Finopotamus: NCR Atleos CONNECT 2026: Banking Leaders Focus on Banking Technology Transformation and Emerging Self-Service Trends

The following article was published by Finopotamus here.

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NCR Atleos CONNECT 2026: Banking Leaders Focus on Banking Technology Transformation and Emerging Self-Service Trends

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Finopotamus was in Orlando as the exclusive media guest at NCR Atleos CONNECT 2026. What follows are highlights of the opening session remarks from NCR Atleos President/CEO Tim Oliver and EVP/COO Stuart Mackinnon. Upcoming, Finopotamus will feature articles and one-on-one interviews at CONNECT 2026 with NCR Atleos' executive team including, Mackinnon, under Featured Articles and/or Conference Coverage.

By Roy Urrico

NCR Atleos CONNECT, an invitation-only networking and strategy event, was held March 29-April 2, 2026, in Orlando. The annual, multi-tiered conference once again served as a global gathering for some 200 C-suite and banking leaders to discuss and demonstrate banking transformation emerging technologies, such as AI-driven trends in self-service, ATM hardware solutions including cash recycling and multi-function ATMs, AI-powered diagnostics for fleet optimization, and reimagining ATM-as-a-Service (ATMaaS).

Atlanta-based NCR Atleos, which provides expanding self-service financial access with ATM expertise and experience, operates the surcharge-free Allpoint Network, which includes approximately 55,000 ATMs globally and 40,000 in the U.S. Beyond this network, NCR Atleos supports a broader ecosystem, managing or servicing over 600,000 to 700,000 ATMs for financial institutions globally. The company also operates a key financial technology research and development site in Dundee, Scotland.

Driving Service

"Two years ago, we rolled out some new products. Our service levels were not where they needed to be. You all showed us grace and you gave us a benefit of the doubt. You let us recover. A year ago, we did this for the first time. You asked us to lead from the front. We said, we intend to lead from the front. We reinvigorated our innovation efforts. We're flexing that muscle," Oliver told the assembled audience.

He continued, "Our customer satisfaction scores have never been as high as they are. Admittedly, they were too low when we started. They're terrific now. And they're getting better every day. The organization is supremely focused on service. We realize that we are not going to distinguish ourselves on hardware, on a software alone. It's a service level that you all want us to get better."

Supplies and Consolidation

Mackinnon delivered the NCR Atleos CONNECT keynote.

"As you go through our innovation labs, our digital branch, the reason we build all of those things is really just to get your feedback. As we think about what the next generation of technology looks like, you're part of that building process. That's the reason we bring all of these things to these shows, rather than just sort of the normal ATM that you see at our regular shows," said Mackinnon.

He described how world events impact the company and its customers. "We have a crunch on chip supply. We have a supply chain issue that just got slightly more complicated by the war. We have fuel issues that got slightly more complicated by the war. How you pick a partner that can work through that as we go through that process is important."

The impact of consolidation was also addressed. "We're all getting acquired, being acquired or acquiring something else. Some of us more recently than others. That is challenging, especially if you are using different technologies, different platforms," said Mackinnon. "We see our customers consolidate almost every week. Somebody is getting together with somebody else trying to figure out how to get their devices, their core banking systems, all of those things to operate together."

Strategic Blueprints

"It is incredibly hard to get the right person with the right part, the right training to the right device at the right time. Making all of those things happen together is very complicated. We focus a lot on automation and AI to improve that process," explained Mackinnon. He referred to NCR Atleos' commitment to AI-assisted diagnostics for service call optimization.

At the core of the NCR Atleos platform is Intelligent Diagnostics, an AI-assisted system that instantly analyzes machine fault data and delivers prescriptive repair guidance, he noted. This, he added, reduces manual troubleshooting, narrows skill gaps among technicians and accelerates service resolutions across the global fleet.

"This is essentially what led to our strategic blueprint. What you see from us today, best in class service offerings. It doesn't matter how great our hardware software is if it's not running when the customer shows up at the device," Mackinnon said. "And so that's where a ton of our investment, as we try to train our technicians using augmented reality and think about how we do better inventory and audit of what our technicians are doing when they're at your devices."

Mackinnon also touched on the innovation investment the company made. "When we launched the digital branch concept, I was a little skeptical. But as we saw it take shape, what you saw…is our vision of the future. We think there are probably a number of steps between here and there. You are not just going to take everything out of your branch and draw a bunch of big screens with AI avatars out there to service your customers. There are journeys in between, all kinds of different steps before you are a fully digital branch. But what was important to us is everything you saw in that digital branch (demo on the CONNECT floor) is real."

The company's focus, he added, is on a 100% availability. "You're never going to get to a 100%, but if you aim for anything lower than that, you're never going to get anywhere close to it," Mackinnon stated. "We own and operate our own network of 80,000 devices. When they're not running, we are not making revenue off of those devices. Availability is now our core focus. We drive that into every single aspect of our employee training. Now. It's part of their objectives."

"There are roughly 400,000 ATMs in the U.S. today," pointed out Mackinnon. "It is one of the most heavily populated ATM densities in the world. People continue to use those devices for all kinds of things. Mainly cash. But we are expanding."

Mackinnon added, "In America, we are pretty much last in technology adoption in the financial services space we're fractured." He referred to the 13 card networks in the U.S. that process debit transactions, according to the Federal Reserve's latest Payment Card Network (PCN), and they over 8,500 federally insured financial institutions in the U.S., as of 2026, according to the NCUA.

"In other countries, they are less fractured. So, they're a little more adventurous about adopting new technology," Mackinnon noted. He used as an example NCR Atleos' recent collaboration with Kuwait Finance House (KFH) to transform the in-branch customer experience through the deployment of a hyper-realistic conversational artificial intelligence (AI)-powered avatar. "They've got a digital avatar driven teller that drives the customer through the entire experience and they love it. It's been a huge hit for them."

Cashing In on Deposits

Customers are now wanting to transact in retail locations again, suggested Mackinnon. He added that's essentially the concept behind Allpoint, a retail-based ATM network. "The launch of our deposit network on Allpoint is probably one of the most interesting things we've done. As we converted those machines from cash dispensers to full function machines and allowed your customers to start making deposits, volume on Allpoint grows at roughly 200% a year. We are taking in more cash every day into those networks than we did the day before for the last two years running."

ATMs that accept deposits are changing the banking landscape, noted Mackinnon. "It's a pretty incredible story. Just the sheer amount of those deposits has changed the way we think about devices in retail locations, changed the way we think about recycling in retail locations."