Electronic Bill Payment
Week 5
EBPP
EBPP is essentially paperless billing and
settlement.
 Bills are presented as electronic transactions
that can be viewed, tracked, and settled
electronically through a web browser.
 The system saves billers money by eliminating
costly overnight print runs, saves customers
time by letting them view and pay accounts
online, and creates additional online marketing
opportunities.

EBPP
EBPP is equally attractive for individual
consumers and businesses, billers and
recipients.
 The greatest savings from using EBPP rather
than traditional paper billing are certain to be
gained primarily by businesses that generate
massive recurring billings such as utility,
telecommunications, and credit card companies.

How it Works
Why use EBPP?





The advantages of EBPP are so compelling that experts
are anticipating an explosive surge in its use.
At present, paper checks are typically used to pay paper
invoices that are delivered by mail.
EBPP could save billers as much as $1.00 per bill.
EBPP makes it possible to exploit a whole new
communications channel between a biller and a
customer.
Online billing is fundamentally changing how billers
interact with customers, transforming the bill from a
simple payment vehicle into a powerful platform on
which to build relationships with customers.
Why use EBPP?




It accelerates the resolution process.
Billers can see at any given time where customers stand
in the payment process and can remind them about
discounts they might be eligible for if they pay their bills
on time.
By making such vendor responsiveness possible, EBPP
can facilitate an enhanced level of customer service.
EBPP also provides new opportunities for promotions,
advertising, cross-selling, and up-selling.
EBPP Obstacles


The continued growth of EBPP depends on overcoming
the usual e-business obstacles, however.
These include:
the availability of Internet access devices
 communication bandwidth
 the maturing of emerging transaction-processing standards,
such as Open Financial Exchange.
 Getting consumers to change their behavior.
(This will only happen if they can see that Internet billing offers
them significant benefits over paper-based bill processing.)

E-Billing Models
EBPP takes at least three basic forms:
 single biller access,
 consolidated billing access from a remote
site,
 and consolidated billing access from a
local desktop.
Single Biller Model



The issuer is fully responsible for setting up and maintaining
the EBPP technology and has full control of the publishing
and payment of e-bills by its customers.
Although, top-tier and midtier enterprise resource planning
(ERP) suites do not as yet offer integrated EBPP functionality,
many ERP suites have been offering electronic data
interchange-based electronic billing for some time.
Moreover, some midtier and small-business accounting
suites, such as ACCPAC Simply Accounting, allow issuers to
send invoices via e-mail rather than normal mail.
Consolidated Billing - Remote




Consolidated billing access from a remote site, requires fewer
visits to payment web sites than the single biller access
model and is thus likely to be more popular with customers.
The disadvantage of the consolidated billing method is that it
requires the biller to pay a service fee to a consolidator,
however.
There are already a growing number of e-billing consolidation
providers, and competition is increasing, so prices are likely
to drop.
These e-bill consolidators include traditional outsource bill
printers and new Web-based e-billing services.
Consolidated Billing - Desktop



Consolidated billing access from a local desktop, is likely to
be the most popular with consumers because it is a "push"
model that requires little effort on their part.
One of its disadvantages, however, is that it requires the
development and implementation of sophisticated technology
to automate push billing at what could be millions of customer
desktops.
This form of e-billing will probably be best delivered through
popular consumer-oriented desktop finance packages.
Learning Tips
We learn better by pictures than text
 We need to relate what we don’t know to what
we know
 We better remember

Unusual events
 Humorous events
 Interesting events

We learn better by doing
 We learn by repetition
 We can learn better with background music
