business&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Classic beancounter move. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next we categorized Aloha feedback from dozens of conversations with former and existing Aloha customers, employees, third parties, and resellers. The major points of concern were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>NCR&#8217;s disastrous API program, both in terms of stability and costs<\/li><li>How NCR hosted solutions were not just rubbish, but prevented NCR from building a relevant POS<\/li><li>Overall NCR support issues which are broader symptoms of the turd that is Aloha POS<\/li><li>The undeniably lagging state of all things software at NCR<\/li><li>A broken channel model<\/li><li>Inability to execute anything related to data<\/li><li>Aloha enterprise accounts are actively looking for alternative solutions<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We shared a version of this presentation with Hayford <strong>over three years ago<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since then Aloha has only committed blunder after blunder and circled the drain just like we predicted it would, <em>sans<\/em> major changes, in our presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">But don&#8217;t despair: the magnanimous celestial who ignored all of our forewarnings is still at the helm of NCR. Praise be!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And this is <em>the best<\/em> possible news for all and any of NCR&#8217;s competitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seriously, y&#8217;all should send NCR&#8217;s board some Christmas presents this year to make sure Hayford stays at NCR as looooong as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because if he can make $10M a year to run a company into the ground, having him around is the best job insurance you could ever ask for.<\/p>\n<script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.websitevoice.com\/UMwLESBjj1uq-UOHwOeBBw\"><\/script>\n<script>\n  window.wvData=window.wvData||{};function wvtag(a,b){wvData[a]=b;}\n  wvtag('id', 'UMwLESBjj1uq-UOHwOeBBw');\n  wvtag('widget-style', {\n    backgroundColor: '#F5953E',\n    contrast: 'wv-contrast-dark'\n  });\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It wouldn&#8217;t be a good week if there wasn&#8217;t another opportunity to guffaw at NCR. When NCR&#8217;s new CEO took over we don&#8217;t think he knew &#8211; or frankly cared &#8211; what he was getting into. Mike Hayford, NCR CEO: &#8220;$10M a year, a fancy new title, and a private jet? Wahoo!&#8221; By our read [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solutions","category-merchants","category-pos","post_format-post-format-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p81nA2-2iq","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reformingretail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/dog-ge6a9a822a_1280.png?fit=1280%2C714&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8830"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12005,"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8830\/revisions\/12005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reformingretail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}