Answer:
Online bill presentment can reap significant benefits for billers. They can:
-- shorten the time period within which they can get the bill into the customer's hands;
-- eliminate the cost associated with the actual paper bill, the mailing envelope, and the return envelope;
-- avoid postage costs;
-- give customers one-click access from their online bills to special offers, sale items, and other promotions, thus generating extra revenue from additional sales to existing customers;
-- earn additional interest income, since the time period between billing and payment is typically much shorter with online bill presentment than when a customer gets a paper bill.
The companies can even pass on some of its cost savings to prospective customers in order to incentivize them to do business with them, thus boosting their overall customer base.
I strongly believe every financial institution should be looking at its commercial customer base and trying to determine how it could help e-enable those companies. Don't stand idly by while they find ecommerce partners elsewhere.
First published on BankersOnline.com 2/4/02
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