NCR Voyix Corporation

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James and John Ritty are credited with creating the original cash register, but it was John H. Patterson who aggressively marketed them and made them a staple of modern retail.

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NCR Voyix Corporation, NCR Voyix is an American e-commerce company known for its digital banking and point-of-service retail and restaurant software. Its sister company, NCR Atleos, oversees automated teller machine (ATM) operations. The two companies are the result of a 2023 split of NCR Corpration (formerly National Cash Register Co.) NCR Voyix and NCR Atleos are headquartered in Atlanta.

Brothers James and John Ritty invented the cash register in 1879. In the early 1880s, to sell their technology, the Ritty brothers established the National Cash Register Company, soon after renaming it the National Manufacturing Company. But the company struggled to sell its products, operating out of a run-down part of Dayton, Ohio.

In 1884 John H. Patterson (1844–1922), purchased a majority share in the company and bought the rights to the cash register’s patent. Through aggressive marketing and innovative production and sales techniques, Patterson made the cash register a staple of modern retail. He improved the cash register, making it simpler to use, and sent out his highly motivated sales force to place the product in stores. He paid his salesmen generous commissions and introduced the idea of exclusive territory for each salesman. To allay customer fears of maintaining such complex machinery, he established a force of repairmen to service the products after the sale.

During this period, Patterson also began acquiring the company’s competitors, mainly smaller, regional cash register manufacturers.

By the early 20th century NCR had come to dominate the cash register market, with a U.S. market share of about 95%. Its monopoly status, however, ran afoul of antitrust regulators and, in 1912, NCR and over two dozen executives, including Patterson, were found guilty of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. Their convictions were overturned in 1915.

Patterson died in 1922 and, four years later, the company went public. Its initial public offering (IPO) of $55 million in stock was, at the time, the largest IPO in U.S. history.

The company evolved in the 20th century, complementing its production of cash registers with the introduction of accounting machines in the 1920s, electronic products during World War II, business forms and computer hardware and software in the 1960s, and microelectronics in the 1970s. In the latter decade, under the leadership of presidents William S. Anderson and Charles E. Exley, Jr., NCR continued to develop new technology and expand its markets. However, the company also underwent a thorough reorganization during that time that included a sharp reduction in its labor force and the decentralization of its operations away from Dayton.

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NCR Corporation split in part because the company aimed to keep its ATM division separate from its software as a service (SaaS) and self-checkout technology divisions.

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In 1991 the company was purchased by AT&T and was renamed Global Information Solutions. As part of AT&T’s split into three companies in 1996 the NCR Corporation was spun off to AT&T shareholders and regained its original name. After the split from AT&T, the company concentrated its focus on financial technology, specifically ATMs, mobile banking, and retail software.

In 2022 NCR revealed plans to split into two companies, NCR Voyix and NCR Atleos. NCR Voyix focuses on digital commerce, such as point-of-sale transaction technology and self-checkout machines. NCR Atleos was created to outsource the company’s surcharge-free ATMs.

In October 2023 the company completed its planned division and began operating as two entities, each separately traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The following year, NCR Voyix sold its digital banking unit to Veritas Capital in a deal valued at $2.45 billion.