Headline news at Reuters global HQ

Cashless payment specialist VMC is making some headlines of its own at the new flagship global headquarters of media giant Reuters.

Almost 2,500 staff use the latest cashless card technology to purchase meals and refreshments at the 10-storey Canary Wharf offices in central London as part of the world’s largest international news and television agency.

Reuters announced in September 2003 that it was quitting its former historic Fleet Street home (occupied since 1939) and amalgamating various city offices into one centralised 280,000 sq ft base which is both modern and highly functional - opening just under two years later.

Cashless technology – where staff build up an electronic credit to make purchases at restaurants and vending machines - fits in perfectly with the new working environment, according to Reuters Facilities Services Manager, Rebecca Gay.

She explained: “ The main aim of introducing a cashless card system was to reduce the queuing times at the tills, so that the staff received a great service.  It has also had the positive effect of reducing the need for the catering staff to handle cash and freed up resources/time from the cashing up function at the end of the day.”

Cashless functionality is integrated with access control as part of a one card does it all approach at the Reuters HQ that contains a mix of client facing, Editorial and support functions.

Rebecca remarked: “It is very important that the security and cashless card operate as one.  We wanted to ensure that staff had just had one card to carry around and that it had a high value so they would take care of it.”

The cashless system was phased in during the Summer of 2005 and comprises catering tills, vending readers and also wall mounted credit loaders. Users can add electronic credit to their cards with cash or credit cards.

“The installation ran very smoothly, VMC were happy to work with all interested parties on site and come up with solutions to any problems that arose,” said Rebecca. “They kept in close contact with the on-site caterer and Reuters, and following each completed phase they provided valuable training for the new occupants which was very successful and hugely beneficial.”

VMC came out on top following a four-way competitive tender. Reuters looked at the whole market place and felt that VMC would deliver a robust, client friendly system, that provided value for money and fitted in with the overall restaurant design.

VMC earned praise for being very supportive, from the initial sales presentation through to complete implementation. Their staff were described as friendly and “quite happy to sort out queries and any problems that arose.”

Based on her experiences with VMC, Rebecca would recommend cashless to other companies, as she concluded: “I think that if you have a large site with a large population, a cashless system can provide major benefits both in providing great service to staff through a fast track transaction and also freeing up labour and improving costs by removing the need to handle cash.”

This case study is available for download (PDF)