Implementing an Online Billing Solution

As banks and the rest of the financial services industry continues to evolve online systems and more and more individuals are comfortable using the web, as well as in using their smart phones and tablets to make a payment, all businesses have a tremendous opportunity to speed up their receivables process while lowering costs and improving efficiencies. This is best achieved by making as much of the electronic or digital technology that is readily available to us as possible (although we will need to determine exactly what this means of course).

There is no one-size-fit-all online billing system for every organization, as there will be many individual factors to be taken into account in every case. However, there are some common issues that need to be considered and it is these that we will look at in his brief article. In other words, having assembled a payments strategy and calculated the true cost of billing and collections, the next key question is therefore “what is the best way to go about implementing a more digitized approach to billing and payment for our customers?”

What are the Options?

There are several choices available to a merchant to start to issue bills electronically and to accept payments via the web. These include:
Migrating to an email and attachment based approach

• Adding a third-party payment system
• Building an online billing and payment solution (writing the software),
• Buying a third-party piece of software for online billing and payment,
• Outsourcing some or all of the billing and payment process to go more online
• Using a cloud-based pay-as-you-go online service (such as BillSwyft for example).

All of the above are viable options and the best is likely to be the last of these in cost-saving terms. However, each organization needs to make its own choice in terms of what it is ready to do.

 

Important Transition Considerations?
Whatever online option is finally selected in terms of how to render change to current billing and payment practices, there are several other issues or considerations for a merchant of any size or type to think about. These include:

Size and Type of the Enterprise

Although almost all organizations issue invoices or bills to some degree, some products or services are supplied only after payment is taken at the point of sale. Most retail businesses are a good example of this. However, where customers are allowed to pay for goods and services after they have been supplied or rendered, an invoice needs to be issued promptly and efficiently and ideally options for payment should be many and easy to use. Having said this some invoice volumes are so small that the work involved to send them and collect payment is easily absorbed in one person’s job role. In these circumstances large internally built or third-party software solutions are unlikely to be economic.

Branding/Marketing Issues

Any business will need to decide how much marketing control they want to have over the look and feel of both the bill and the payment page or pages. In some companies, this may not matter very much and a generic payment site may be fit for purpose. However, if a brand is important or even if a company wants to maintain a very similar look and feel (including use of logos etc.) then an internally built, purchased software solution or full digital service such as BillSwyft is likely to give a merchant the most customization potential. 

Website Monitoring and Availability

A critical component to any company’s desire to adopt a more digital billing and payment approach is ensuring that site availability to customers is high. A couple of typical metrics to include are therefore response time and website availability or uptime. Clearly an internally built system or purchased piece of software will need to be well-built and well-supported to be available as needed. 

Customer Service

Many considerations need to be fleshed out when deciding on what type of customer service is needed for a given merchant’s customers. For example, is the system going to be user-friendly to all people who may be interested in using it? do you need 24/7, 365 days a year availability? Do you require international payments? or can your system quickly find a payment transaction when needed (and can it communicate easily with the customer –via online means, when necessary)? 

PCI-Compliance and other Risk issues

As with accepting credit or debit card payments in person (or via a phone call), any merchant accepting cards as a payment type must ensure that they are in compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council’s rules. The PCI Security Standards Council offers comprehensive standards and supporting materials to enhance payment card data security. The PCI Data Security Standard includes requirements for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures, such as card tokenization and encryption.  All of these factors need time and money to manage properly if building an internal solution but are often already party of any third-party site.

Costs/Fees

One other important issue to think about when accepting payments via the web is costs or fees. Many businesses which operate on low margins could see those margins deteriorate even more as credit or debit card fees (direct and indirect) would add an additional (and perhaps unnecessary) layer of cost. Although fees are payable to process payments with an internally developed or software-based solution, third-party providers can also charge a courtesy or convenience fee. All fees therefore need to be carefully scrutinized ahead of time so that there are no surprises when a monthly transactional statement is sent.