Procard Inc. has cleaned the rust off its engine and emerged retooled after 18 months in the repair shop.
The Golden, Colo.-based marketer of purchasing card software has overhauled its technical systems and added four major banks to its client list.
First USA Paymentech, Firstar Bank, Mellon Bank, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce have all signed on to use the upgraded software.
This is the first public announcement of Procard's endeavors since D. Dale Browning took over as president in September 1995, a few months after company founder Stanley Anderson stepped down.
The difference between Procard then and now is "night and day," said Mr. Browning. "The staff was good, but Procard lacked strategic direction and had not made the appropriate investments that were necessary to ensure quality of service for banks and their corporate clients."
For its makeover, Procard has added 20 employees, extended hours for the technical help desk, and created user guides for all software.
"Procard didn't have a great deal of credibility with third-party processors," Mr. Browning said. "It only supported MasterCard transactions and banks who used Total System (Services Inc.)."
Monday's release of the upgrade software, ProValue Services 4.0, means that Procard will now also support bank clients using Visa cards and all banks-regardless of their processor.
"Procard is now organized to be successful and under Dale's leadership is very focused on the business," said David Houser, vice president, commercial card services, at First Chicago NBD Corp., a longtime client.
"We wanted customized support and reporting systems, which Procard has delivered in the 4.0 product," Mr. Houser added.
With a system that Mr. Browning said is "by far more advanced than what is currently in the market," commercial card clients can now E-mail account administrators and cardholders.
The software also supports transaction volumes in excess of 200,000 per month.
By the end of the year, Procard also intends to integrate the software with electronic expense reporting and auditing of travel expenditures.
Additionally, Procard will roll out in the third quarter software that will allow clients to manage commercial card accounts over the Internet.
"We find that customers are not just looking for a purchasing card, but a total payment solution," said Rodney Bell, spokesman for First USA Paymentech.
"Procard had a good solution that works well within the processing and issuing side of our business," he added.
Joel Friedman, managing partner for Andersen Consulting in San Francisco, said Procard has lost ground to Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, which have bolstered their presence in the market with alternative commercial card systems.
But he said, "Purchasing transactions require more specificity than what companies capture in their accounting records, and the bank card systems and American Express typically haven't captured that level of detail."
By continually upgrading its systems, Procard is hoping to reestablish itself as a pioneer in the industry.
