Danny Bradbury finds out how bricks-and-mortar layers can use the
Internet to get online payment, even if they don't offer products
and services online
Many people have spoken about the importance of taking online
payments, but mostly in the context of existing e-commerce
operations. While many people have described ways to build online
payment functionality into electronic purchase systems, some
companies simply want to present bills and take payments online for
services and products that are provided offline. Paying your
electricity bill online is a prime example.
The benefit of providing your customers with an online payment
option is convenience - they are more likely to do it more quickly,
thus increasing your cash flow. The problem with waiting for
customers to write cheques and send them to you through the post is
that they generally wait until they are overdue before they make a
payment.
Fair Exchange
Whereas many e-commerce-based online
payment systems are sold as modules to be integrated into an
e-commerce application, online billing and payment systems can also
be provided as third party services. You can present billing
information to the customer online, but you will need an Internet
Payment Provider to fulfil the exchange of cash.
PayPal, originally a US-centric service but now offered
internationally, enables people to request money by sending bills
online, and lets customers send money back via the same route.
Using the system, it is possible to set up business accounts and
accept money from your customers, including credit card payments on
your website, using the Web Accept online payment service. Once you
have set up an account on the system, simply click the 'request
money' tab, enter the amount that you want to charge, the email
address of the recipient, and the service makes the request. When
the customer pays you (using PayPal), you receive cash.
This kind of service is great for small businesses, but it is
unlikely that a large company will wish to operate in this way. For
larger companies, a more comprehensive system may be needed, in
which you don't have to make individual requests. The answer may
lie with credit card companies, which are now making online
payments easier. American Express, for example, has implemented the
Private Payments scheme. This provides credit card customers with a
unique private number that can be associated with their accounts,
making themselves feel more secure when making online payments.
That means that all your company has to do is present them with
their bill online, and take American Express payments on your
site.
Presenting your customers with online billing information is a
little more tricky and will require development work at the back
end. Many products exist that enable you to transfer data into HTML
format, using middle-tier technology such as Microsoft's Active
Server Pages. Dragging customer billing information out of a
central data repository and showing it to them online is only one
part of the problem; you must also be able to track payments that
they have made and represent them in a timely manner.
Some companies offer this functionality in dedicated electronic
bill payment products, incorporating payment and billing
information online. One company that provides some services is
edocs, which offers a range of electronic account management and
billing products.
Its eaSuite service, for example, incorporates a number of products
such as eaPay, an electronic payment and warehousing component that
enables customers to make and track payments.
Banking on community
Another way to cut down on the
investment needed to facilitate online payments, and to benefit
from someone else's expertise, is to speak to the banking
community. Many banks have relationships with software companies
that can bill payment support for your company into their products.
Intuit, for example, has the Quicken personal finance software
product, which enables people to pay bills online from home.
Deutsche Bank, in conjunction with iPlanet, has launched its own
online bill payment service called db-eBills, due to be rolled out
in Europe later this year.
At the end of the day, much of the technology behind online
payments and bill presentation to non-e-commerce companies is
similar to that used by e-commerce players. Dealing with a larger,
experienced partner, like the major financial institutions, can
enable you to create an efficient link between your business's
accounts system and bill presentation, approval and payment
systems.
Pay day: AOL's online bills
Barry Schuler, president of
AOL's Interactive Service Group, has predicted that electronic
bills will replace many paper bills. AOL launched Intuit's Quicken
bill payment service in the US in December, enabling members to pay
up to 20 bills per month online.