Universal Smart Cards secures US hotel chain order

Universal Smart Cards will supply 1.5m cards to an American hotel and casino chain, representing the largest order in the Accrington company's 20-year history.

USC manufactures smart cards, readers and related technology and recently expanded into the US after developing an international website with Blackburn firm eBusiness UK.

The contract covers the provision of smart cards which will be used as secure room keys and loyalty cards for both guests and staff for the chain which has locations in cities Atlanta and Las Vegas.

The company has also recruited four new members of staff to help handle the contract and others like it.

Josh Coulson, marketing manager at Universal Smart Cards, said: “We had secured a number of contracts from overseas companies through our original website and the trade shows we had attended.

“This showed us that there was a sizeable market for our smart cards. We also knew that our products were more advanced than those manufactured locally in the USA or Canada, so we decided to open an office in California and build a website so that we could better communicate with our target audience.”

Universal Smart Cards called on eBusiness UK’s web development team, which it has worked with for almost 10 years, to help build the international-facing website.

The American website serves visitors with regional content written in American English and has its own payment processing systems which better handles the US dollar. However, all websites can be updated through one centralised back-office system, so there is no duplicated efforts when refreshing the sites or their content.

Josh added: “The two websites look very similar but our dot-com site been tailored to suit our American audience. The web development has been a very worthwhile investment as it played a key part in securing our largest ever contract.”

eBusiness UK director Nasir Kothia said: “We are delighted that our friends at Universal Smart Cards have secured this order. We have worked with them for many years and we know that they are hard workers with a great product.” “We are also pleased that the investment in developing a US-facing website has paid off in a big way. It’s testament to the difference that the web can make when used to its full potential.”