When New York-based Veritas Capital acquired NCR Voyix’s Digital Banking Business and rebranded it as the digital banking platform Candescent, the company could have planted its headquarters just about anywhere.
“This was a time where physical separation didn’t necessarily mean just moving out of Midtown,” the neighborhood of Atlanta where NCR’s major office is, said CEO Brendan Tansill. “We could have gone to any city in the country.” That was particularly true since Candescent already had members of its management team in New York and Northern California.
But having not just a physical presence in Atlanta, but a true technology hub, was important for the future of the business, Tansill told Hypepotamus.
“We were very intentional about putting [the HQ] here. The Atlanta market represents an enormous opportunity for us to attract great talent. We think there’s an enormously vibrant technology community here. We want to be the best digital banking provider in the market, and that is going to be entirely dependent on attracting the best people. And we think being in Atlanta allows for that.”
Candescent’s Next Atlanta Chapter
Given its NCR pedigree, Candescent is far from a startup. Many of Candescent’s early employees come directly from NCR Voyix. that includes Tansill, who served as the company’s President of Digital Banking before being tapped to be the top executive at Candescent.
While not a startup, there is a certain startup atmosphere when you walk into Candescent’s new headquarters, located in Sandy Springs, Georgia. The office itself can host 200 people. But the team is widely distributed, with closer to 400 employees living in the larger Metro Atlanta area alone (with more job openings currently available). The Sandy Springs HQ will house the company’s leadership, product, technology, and client success teams.
Hypepotamus took a tour of the office on its opening day, as employees gathered to find their office spaces, meet their teams, and check out the new floor plan. The team said the office is designed to foster cross-functional teamwork, rapid innovation, and meaningful conversations.
The opening of the new office represents a “new day,” Tansill added.
“NCR was a great owner of the company. They served us well, but I joined NCR with an understanding that we were going to become an independent business. It was the right thing for the company. It elevates our focus on serving only the needs of financial institutions,” he said. “We have no competing priorities. It also elevates our sense of accountability. We’re a smaller business now, and so we feel our wins and losses more acutely.”
Get To Know The CEO
Tansill is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He built his career in the payments and financial services spaces. While based in New York, he said he will be working out of Candescent’s Atlanta office at least twice a month.
For Tansill, gathering the team together in a physical office is important, even in our hybrid and remote-focused world.
“I do believe in getting people together. I learned how to be a professional through mentorship and through informal conversations at the water cooler. It was through impromptu interactions in the office,” Tansill told Hypepotamus. “For people to develop, for us to develop our talent in the best way possible, I think we’re better served by being together.’’
But as CEO, he also sees opening up of the office space as something that helps Candescent serve their clients better. The HQ includes a new Customer Experience Center, designed to promote conversations around the direction of the company, product roadmap, and what innovation looks like inside Candescent.
The team is focused on serving banks, credit unions, and fintech partners. The platform provides account opening, digital banking, digital branch services, and a developer hub.
“We want to deliver a highly personalized experience. Digital has become such a critical channel for financial institutions, and they want to deliver a differentiated experience for their clients as they engage digitally,” he added. “We hear from our clients that they want to replicate the in-branch experience through digital channels.”
