The system provides member financial institutions with online access to customer and market research, forms and timely transaction information. It has gained popularity quickly; the total number of users doubled in 2001, one year after the service was deployed in March 2000. And 87 percent of interactions are now conducted online.

Competitive Edge

The idea of a company moving its services online is not new, but the sheer volume of publications, reports and interactive services?complemented by the ease of use, cost and time savings, and possible savings of a small forest?s worth of paper?is what gave MasterCard a competitive edge in its industry and an honorable mention from this year?s Enterprise Value Awards judges. ?Other companies have done extranets; however, the magnitude of the undertaking is usually not on this scale.... Members and users are flocking to this new capability and openly state there is little comparison with the competition,? says Enterprise Value Awards Review Board Member Bob Reck, president and cofounder of the Kendall Consulting Group of Sarasota, Fla.

MasterCard has recently been gaining a lead in the battle with Visa for market dominance. According to Avivah Litan, vice president and research director at Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner, last year the number of Visa cardholders was down 0.2 percent, while MasterCard?s cardholder numbers were up 21 percent. The correlation between Member Services Online and MasterCard?s successes is hard to make, but in this highly competitive field, with financial institutions battling for consumer dollars in a soft economy, any system aimed at providing better customer service helps.

Fast Credit

The system?s original goal was to merely enhance available online resources for MasterCard?s own customer service representatives. But soon, the company?s executives saw broader benefits in extending the system to member banks as well. MasterCard built the new system by holding focus groups with financial institutions and heeding their recommendations for which services to include in the system.

MasterCard has invested about $2.6 million annually in the system since 2000 and claims payback on this expenditure in less than two years from the first dollar spent. Vice President of Member Services Thomas Wham, a key developer of Member Services Online, says that MasterCard can now track which online services are being used and which are not. During the first eight months of launch, usage of two online products soared, while others barely got a glance, giving MasterCard indicators on where to focus any product enhancements, says Wham. MasterCard Global Technology and Operations Center Senior Executive Vice President Jerry McElhatton calls Members Services Online ?one of the most valuable individual applications that we have developed for our members.? McElhatton says that so far this year transaction numbers are up 18 percent, a jump he partially attributes to MasterCard?s excellence in customer service.