The Hornby Solution is a custom-branded application for Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s BlackBerry devices and the mobile Web. The service is multi-lingual and can be used over all carrier networks.

“Our strategy is to partner with marketers and financial services providers, allowing them to quickly and easily respond to growing interest and adoption of mobile smartphone technology in the consumer marketplace,” said Stevi Hanson, vice president of business development at The Hornby IT Group, Toronto.

“We understand there is an ever-shifting landscape of devices and platforms,” she said. “Despite this – it is essential that our customers compete in this space.

“The Hornby solution makes it easy for them to do this.”

The Hornby IT Group (HIT Group) is a private Canadian corporation that is self-financed and employee-owned. The company develops applications for prepaid, reloadable, loyalty programs, incentives, gift cards, consumer promotions and contests.

Mobile retention
Consumers can view their points balance and account statements, receive geographically and demographically targeted special offers, receive push offers directed at specific members.

The application also lets consumers geo-locate participating merchants or sponsors, browse a merchandise catalog, redeem points online or with points plush cash and top-off gift cards.

The hosted administration component allows program administrators to create new promotions, change graphic content and monitor the operation of the platform in real time. This allows for a member’s geo-data to be integrated back into an existing CRM application.

Ms. Hanson said the new service addresses the need for prepaid, gift card and loyalty program providers to be able to easily extend their Web infrastructure to all smartphones.

Ms. Hanson said everyone who has an iPhone understands the power of applications. However, the iPhone is only one part of the market and it is a real challenge for companies that are trying to minimize their technology spending to embark on developing many different smartphone client applications.

With the Hornby services, Ms. Hanson said providers need only integrate their Web backoffice into her company’s system in order to solve this problem.

HIT Group is targeting financial institutions, loyalty program providers, prepaid and reloadable gift cards incentive program management companies.

“Phones have become the wallet of the future,” Ms. Hanson said. “They are intensely personal, and we can therefore target individuals even more personally with demographic and geographically targeted communication.

“The primary benefit is the integration of geo-location aware services such as geographically targeted and triggered special offers,” she said. “In addition, customers can top up reloadable closed or open loop gift cards on the fly.”