The use of IT offers tremendous advantages. At the time of implementation, what benefits did the use of Spot Cards offer to the following groups:

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

? Jaguar stadium snack and souvenir vendors?
? Fans in the stadium?
? First Union Bank?
At the time this system was implemented, the Spot Card technology offered several benefits not only
to vendors but also to the fans and to First Union. The following summarizes the key benefits of the
system at the time of implementation.
Benefits to Stadium Snack and Souvenir Vendors
One of the significant benefits to vendors was the removal of cash handling by sales personnel roaming
the stadium. The use of the Spot Card in place of cash reduced the handling of cash, which in turn
reduced the risk of loss of cash through error or misappropriation. In addition, the Spot Card allowed
the sales personnel to process sales more quickly than when processing traditional cash sales, which led
to increased sales opportunities.
Given that the POS machines were responsible for retrieving the correct unit price and for
processing the sales amount, vendors were less dependent on the abilities of sales personnel to correctly
process individual sales amounts thus reducing the risk of human error in calculating the sales amount.
The POS machines were able to capture more specific information about transactions for each
vendor. Data about products sold, the location in the stadium where the sale occurred and the time
when the sale occurred provided useful operating data for each vendor to manage his/her business.
Better operating information should have helped vendors manage their businesses more effectively.
Benefits to Fans in the Stadium
The primary benefit to the fan was convenience. They no longer had to handle cash to purchase goods
as long as they had their Spot Card with an available balance on the chip. The use of Spot Cards likely
sped up the time it takes to purchase products, which allowed fans to pay closer attention to the game
at hand.
Fans also benefitted from the reliance on the POS machine to calculate sales amounts. Fans
were less dependent on the sales personnel correctly retrieving unit prices and calculating sales
amounts. Vendors were also likely able to better meet customer needs through the information they
gathered.
Benefits to First Union
The primary benefit to First Union was the generation of fees related to the sale and installation of
the Spot Card system. Profit margins that were built into the sale and installation led to profits for the
bank.
Once a system was installed, the bank received a fee from each Spot Card transaction processed.
In addition, the bank received additional fees for the sale of signature Spot Cards. First Union most
likely received other fees when adding balances to fan Spot Cards. For example, to the extent fans
increased balances on credit cards sponsored by First Union, the bank received additional income from
interest earned on outstanding credit card balances.
First Union also received all outstanding cash balances on Spot Cards that were unused at the
end of two years.
Finally, assuming that the Jacksonville Spot Card systems worked effectively, First Union would
have benefitted from the marketing exposure and publicity associated with the use of the Spot Card
technology. Perhaps a Spot Card user was a business owner that may have later engaged First Union to
implement a similar technology in another business.