Press & Events

Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment Technology Makes a Comeback; This Time It's Here to Stay

July 2003 - OutputLinks - In the late 1990's, leaders in the print and mail industry began developing technology to enable consumers to receive and pay bills using the Internet. Analysts began predicting the eventual demise of the paper-based billing business, and some companies committed wholeheartedly to making the new technology work. Several print and mail companies claimed to offer groundbreaking, turnkey electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) services.

Industry experts know how the first part of this story turned out – the general consumer was not ready for online bill payment. That lack of consumer interest put some companies out of business and forced others to rethink their business plans. Some of those in the latter group had invested a great deal of money and effort into creating electronic bill presentment technology, but because consumers were not ready, the only option was to find another use for the technology in the interim.

The first actual, effective, profitable use of electronic bill presentment technology was the desire to provide better customer service. This application involves enabling the customer service representative (CSR) to pull up an exact electronic representation of a consumer's bill while on the phone with the consumer. In the past, the CSR would look at a screen that displayed all of the information but looked nothing like what the consumer on the other end of the phone was holding in his hand. Using electronic presentment for customer service has been extremely effective and should continue for years to come.

For companies printing and mailing multiple thousands of bills each month, it is likely that some bill recipients just will not understand what they are looking at, and others will have problems or questions regarding their bill. With electronic presentment technology at the customer service level, a CSR who is looking at the same document as the consumer can easily point a consumer to certain information on the document. Better customer service makes for happier, better-informed consumers and fewer headaches for everyone involved.

The next step in the evolution of this technology occurred when companies realized they could place an electronic representation of a bill on their Web site for consumers to view. This enables a consumer to see their bill before it arrives in the mail, allowing earlier planning for their monthly bill paying schedule. The information is archived as well, giving the consumer the ability to view the physical representation of a bill up to several months after it has been paid. This is another customer service benefit, but more importantly, it has warmed the general public to the final iteration of the technology – the final “P” in EBPP.

The true value of electronic bill presentment lies in the payment aspect. Now, several years after the technology was first introduced, average consumers are slowly adopting online bill payment. Familiarity with computers, the proliferation of Internet access and advancements in online transaction security have made more people comfortable viewing and paying their bills electronically. The technology makes it possible for companies to enable consumers to view and pay their bill online.

With EBPP, consumers are able to view and pay bills in a more timely fashion than is possible with paper-based billing. It also allows the billing company to monitor payment habits of a consumer. If a consumer always pays a bill online, the billing company can eventually stop sending a paper bill to that consumer. If enough consumers reach that stage, the billing company will save on materials cost and postage.

In addition to savings, EBPP provides billing companies with the ability to more effectively send other information along with the bill. For instance, with EBPP technology, Web site links, advertisements or other information can easily be included along with the electronic version of the bill. The electronic nature of the medium also enables the billing company to create an online profile of its consumers – providing the company with a better idea of what type of advertisements, information or other offers could be provided to particular customers.

Currently, print and mail businesses that serve the brokerage industries are seeing the effectiveness of EBP technology firsthand. Brokerage customers tend to be more electronically savvy and comfortable with new technologies, making them the ideal early adopters. They also appreciate receiving their statements faster through EBP. Some companies in the brokerage industry have been able to eliminate the use of paper for certain types of documents. Other early adopters of the technology include utility companies and credit card companies.

Any company with a large volume of bills going out and payments coming in can benefit from EBPP technology. And though the industry stalled a few years ago, the technology and its reception are back on track. The only real drawback of the technology is that those companies that do not take note and adapt are going to be left behind.