Are B’s the New C’s?

That’s what teachers are supposed to say in elementary school. Your kid may eat paste and argue with his shoes during quiet time, but his teachers will still fervently claim that he’s gifted. I understand that.

But I’m pretty sure Riley’s teachers were being sincere. They’ve always praised her up and down, using phrases ranging from “uniquely intelligent,” to “smart and precocious.” Our favorite teacher, our beloved Ms. Sullivan from 4th grade, wrote on that year’s progress report: “Riley is extraordinarily smart and curious. With the right guidance, she could use her intellectual abilities to achieve world domination.”

“B’s are nothing to sneeze at, for sure. But I wouldn’t call them ‘good’ grades, exactly. Especially in subjects were you could be getting As.” In that moment, I was conveniently forgetting all the B’s I myself received in school. Not to mention… er, a few sub-B’s.

“It’s just that I don’t think of you as a… B-level thinker,” I added. “You know? You’re definitely A material. Especially when it comes to reading and writing. So I think we need to work a little harder. Shouldn’t be too tough. Let’s start making more time after school to go over your English homework. Deal?”

She didn’t really know what to say to that, and our conversation sort of sputtered from there. I got the Frown, the Brow Furrow, the Exasperated Sigh. Begrudging agreement that we’d start devoting more time to what I’ve always thought was her favorite subject.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen from here. Frankly, I find myself feeling torn. On the one hand, grades are important. I know they are. And I do believe that sometimes, we need to put the heat on with our kids to get them motivated. On the other hand, I always swore I’d never pay my daughter for good grades to provide incentive, or threaten her with the revoking of privileges if her grades aren’t high enough. Neither tactic seems right to me.

I know that by teaching discipline now, I’ll be helping her prepare for high school, where grades are more important and can make all the difference come college application time. I also know that the best way to really get good grades is to care about getting good grades.

MasterCard today announced mobile innovations and feature enhancements to Smart Data, the company’s industry leading suite of commercial expense management and analytics products. Among the updates, new receipt management mobile applications can liberate corporate cardholders from the burden of getting and filing paper receipts for expenses.

The new Smart Data Mobile Receipt Capture App for iOS, Android and Blackberry users, enable corporate cardholders to directly upload receipts by taking a smartphone picture and directly attaching them to an expense report and allowing cardholders to toss the dreaded paper receipt. Managers will appreciate the efficiency and control of the mobile app as it effortlessly connects the cardholders receipt to the backside accounting systems.

In addition, MasterCard is releasing a Mobile Fleet e-Receipt App to assist businesses and governments needing accurate and timely data to manage automotive fleets. The mobile fleet app allows drivers to visit any fuel merchant and enter the data required by their fleet managers, including the type and amount of fuel purchased or the price paid per gallon along with many additional features. With this new App, companies can benefit from greater vehicle efficiency and driver compliance that can help achieve additional costs savings.

We’ve been monitoring sensible expense management mobile applications for some time and this year decided to strategically enter the space. Our new Smart Data receipt capture app for iOS, Android and Blackberry allows corporate cardholders to keep the receipt, but toss the paper. To speed up expense reporting and reconciliation, corporate cardholders can now directly upload receipt images by taking a smartphone picture and then attaching the image to the individual transaction when they complete their expense report. We are actively taking issuers and their commercial companies on board for that ongoing pilot.

Similarly, we’ve identified a need for Fleet refueling data, especially in markets where merchants do not capture or send it along to cardholding companies. So we’ve been piloting a mobile app that requires data input at the refueling point. Responding to prompts, drivers enter data such as merchant, amount, type and cost of fuel, odometer reading and driver number, and the data ships to their reporting and accounting tools. It’s shown an improvement in efficiencies for companies in the areas in Canada and Europe where we’ve piloted.

Savings from using an automated system instead of paper-based reconciliation are well documented; for example, the combined application of travel card and expense management technology cuts the overall time to process an expense report by 54%, according to the RPMG 2011 Corporate Travel Card Benchmark Survey. Our mobile receipt capture application should speed that process even further, leaving employees more time for more profitable pursuits.

Additionally, the RPMG 2012 Purchasing Card Benchmark Survey reported that 61% of North American corporations that use spending data to negotiate vendor discounts report getting a higher discount because of the practice. That could apply to our Fleet application, as it supports more accurate data capture than manual processes (or no process at all), thus giving companies more insight into how much and how often they’re paying for fuel at specific merchants.