Smart Bits: M&I to Use Diebold, Visa Smart Cards

M&I Data Services is installing a smart card system at its headquarters using technology from Diebold Inc. and Visa U.S.A.

M&I, the computer services subsidiary of Marshall & Illsley Corp., has 3,700 employees on two corporate campuses. When the system is finished, employees will be able to use Visa Cash smart cards in cafeterias, sundry stores, and dry cleaners.

The system's first phase, with disposable smart cards, began this fall. The second phase, which will introduce reloadable cards, is slated for completion in the second quarter of 1998.

Plans call for adding external merchants to the system.

"We wanted a smart card system that would be cost-efficient, easy to use in an open system, and reduce the congestion we were seeing at our cafeterias," said Al Dominick, president of the retail product delivery group at M&I Data Services. "Cash transactions take much more time than card-based purchases, so the effect on speeding up the lines at the cash register has been significant."

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