Everyday we complete a mundane Internet-based task that was not previously possible: scouring search pages, downloading music and, yes, paying our bills. EBPP lowers costs, streamlines payment processing and encourages environmental responsibility by removing paper from the billing process. However, because most of the value in EBPP accrues to the originators - billers and banks - consumer adoption rates are still modest. With EBPP, as with other nascent Internet-based solutions, finding the best ways to serve customers is the key to transaction growth.

Consumers

For consumers using either a biller or bank's website, most EBPP currently requires a secure logon process to access a specialized web page and then a series of "clicks" to complete the transaction. Rarely does any site offer full bill presentment. This process is attracting tech-savvy Internet users - 5-10% for utility customers, 15-25% for telco and financial services customers - but it is not attracting the masses. Even these percentages are misleading as EBPP research shows that no more than 50% of these consumers have had their paper suppressed, thereby erasing the approximate $0.40 per bill savings that e-presentment offers. Needless to say, it is silly to send an EBPP customer a paper bill - especially since postage, paper and printing costs continue to escalate.

Billers

EBPP solutions for small to mid-sized business also have much room for improvement. Once upon a time, all a business needed was a yellow pages listing and a shingle out on Main Street. Today, they need both a website and EBPP. Since it is only the largest billers that are being serviced by the Biller Service Providers (BSPs) and banks, there is a market void. So far, low-volume EBPP solutions have failed for a handful of reasons: the bill formatting and on-boarding tools used were not standardized, set-up and ongoing operations drained internal resources for both biller and bank, and solutions were simply too expensive for the billers.

Fortunately, for low-tech consumers as well for low-volume billers and the banks that serve them, innovative presentment and payment solutions have arrived. Plus, as EBPP has matured, billers and banks are trying solutions that go beyond simple web-based payments and are now focused on multi-channel presentment as well.

E-mail Billing

E-mail has not only retained its position as the "killer app" everyone always knew it was but, increasingly, it is growing into a productive tool for commerce and financial services. As far back as 2002, Bank Technology News showed that 76% of consumers wanted to view their bills from within their e-mail. Today, using BillMail®, consumers view complete bills and also pay them in the e-mail. In addition, security has been addressed: the latest versions of secure e-mail have no hotlinks, no attachments, no downloads and are as secure as the safest bank site! Consumers see the obvious value proposition that e-mail provides: convenient delivery, security, and overall ease of use. With a simple "click, view, pay" process, secure e-mail billing promises to be the EBPP on-ramp for the masses, just like AOL was the "Internet on training wheels."

EBPP for the Middle Market, From Banks

While some large financial institutions have a mixed track record in creating EBPP solutions for the middle market, there are new services now being offered that show improved results. Banks see the potential, and they have market research to back up their enthusiasm. Analysts such as the Aite Group project that middle market companies will spend $156 billion in financial services by 2013, up 70% from 2007. Today's version of low-mid volume EBPP through banks offers quick and easy standard bill formats, integrated reporting tools, and "implementation wizards" that allow even the least tech-savvy business to have an EBPP portal up-and-running in about an hour.

Whether it's a biller or bank offering secure e-mail billing or a bank offering their middle market treasury clients a low-priced, standard EBPP suite of products like BillerExpress™, the motivator driving the market is the same: creating an easy, low resource, and less expensive EBPP on-ramp for a demographic of consumers and businesses that have yet to be attracted to EBPP.

Secure e-mail billing and groundbreaking EBPP solutions for mid-sized billers represent solutions to benefit billers, banks and, finally, customers!

By Joe Proto, Transactis Chairman & CEO and Tom Kohn, Transactis Co-founder & President

Transactis is a leading provider of forward-thinking EBPP solutions, including BillMail, the patent-pending, secure e-mail billing platform, and BillerExpress, a suite of EBPP solutions sold by banks to small and mid-size treasury clients.

Transactis was created by a former AOL employee who saw the power of secure e-mail and is now led by a 25-year veteran of the billing industry. To learn more about Transactis' technology and their electronic bill payment and presentment solutions visit www.transactis.com or contact sales@transactis.com

Transactis - Click. View. Pay™