ROBERT HUBER ASSOCIATES

"Campus Cards Go ... Back to the Future"
(August 2001)

Next to the high-tech promise offered by Smart Cards, magnetic stripe cards might seem to be yesterday's news. However, "mag-stripe" card technology has more than held its own against the competition; in fact it has thrived. And according to Robert Huber, a campus-card consultant with more than 20 years of experience in the industry and president of Robert Huber Associates, the future remains bright for mag-stripe cards.

There are a number of reasons for that. One obvious one is cost. Another is the nature of mag-stripe cards themselves - they are easy to interface with the on-line technology that exists on virtually every modern campus. Finally, there is familiarity.

"Campus card has been around for 30 years, and have been prominent for the last 15 to 20 years," said Huber. "So what you have now are auxiliary service directors and school vice presidents that have had experience with several different card systems. They have become both more educated and skeptical about new vendors and technologies."

According to Huber, most school administrators want to be able to rely on their campus-card systems as a management tool and to use it in many applications, so they tend to look for mature technologies and software. The result, said Huber, is that when it comes time to install or change a campus-card system, their primary request is "give me something that you know is going to work."

That tendency to stick with the familiar is further amplified by today's economic realities. "In an era of tighter budgets, administrators want to make sure that their investment is going to help them achieve their objectives," said Huber. In addition, mag-stripe cards and systems are inherently less expensive than most alternatives.

While mag-stripe is a mature technology, that does not mean that it is a stagnant one. Schools and vendors are always looking for easy to get more functionality out of existing and new installations. One example of that is to tie in off-campus merchants to allow students to use their cards in more venues.

Another trend that has Huber excited is the emergence of biometrics. "Students are tired of having a half dozen passwords to half dozen computers and software applications," he said. With biometrics, students should be able to go to any appropriate terminal, be it on-campus or anywhere in the world; swipe their campus card; present their fingerprint; and then be able to access their e-mail, etc. In Huber's view, that could be the "killer app" that finally gets more smart cards onto campuses, though the technology could also be used with mag-stripe cards.

In Huber's view, when it comes to campus cards, the most important thing is not what technology it uses, but what that technology can accomplish. "Try to look as campus cards as a tool, not as a master," he said. "It can do wonderful things for you, but you have to give it perspective and not be mesmerized by it. Because when you start becoming mesmerized, it will take you over."

Excerpt from On-Campus Hospitality (August 2001).

Consultant Background
About The Author (2007-2008)
What's Hot and What's Not (2006)
Campus Card Forecast (2007)
Campus Card Forecast (2002)
Campus Card Forecast (2000)
"Campus Cards Go Back to the Future"