The QDS Way: Earning Trust When It Matters Most

If you've ever been in the middle of an ITM deployment or ATM refresh that went off the rails, you don't need me to tell you what this is about. You've lived it.

The vendor promised a seamless rollout. You coordinated with five different internal teams. The equipment showed up. And then something broke. Maybe it was a software issue. Maybe the install team no-showed. Maybe your customers were standing in a lobby with no working self-service. And while your team scrambled to fix it, the only thing your "partner" did was send another invoice.That’s the moment when you start to wonder:

• They said they were your "partner," but were they ever really? 

• Or were they simply a vendor with a good sales pitch?

• And what will happen if something goes wrong again?

At QDS, we've built something different. We've seen how bad it can get when you're left to figure it out alone. You deserve a partner who shows up, takes responsibility, and makes your problem their problem. We don't disappear when the job gets messy. We don't pass the buck or point fingers. And we don't leave our clients holding the bag while the rest of the room goes quiet.

We lock arms. We pick up the phone. We take ownership.

We call that The QDS Way. It's not a catchphrase. It's a culture. One that is built on transparency, earned through trust, and proven by how we show up when it matters most.

In this article, I'll walk through what that really means:

• What transparency looks like with QDS when the wheels come off

• Why trust is earned in the worst moments, not the easy ones

• How doing the right thing sometimes costs us, but our clients thank us for it

Because if you've ever felt like you were fighting a branch deployment battle alone, I want you to know, that's not how it has to be.

Every Bank Technology Vendor Says They Believe in Transparency

But what most vendors mean is, "We're transparent, until something goes sideways.”

That’s the moment it really matters. When the solution isn't the right fit. When the numbers don’t work. When the install doesn’t go the way anyone hoped. That's when most vendors go quiet. We don’t.

We've had situations where we've taken back machines (even after they were paid for), because they weren't the right fit. I remember a great customer of ours who had bought one of our coin machines. It seemed like the right call at the time, but in practice, it just wasn't the right solution for them. We advised them to go with a competitor's product instead. That's exactly what they did, and the relationship actually got stronger because of it.

And that's not the only time we've made the call to recommend what was right for our customers, as opposed to what was more profitable for us. Sometimes we're just not the best choice for a particular use case. If that happens with you, we’re always going to tell you that. Because the truth is, we'd rather earn your trust than your money.

We've seen the same thing happen with ITM implementations. We've helped institutions downgrade from more expensive models to simpler, more cost-effective units when it made more sense for their strategy. In some cases, that saved them $20,000 to $30,000 per unit. That's money they could use to roll out more machines, serve more members without going over budget.

That's transparency in practice. It's not just about telling you what you want to hear. It's telling you what you need to hear. Even when it's uncomfortable. Even when it means less revenue for us. 

Our job isn't to help you spend the most money. 

It's to help you spend the right money.

Because if we were on your side of the table, that's exactly what we'd want too.

Trust Is Proven in the Tough Times, Not When It's Easy

In our experience, real partnership isn't proven during a kickoff call or a sales demo. It's proven in the moments when something breaks, something fails, or something goes wrong. That’s when you find out who's actually in it with you.

At QDS, when something goes wrong, we don't wait for you to fix it. We jump in with you.

Take jackpotting, for example. Jackpotting is a devastating fraud tactic where criminals install malware to force an ATM to empty itself. One weekend, a client was hit. The call came in at 3:00 p.m. Our team stayed on a bridge line with them until 2:00 a.m., working through every possible scenario to secure their fleet. 

These weren't people on call. 

These weren't billable hours. 

It was just the right thing to do.

When we say we "lock arms" with our customers, this is what we mean. 

And for us, trust means showing up. We show up consistently, without hesitation, especially when it’s difficult. We know trust is earned over time by doing exactly what we said we would, by owning problems when they happen, and by making sure our clients never feel like they’re facing challenges alone. That's the standard we hold ourselves to, and it's the kind of partnership we believe every institution deserves.

Our Success Is Driven By What's Best for You, Not for Us

If you’ve been doing this long enough, you've seen how easy it is for things to go wrong—and how rare it is to find a partner who actually shows up when they do. Maybe you've had to chase down a fix after an install went sideways. Maybe you’ve had to stand in the middle while two vendors pointed fingers. Whatever your situation looks like, you're not asking for perfection. You're asking for someone who will take responsibility and make it right.

That's what we mean when we talk about getting it right.

For us, getting it right means staying in the work. It means being accountable when things go wrong and thoughtful when things are complex. It means helping clients make decisions that are good for them long-term, not just good for us right now.

That might look like taking back a machine that didn't work out, or advising someone to buy less expensive equipment because it's a better fit. It might look like logging late-night hours on a weekend because a client needs real-time help. Whatever the form, the principle stays the same. 

We're here to be part of the solution, not part of the noise.

Of course, we also know that, for some of you, this is the beginning of your journey with us. You might be hearing about QDS for the first time. Maybe you're weighing your options, or trying to decide whether we're worth the call. Rest assured, we don't expect trust to come from one article. Trust is built when words and actions match over time.

But if what we've shared here resonates with the kind of partner you’re looking for— a partner who leads with honesty, stays with you in the hard moments, and makes decisions based on what's right, not what's easy—then we’d welcome the chance to earn that trust.

Because that's what The QDS Way really means.  Doing right by our customers and proving it every step of the way. Ready to start a conversation with a partner that cares? We're here for you, your questions, and your needs.