Asda has launched an online management system that enables plastic gift cards to be used by employers as easily as paper gift vouchers.

The gift card management system (GCMS), developed by Jordan Media for Asda Business Rewards, offers increased flexibility for Asda gift cards in the incentive, reward and employee benefits markets.

As well as making employee incentive schemes easier to manage for any size of business, it can also help to reduce the costs associated with the security risks of storing high value gift vouchers and the secure postage required to distribute them.

Graham Sellors, Director of Asda Business Rewards, says: “The system is very simple yet secure and allows funds to be added remotely by an authorised administrator to new or existing gift cards.

“This system allows Asda gift cards to match the flexibility normally only associated with gift vouchers.”

Additional benefits of the GCMS include:

• 24/7 access – total control of funds by authorised customer - at the touch of a button.

• Security – cards can be suspended if lost or stolen.

• Remote access - cards can be securely managed from any computer with internet access.

• Pause-protect – a function allowing cards to be activated once they have reached the correct recipient.

• Re-use – all cards can be re-used as many times as necessary, recipients can also top-up the cards in-store themselves.