Outlining why commercial card solutions providers may be best placed to co-ordinate and facilitate the collection of commercial card data for the multinational company.

• VAT reporting for customs and excise in VAT accredited countries in Europe
• Capturing line item and addendum data from local merchants
• Partnering with travel agencies to capture valuable travel information.

Client needs and expectations, in a multinational card programme, are that the 'lead' bank can provide consistent service directly or through local partners in each country. This is usually a significant challenge for any bank.

Providing global services in the main card issuing centres such as US, UK, France and Germany can be achieved through partnership co-operation, but what is the response when the client wants the bank to issue cards and provide services to its employees in India, Peru, Guatemala and China?

Under these circumstances it is understandable why multinational customers and indeed their banks turn to the card associations for help. The card associations have a direct relationship with banks and merchants across the globe and are truly global. They have an understanding of data and service requirements in each local country and they also have representation in each country. One can assume this is why many multinationals work directly with card associations and rely on the card associations to provide them with essential management information (MI) services. But of course the card associations are faced with the same challenges as the lead bank in terms of providing the multinational client with consolidated MI and services globally. This is a costly and resource-demanding task regardless of whether you are a bank or card association. It still involves gathering all of the commercial card data, from all of the banks, in all of the countries in which the MNC operates, and then consolidating this data and providing the MNC with a consolidated view of this data.

Consolidation is the key to making this run smoothly. The MNC customer wants a consolidated view of all commercial card data globally. The MNC customer wants to be able to view global travel spend - "What did my employees spend on all airline travel this month?" The MNC customer locally wants to know "What did my employees in the US spend with Holiday Inns this month?" This is what allows the MNC globally and locally to monitor and control travel costs.

However let's not forget that the MNC customer also uses cards to streamline paper-based processes. The key advantage of implementing cards and making purchasing data electronic is so that transactions can be processed on-line and automatically imported into global and local accounting systems and data warehouses. This is why the MNC customer wants consolidated MI and reporting but also detailed data that can be processed and imported into the appropriate internal systems. Both are key to managing the costs of company travel.

Whilst some companies have implemented an ERP solution globally, many have not. Even where they have, the data processing requirements of a multinational company in each country are unique. This is why the customer wants detailed data generated in the local country so it can be processed and imported into the local systems.

Under these circumstances it becomes more and more challenging for the banks and card associations to meet MNC commercial card requirements. The multinational customer ideally wants a relationship with one party that will meet and manage all commercial card requirements globally and locally - whether that party is a bank, card association or a commercial card solutions provider. Because the client inevitably has relationships with many banks, each country preferring their own bank and each of these banks sometimes issuing cards with different card associations, the suggestion is that a commercial card solutions provider, who has independent relationships with the banks in each country, may be the best party to lead, co-ordinate and facilitate the commercial card requirements of the multinational customer.

Commercial solutions from third parties have a growing role in collecting and consolidating commercial card data from all the payment card associations and banks around the world.

Deecal International has direct 'data relationships' with banks and travel agents globally. Through our relationships with the individual banks and travel agents in each country, Deecal captures commercial card data daily on behalf of its multinational customers and provides their users with access to specific data and services on its centrally hosted global platform, D.CAL. Deecal consolidates the commercial card data of the multinational client for global reporting, receiving the data from multiple banks located in multiple countries. At the same time Deecal provides access to detailed data for transaction processing and export to ERP and accounting systems.

The company acts as a repository for each of the banks with which the MNC has card relationships. From this repository card services are made available to the MNC customer to facilitate commercial card program management and growth, globally and locally.

Companies need all the data on their commercial cards usage regardless of which type of card or payment association it belongs to and where it is used. Only then will they really achieve the full cost savings and efficiencies that commercial cards offer.