Source: Applied Card Technologies
The largest smart card based loyalty scheme in Ireland being used by over 250,000 Esso 'TigerMiles' customers has been renewed with prime contractor Fujitsu Services, formerly ICL, and smart card solutions provider, Applied Card Technologies (ACT). The renewal of the contract follows a wide range of enhancements to the scheme which was first implemented three years ago.
Esso is Ireland's largest fuel retailer and it has deployed around 300 smart card terminals at its sites throughout the country as an integral part of its Esso TigerMiles customer loyalty scheme.
The scheme, replacing the traditional paper based Tiger Tokens/Esso Collection programme in operation since 1994, represented the first and most extensive smart card loyalty deployment in Ireland.
ACT was subcontracted by Fujitsu Services to develop the software applications behind the smart card driven solution based on three core technology requirements: terminals, back office and smart card based applications.
Gary Watts, managing director, ACT, stated: "It has been three years since the scheme was rolled out across the 300 sites throughout Ireland. The challenge for ACT was to customise our GEL loyalty software solutions to provide Fujitsu and ESSO with the tools to drive the TigerMiles scheme forward. Given the sheer scale of the implementation of our product we had to successfully devise software application business logic that could not only be deployed rapidly and one that could be integrated into existing systems but would provide a quick return on investment for the fuel giant. Given the simple fact that the contract has been renewed indicates that ACT was successful in attaining that goal and business objective for its clients."
ACT customised its widely acclaimed GEL - General Electronic Loyalty - product to provide an innovative and world beating solution for Esso. The back office and Webserver requirements are powered by Intel and Oracle.
The smart card itself has the software application loaded at the manufacturing stage and is capable of storing scheme value, personal data and has a comprehensive security layer.
The smart card readers - or terminals - are now situated in every Esso retail outlet and are able to calculate a wide range of dynamic awards based on GEL back office system analysis.
At TigerMiles headquarters the back office system licenced by ACT has enabled the centralised consolidation of data as well as a highly sophisticated management reporting, and product fulfilment functions. The GEL system also manages the redemption process, automatically forwarding reward redemptions to the Gift Voucher Shop for gift fulfilment.