RSL Art Union

Australia's most famous art union is using Decipha for imaging, payments processing and vital back-end support.

The RSL Art Union has been running its Queensland-based lottery since 1956. During this time it has given away more than $80 million in prizes and raised over $70 million for the construction and maintenance of RSL nursing homes and retirement villages. Funds are also provided for the welfare of ex-servicemen and women and their families.

The art union's marketing strategy has remained the same for more than a decade and is based on building high quality waterfront homes on Queensland's Gold Coast - one of Australia's most sought after residential locations. The RSL conducts 10 separate lotteries annually and offers a wide range of bonus prizes along with each spectacular property.

Recently (and after a rigorous tender process) the RSL Art Union awarded contracts to Decipha and Salmat, in recognition of their technological expertise and experience.

As one of Australia's largest and most popular charitable lotteries, it has focussed on developing and implementing streamlined processes across the enterprise, according to Luke Traini, Operations Manager, RSL Art Union.

"We handle millions upon millions of transactions a year," says Luke. "It's important that we have a high degree of operational efficiency to ensure that costs are managed and greater returns are generated for the veteran community.

"Our chosen business model allows us to partner with technologically advanced organisations like Decipha and Salmat to make sure that we remain at the forefront of the lottery industry."

Under the contract, Decipha provides mail collection, order processing and secure banking services for daily ticket orders. To ensure a high level of accountability and accuracy, each order is data captured and undergoes a rigorous reconciliation process.

Outsourcing these functions has brought a number of benefits to the RSL Art Union, according to Luke. "For a start there are no capital outlays and no technology replacement programs. We also have access to highly skilled personnel and best of breed business processes," he says. Comprehensive service level agreements have ensured that the RSL is able to manage the contract with a high degree of control and transparency.

Customers have also benefited from the new arrangement. "We have increased processing capacity during peak periods, which has led to a faster turnaround of orders and higher levels of customer service."

And because data is captured electronically, the customer service teams can access the customer records at the click of a mouse. "This means our customer service staff are only ever a single click away from the original order. It enables us to offer higher levels of customer service much faster," says Luke.

The RSL Art Union team has been impressed with the service provided by Decipha. "The communication between Decipha and our team has been good, with all project briefs and specifications handled through a strict process," he says.

According to Mike Hamill, Business Development Manager, Decipha, the service provided to RSL demonstrates Decipha's capability to be more than just a component of a total solution. "The challenge we have met in this project has been ensuring that the electronic capture of data and funds processing is completed with accuracy and on time."