Cardlink have developed Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) to meet this need and provide a real-time transaction process for both loyalty and payment spectrums.

OLTP facilitates the translation of third party message standards such as ISO 8583 fulfils the real-time needs of payment and loyalty solutions. It has been specifically designed to unite POS and card systems, connecting centralised switches via secure X25 or TCP/IP networks to the host system. Typical applications include verifying credit limits for payment solutions, offering real time rewards and points balances in loyalty systems, or any solution where secure ISO 8583 based messaging is required.

OLTP and Payment Systems

OLTP is a critical component when a payment system such as Card Manager is in a high volume or where fraud rate is high. In these cases, OLTP provides the ability for transactions to be validated and in real-time, not only preventing lost or stolen cards being used, but enabling payment systems to maintain up to the minute balances. It also enables advanced functions such as product checking, pre-authorisations, location checking or card frequency checking.

Where installations are in high volume environments, OLTP spreads the transaction load throughout the day and automates the process to 'hands off' process. This is a significant divergence to batch processing, where processing is intensified and requires manual intervention to load and supervise transaction processing. This allows staff to target key tasks in managing the payment process.

OLTP and Loyalty Systems

Utilisation of loyalty system functionality is vastly enhanced with the ability to offer real time interaction between members and the loyalty programme. Programme members enjoy immediate points issuance and availability, direct marketing or targeted promotions and heighten customer experience. For either issuance or redemption, OLTP facilitates a loyalty programme's ability to offer instant points and instant redemption, the result being instant loyalty.