ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Dynamic Card Solutions, the company that brought both credit unions and banks the ability to issue cards on-site, has stepped up its hardware to now allow the issuance of personalized cards on-site.
With the new hardware, users of Dynamic's Card Wizard can add any background image to the front or back of a card. Financial institutions can deliver standard background designs or allow customers to choose custom designs including their own images to be printed on cards, the company said.
The instant issuance package transfers the image along with all personalization data where the card is printed on the spot without requiring a separate embosser. These images are printed onsite onto both sides of association-branded blank stock in high definition full color, eliminating the need to store multiple card stocks at branch locations and adding greater personalization at the branch.
Ron Zanotti, vice president with DCS, said the company is currently beta testing the machinery with a bank in Maine and finding the personalized cards have had a strong impact. The pilot is running in 48 of the bank's branches.
Part of the attraction is the instant issuance technology itself, which has been shown to increase retention and card activation rates where it has been deployed, Zanotti explained. The personalization aspect merely helps the financial institution make the card even more attractive to its customers or members.
"Most banks and credit unions are looking for a competitive advantage in order to retain and gain customers. Adding the ability to instantly issue customized background cards helps all institutions achieve the goal of instant gratification for their customers while providing a high level of card personalization," Zanotti said.
"Custom background personalization allows banks and credit unions to instantly provide highly personalized debit, credit, and prepaid cards and increase the number of branded cards issued while reducing operating procedures and costs associated with card issuance," he said, adding, "Providing our more than 350 customers with the best, most reliable and affordable instant issuance capabilities is key to their success. By offering these types of solutions, we further our commitment to drive innovation for the instant issuance industry."
Zanotti said that the cost of the instant issuance package was in the thousands of dollars and was much less than the cost of a new full service ATM.
"What we find is that once a credit union prices the cost of our technology against the costs of new card issuance and fulfillment and then factors in the increased card activation and member satisfaction, the more cost effective our product," Zanotti said.
--dmorrison@cutimes.com
