Las Vegas, Dec. 13, 1999 — For companies who rely on call center and e-commerce applications to sell their goods and services, credit cards are truly their financial lifeblood.
Maritz Inc., Dial America Marketing Inc. and Weyerhaeuser Company – all multi-million dollar enterprises- are just a few of the more than 2,000 companies worldwide that have chosen electronic payment solutions developed by Shift4 Corporation.
Shift4’s $$$ IN THE BANK® is a powerful electronic payment application that delivers real-time credit card authorizations to multiple points of sale (order entry, IVR, Web-based applications) through a universal, PC-based authorization gateway.
An accounting/audit module enhances the application to create a complete credit card processing and management system. A Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) allows $$$ IN THE BANK to be integrated into any business environment, regardless of technology platform, communication protocol, network type or banking relationship.
In lieu of a direct application interface, many call-center clients have chosen to use WinTx, Shift4’s desktop transaction processing utility. This PC-based application works in conjunction with $$$ IN THE BANK, allowing multiple operators to process real-time authorizations from dispersed PCs on an enterprise network.
Maritz, Inc. (Maritz Travel Company, Maritz Performance Improvement Company, Maritz Marketing Research Inc., Maritz Internet Technologies Company)
Maritz’ Performance Improvement and Travel divisions have utilized Shift4 software since October 1997. For Maritz, $$$ IN THE BANK provides real-time credit card authorizations via a high-speed leased line connection to their bank processing center. Through an Application Program Interface (API), both Maritz’ call center and web-based e-commerce systems utilize $$$ IN THE BANK as their credit card authorization gateway. The system allows Maritz to book merchandise orders, travel reservations and process payments for its corporate clients, while keeping each company’s transaction records separate, significantly simplifying a potentially confusing accounting process.
In the accounting office the application’s Audit Station provides real-time access to current-day and historical transaction information. The audit station is enhanced by advanced reporting and charge back handling capabilities.
According to Kenton Coffman, Division Vice President, Performance Improvement Company, “$$$ IN THE BANK’s architecture allows us to extend payment processing across our entire enterprise, which includes the rapidly growing e-commerce business of Maritz Internet Technologies”.
The Maritz implementation utilizes two Windows NT® network servers to deliver system redundancy and load balancing, while providing inter-company data communications.
“Before choosing $$$ IN THE BANK, we had considered both CyberCash® and Paylinx®“, states Mr. Coffman. “$$$ IN THE BANK’s reliability and scalability were two important factors in choosing Shift4’s solution.” he adds.
Dial America Marketing Inc.
Dial America’s call center processes thousands of phone and paper-based orders daily. The company has been using $$$ IN THE BANK as the payment gateway to its merchant bank processor center since November 1998.
“Before we installed $$$ IN THE BANK, we had to input credit card information manually, and each transaction went out for approval individually,” said Joanne Turner, Remittance Processing Manager for Dial America. “Now we can handle multiple merchants simultaneously and, most importantly, have an online database for storage of information – which makes research a snap.”
“We are also extremely impressed with Shift4’s customer service; on a scale of one to 10, I would give the company a 10. Technicians call us back quickly and always provide an answer.”
Call center operators enter card and billing information directly into the WinTx application at their PC workstations and receive authorization responses, via Dial America’s local area network (LAN), in eight to 10 seconds. The $$$ IN THE BANK Audit Station allows centralized reporting, depositing and charge back record storage for every transaction from all WinTx workstations.
As an anti-fraud measure, Dial America employs Address Verification Service (AVS) to verify that shipping and card billing addresses match.
Dial America plans to extend $$$ IN THE BANK’s payment processing functionality to support its Web site sales beginning in the year 2000.
Weyerhaeuser Company
Weyerhaeuser, an international forest products company, has been utilizing $$$ IN THE BANK since December 1998. The $$$ IN THE BANK transaction engine, located in Tacoma, Wash., acts as the enterprise payment gateway through a single dial-up line to Weyerhaeuser’s merchant bank, supporting approximately 40 offices around the United States.
Shift4’s WinTx application is loaded on nearly 250 dispersed PC workstations, allowing multiple users to simultaneously process payment transactions with the click of a mouse. Authorization responses are delivered to users, via Weyerhaeuser’s corporate wide area network (WAN), within eight to 10 seconds.
In addition to standard credit cards, $$$ IN THE BANK/WinTx accommodates the processing of extended information in support of Level III purchase card transactions, significantly streamlining the billing cycle.
At Weyerhaeuser’s home office, the $$$ IN THE BANK Audit Station allows centralized auditing, reporting, depositing and charge back record storage for every transaction from all 40 locations.
“Before we began to use Shift4’s products, we were not able to accept credit cards as a form of payment,” said Ed Carda, Weyerhaeuser’s Business Controller. “With $$$ IN THE BANK, a whole new business opportunity has been created for us.”
About Maritz
Maritz has been in business since 1894. Their clients include leading companies throughout the world. They are the largest source of integrated performance improvement, travel and marketing research services globally. Maritz Performance Improvement Company and Maritz Travel Company are part of the Maritz Inc. family of companies, the largest single source of integrated performance improvement, travel, and marketing research in the world, employing over 6,000 people and generating annual revenues of more than $2.2 billion. Maritz is headquartered on a 210-acre campus in suburban St. Louis, MO, USA, and delivers its services through 240 offices located in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.
About Dial America
Established in 1957 as Life Circulation Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., Dial America is a closely held company with annual sales in excess of $200 million. One of the largest teleservice agencies in the United States and the preeminent magazine subscription marketer, servicing 60 percent to 70 percent of this market segment, Dial America also is a leading provider of telemarketing services for the book publishing, entertainment, financial services, software and telecommunications industries.
Collectively, Dial America employees place more than 250 million phone calls annually from approximately 6,000 workstations. On average, the company employs more than 10,000 telephone sales representatives.
About Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE:WY) is one of the world’s largest integrated forest products companies, the top U.S. forest products exporter and a leading recycler. Based in Federal Way, Wash., it is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction, development and related activities.
Weyerhaeuser was incorporated in 1900. In 1998, sales were $10.8 billion. It has offices or operations in 12 countries, with customers worldwide, and approximately 35,800 employees in the United States and Canada.