At Diebold, getting down to business means focusing on the basics: renewing our commitment to customer service and satisfaction; improving our global operations and infrastructure; and more effectively leveraging our company's resources and talent.

It also means focusing on our future: building a stronger foundation that enables us to better prepare for and capture the potential that lies ahead for our company.

Since being appointed president and chief executive officer in December 2005, I have met with many of our employees around the world. And I have heard from literally thousands of them in dozens of countries via e-mail. Their passion, sense of purpose and resolve to improve our business is strong.

By getting down to business, we are addressing the challenges that affected our performance in 2005. This performance was clearly below our expectations, and we need to do a better job forecasting customer demand, managing our supply chain, controlling manufacturing and product costs and streamlining our quality assurance processes.

While the challenges we faced in 2005 were significant, so too are the strengths we enjoy and the opportunities that lie ahead. The markets we serve are dynamic and continue to grow. Financial institutions continue to place increasing strategic importance on their retail networks. Demand is increasing for integrated security solutions. Our brand is trusted by our customers and we have strong relationships on which to build. We have world-class products and services that offer us a competitive advantage in the marketplace. And we have a growing global footprint with a broad customer base.

From a financial perspective we are strong, with a solid balance sheet and significant cash flow. Our financial strength is reflected in the 10.8 percent increase in our 2005 dividend - the 52nd consecutive annual increase - and in the share repurchase program our board approved in December 2005.

But the one key feature of our company that is most important to us - and that underscores the confidence and optimism with which we face the future - is the commitment, energy and knowledge of our employees.

What we need to do - and what we are currently doing - is simple and straightforward. We are adopting a laser-like focus on the customer. We are instilling the value of increased customer satisfaction and loyalty into the foundation of our culture.

We know we'll always be striving to achieve our goal - and that's precisely the point. Customers' needs and expectations always change. Things that add value for our customers tomorrow will be different from what they are today and were yesterday. Customers constantly adapt to the dynamics of their markets. Therefore we must constantly adapt to the dynamics of our markets as well.

To build a strong culture focused on the customer, we've identified key areas of focus: improving quality and strengthening our supply chain; enhancing communications and teamwork; and rebuilding profitability.

With the introduction of Opteva^® and Agilis^®, we have developed a truly global product platform in our financial self-service business. The results of this effort are clear: there is strong demand in the marketplace for our offerings. But our ability to plan, source, build, test and ship our products has not kept pace. So we're adapting a unified global supply chain management process that is more responsive and efficient, and that eliminates waste. We're improving and streamlining how we test and validate our offerings before they reach the customer. And we're more effectively leveraging our global manufacturing capability to enhance productivity and reduce costs.

Diebold is a global company with more than 14,000 employees around the world. We are opening up lines of communication across job functions and geographies to share our knowledge and best practices. We are coordinating our efforts and collaborating on key initiatives. Enhancing communications and teamwork - up, down and across our company - is essential as we move forward.

In short, we've developed and are implementing an integrated approach to improving our operational infrastructure and processes. We've formed shared goals and priorities aligned with the needs of our markets. We're instilling more discipline throughout the organization. All of which will lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, and improved performance.