Whether you are a small, medium or large business, billing your customers for the products or services you provide is probably one of the last processes that you think about or design (in fact you may not “design” it all!). In this sense, it is often almost an afterthought and an administration “pain” to be borne or necessary evil to be tolerated, as the title of this blog suggests. Once set up, many businesses therefore give the whole situation little more thought, sometimes year after year, and just accept that the endless printing of invoices, stuffing of envelopes, issuing of emails, chasing of outstanding amounts and reconciling of payments (to name only a few of the tasks) just has to be done, without too much grumbling. But the big question here is this –what are we missing in viewing the rather irritating but necessary billing process in this rather negative way?
Over forty years ago, the quality guru Joseph Juran suggested that all businesses should pay most attention to three macro processes-these were:
1. Demand generation (or the creation of demand from consumers for the products or services on offer, usually through sales and marketing efforts).
2. Demand fulfilment (or the supply of the products or services on offer, usually through operational, technical or logistical means).
3. Cash generation (or the receipt and management of sufficient cash to ensure that current business activities are fully funded and that the business can continue to operate effectively in the future).
Juran suggested that most businesses pay enormous improvement time and attention to the first two of these macro processes but very little to the last, at least until a crisis occurs. It seems that not much has changed then today, with very little management time or even external help being available to help streamline this very critical area. So what are the choices that are available to optimise the process of issuing a bill and collecting money as fast as possible from customers?
As we are all aware, the big change in recent years has been the speed and access to the Internet and its ever increasing use as a more convenient tool for businesses and their customers. In the realm of billing and payment the Internet has already made a significant impact on most of us. Many people will have experienced electronic bills being presented by email (with an attachment or a dynamic link to click to a merchant web site such as a mobile phone company) and experienced the speed and convenience of electronic payment through an online bank account or payment service such as PayPal or American Express, for example. Even if we don’t like or not quite trust these services, we can therefore appreciate that this trend towards online services is likely to grow. However, the online experience remains quite limited in terms of total transactions completed and it is still rare to see a fully integrated experience which feels similar to getting a bill in the physical mail and then sending off a cheque to settle it and feel a sense of ticking a task off your list-until now that is.
Web 2.0 technology allows much better use of the Internet than it did as recently as only two to three years ago. This means that physical bills can not only be rendered to look similar online but can also be truly digital. This means that the online bill is “clickable” to manipulate it as a merchant or consumer wishes, whether it is to view it in more detail, check it against past invoices, schedule it for payment, pay it or just store it. And because it is online, there is no need for physical copying or storage in theory (even though it continues to be one of those things that people still do “just to be safe”).
In sophisticated webs sites such as www.PaySwyft.com the on-line experience of a fully digital “one-stop-shop bill presentment and payment site is a huge advantage to both the bill issuer and receiver. Look at the just some of the benefits to each in using the PaySwyft service the table below:
Merchant Advantages/Benefits
• Simple and flexible (and cost effective) Bill presentment
• More payment options for customers
• Saves time, money and hassle on paper handling
• Competitive transaction rates for payments (and transparent rate card)
• Instant receipting
• Ability to take payments 24/7 and 365 days of the year
• Cash flow acceleration
• Detailed payment/reconciliation schedule
• Safe and secure payment systems
• Flexible on-line alert system
• Ability to accept cash payments
• Easy to upload from/download to accounts systems
• Better invoice payment reconciliations
• Free to use on-line marketing portal
• Greener solution when customers start to “turn off” paper bills
Consumer Advantages/Benefits
• Safe and secure to use
• No need to register with PaySwyft (can use instant pay)
• Consumer information kept confidential
• Email or SMS alerts when payments due
• Ability to calendarise payments
• Dynamic debit option for regular payments
• Easier reconciliation
• Purpose built – consumer friendly
• Free on-going on-line bill/payment record storage
• Flexible and easy to use analytical tools
• Green solution
• Free
Summary
Billing may be a necessary evil to many but Internet technology has evolved to the point whereby it can be made much less painful to both the bill issuer and bill receiver and start to give tangible benefits to both. This helps customers to remit their payments more efficiently, effectively and willingly and helps to make the merchants substantially better at generating the money they need to deliver even better future service-the ultimate virtuous cycle!
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