MasterCard announced several enhancements to its Smart Data application, two of which focus on capturing transaction data more accurately into the card application, while a third gives corporate managers more flexibility in custom reporting and getting information out of the application.
According to MasterCard:
The new Smart Data Mobile Receipt Capture App for iOS, Android and Blackberry users enables corporate cardholders to directly upload receipt images by taking a smartphone picture and attaching it to the transaction when filing their expense report, allowing cardholders to toss the dreaded paper receipt.
Image capture for receipts was one of the capabilities most desired by travelers in a recent survey conducted by Mercator Advisory Group in conjunction with TSYS and CPI, so MasterCard is perfectly on target with this new capability. The second data capture enhancement is a mobile fleet app which enables fleet drivers to record specialized transaction details for use when they visit a fueling location that does not automatically capture the information desired by their fleet program managers.
The third element of new functionality will benefit not only corporate customers, but their issuing banks as well. Smart Data had been limited in its support for customized or user-formatted reports, requiring corporations to ask their respective issuing banks to set up specialized reporting as needed. The new announcement also describes what is called “User-Defined Exports” (UDEs) enabling corporate managers to design the report they want to see, and to obtain it far faster than has been possible when they must wait for the bank to respond to a customization request. Overall, MasterCard has not introduced anything entirely new or ground-breaking here, but they have repaired several serious short-comings in Smart Data.
Click here to read more from MasterCard’s press release.