Front Line Innovations, Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Front Line Innovations, Inc - Essay ExampleFront Line Innovations, Inc. (FLII) provides pro management and resource and cost effective marketing concepts, programs, and systems requirements that address concerns on customer retention, operational solutions, increased gross revenue productivity, and increase quality of services.Incorporated in 1999, FLII combines the managerial expertise and resources of its proprietors to produce a marketing and management company and an IT company as well that would set the trend in management consultancy and alternative marketing in the industry. Investments in additional capital expenditures and manpower are put up by the shareholders as required on a per flip basis.Resource tie-ups such as that with Goldplus, Converge Systems Inc., and Smart Card Solutions Inc. provide the base requirements for one of FLIIs major applications involving rally-based programs such as co-branded credit card and consignment programs. Likewise, this allows FLII to structure marketing incentive programs tailor-fit for its clients.The office software set-up as well the customized software systems required for clients have been fixed by FLIIs technical group. FLIIs current manpower complement is composed of 30 sales and marketing, processing, encoding and admininstration personnel.Industry BackgroundSmart CardsThough a relatively new technology, smart cards have become an increasingly popular solution around the globe. A smart card is a tiny integrated-circuit chip embedded in a credit card-sized piece of plastic. The chip is what makes the card smart as it allows a lot more information to be stored and carried in the card compared to the standard magnetic-stripe card (Verifone, 1996). Smart cards have been used to solve a variety of problems ranging from serving as a platform for frequent-shopper electronic loyalty programs, to providing a super secure and convenient automated currency option, to enabling cost-effective healthcare and enti tlement programs.Electronic Loyalty ProgramsWith the intense competition that characterizes retailing worldwide, forward-looking retailers have been turn to card-based electronic loyalty programs to attract new customers and retain their current customer base. Smart cards have the opportunity to play a major exercise in electronic loyalty programs. Electronic loyalty programs use a retailers POS system to track purchases made with credit, debit, smart cards or a retailers branded card. Consumers can be rewarded for their continued patronage with discounts, free items, bonus points or other incentives. Experience has shown that such programs encourage repeat business and boost sales for the merchant (Verifone, 1996). The primary business of FLII is developing a loyalty program system integrator to enable the smart card to work with a retailers POS or any other tracking system. With the system, they are able to capture customer information from pre to post sales operations. Thus, F LIIs core value lies on its ability to develop this type of proprietary software which is tailored to the