Smartcard Business
Introduction
The Sharp Smart Card System is now the most used Cashless System in the catering sector.
CCM / Sharp have the pleasure of supplying and supporting a growing number of major catering companies and government agencies including a unique jurors meal payment system developed for Crown Court Services by CCM.
We also have numerous systems installed in : Hospitals, Police Authorities, Pub Partnerships, Holiday Parks , Retail Stores, and Industrial Canteens.
Our systems have been developed over 15 years and have proved to be efficient, reliable and cost effective.
The System has acquired fame on GM Breakfast Television, Tomorrow's World, BBC National News and ITN News who commended the system for its ingenuity and in particular its "Healthy Eating" programme in educational catering.
Overview & Security
The Sharp Smart Card System utilises the latest smart card technology and not the outdated magnetic stripe option.
Our smart card system utilises a cash register with a smart card reader interfaced to it. All cards can be loaded with prepayments of any value. This is done in one simple quick operation at any cash register and a statement, showing the new balance, is printed. Goods can then be purchased to the value on the Smart Card.
If the Card has insufficient value to cover a meal, the shortfall is calculated by the terminal and can be paid in cash or items can be returned.
When the card is running low on funds the system will alert the operator to inform the holder that they need to re-value their card.
The system is not dedicated to Smart Card and can be used for infrequent purchases on a cash only basis.
The System also has the facility to control hospitality / complimentary meals supplied as well as staff on a free meal entitlement.
A number of security features have been built into the system which include the simple operation of hotlisting lost or stolen cards and automatically transferring any unused balances onto a new card.
If a hotlisted card is later presented as payment for goods the operator will be informed that this card has been previously hotlisted.
It is also possible to programme the users name onto a card which is displayed to the operator when used, a signature strip is incorporated and it is possible to add photo ID if required.
Meal funds can be paid by cheque to the caterers which prevents the need to carry money on a daily basis.
Meal Entitlements
Could you improve the way free meal entitlements are coped with ?
The Sharp Smart Card System has the solution ! ! !
Free meal cards are personalised to a set allowance this allows the card to be electronically pursed each day with the set meal allowance.
There are 99 card groups available which can be formatted for different daily meal plan allowances and audit spends for cost centres.
Card expiry dates can also be formatted on the card, preventing card use after a delegates training course has finished.
The card holder can also place additional funds on to the card this is stored in a separate purse known as Own Funds.
If the free meal allowance is not used or partly used it is automatically cleared at the end the day (or rolled over if required).
If the holder overspends their allowance they can pay the extra from their "Own Funds" available on the card , or pay cash.
The free allowance is utilised first, then the overspend is deducted from their "Own Funds". It is possible to refund items from the tray if funds are unavailable.
It is also possible, if required, to inhibit confectionery purchases with the free meal allowance and determine when the allowance is used i.e.: time zone.
Meal allowances can be pursed to the card either daily or monthly.
A daily audit report is produced showing the number of free meals supplied as well as the cost of the meals supplied.
Smart cards are a quick, efficient, and secure method of accounting for free meals issued.
Lottery & Healthy Eating
To further promote interest in the system, a lottery feature has been included.
Any number of prizes can be offered and a simple operation at the terminal selects active card users at random and allots the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes etc.
A new development is the loyalty system, which can be utilised to promote healthy eating or as a marketing tool.
The loyalty system can be utilised to promote Healthy Eating , points are allotted to healthy products only, therefore encouraging officers to change their eating habits.
Alternatively the points can be allotted to all products to promote restaurant sales, points can either be allotted on a spend factor e.g : £1.00 = 10 points or by each product purchased (this allows the caterer marketing opportunities).
When points have been accumulated they can be redeemed for credit on the card or items of interest e.g. gift vouchers, book tokens, leisure tokens, record token, etc.
Loyalty Discounts / Subsidies
The smart card can also be utilised as a secure form of discount, cards can be personalised to allow a set discount on certain product lines.
Products are entered at the normal retail price when the transaction is finalised the terminal will read the smart card for the discount group it belongs to, the terminal will then apply the appropriate rate of discount to the sale.
Additional Smartcard Applications
Smart Card technology is now being utilised by numerous other major companies.
The following uses have been added to our Sharp Smart Card:
- Access Control
- Photographic ID
- Photocopying
Conclusion
THE ABOVE FEATURES ENSURE THAT THE SHARP SMART CARD SYSTEM IS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE AND FLEXIBLE SYSTEM IN TODAY'S MARKET AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE
Questions & Answers
Why CCM / Sharp?
CCM are the market leaders in cashless systems for catering, having gained over 9 years knowledge and experience with new smart card technology. (Previous to this we offered magnetic stripe solutions which many companies are still operating).
Sharp Electronics are one of the worlds largest manufacturers of electronic systems.
CCM have 32 years experience of marketing and supporting retail systems with Sharp who are the number one suppliers of hospitality systems in the UK.
Our system utilises a conventional cash register with a proven record for reliability (Over 28,000 in use in the UK alone).
Software is not required to control our system, although we do have a complete back office database system with reports for larger installations.
As we do not use file servers and software driven applications like many other similar applications. Therefore our system is more secure in that if any terminal malfunctions all other terminals are still operable, whereas a file server that malfunctions will automatically cause all terminals linked to it to malfunction.
CCM/Sharp are dedicated to customer support not only on implementation of the system but also in after sales support.
Quotation prices are fully inclusive, with no hidden charges for telephone hotline support, staff training, maintenance, and project management fees.
CCM/Sharp offer the most cost effective solution.
CCM clients benefit from their wealth of experience in the catering sector.
What are Smart Cards?
Smart cards are similar in appearance to standard credit, debit, and loyalty cards. The one significant difference is that smart cards do not have an encoded magnetic stripe, instead they have an embedded intelligent chip.
The easiest way of explaining this chip is to compare it with a hard disk on a computer which can be read or written into.
Smart cards can have varying size memory chips embedded on the card. Sharp utilise a 2k memory chip of which only 10% is used to control our system, this allows other applications to be integrated onto the same card.
Why Smart Cards?
Smart Cards within the next five years will be the industry standard in debit and credit cards.
The major high street banks and finance houses are now investing in the change over to smart card technology.
Smart cards have an anticipated working life of 10 years compared to 3 years with magnetic stripe cards.
Smart Card systems are more secure than magnetic stripe cards as the processed information is written to the terminal; and also to the chip on the card , therefore if one part of the system fails then the other part works as an automatic restore facility. Magnetic cards are only written to the terminal.