Asp payment software

Software; EDS goes ASP for EBPP - application service provider; electronic bill presentment and payment

Big guys aim for smaller targets It's not that EDS has been on the sidelines in the emerging electronic bill presentment and payment, or EBPP, market. In fact, the company has been intimately involved in much of the behind-the-scenes processing that takes place in the financial realm of this ethereal service. It's just that it hasn't made a practice of targeting small and medium-sized companies moving into EBPP - until now.

EDS, known for its high-end solutions for high-volume users, is aiming at smaller businesses by providing a service bureau option for EBPP that it hopes will get companies into the space and support them as they grow into more typical EDS customers.

For less than $100,000 and within 60 days, small and medium-sized companies and emerging service providers can begin sending electronic bills and receiving electronic payments using EDS' OpenBill Express. The service is a fully hosted application service provider (ASP) model that the company says can cut the cost of preparing and presenting bills by 60% and reduce payment processing by up to 90%.

Unlike some EBPP solutions that offer either a Web-based approach or an e-mail approach, OpenBill Express will provide alternatives. "Although the promise of the Internet is phenomenal and will continue to be realized in this space, EBPP is not necessarily about the Internet," said Rory Ragsdale, product manager for the interactive billing solutions group at EDS. "It's really about consumer convenience. It's about getting bills through any device or channel that's available."

OpenBill Express will support e-mail and Web interfaces and wireless devices, cell phones or payments over the telephone. "The promise of anytime, anywhere access is also a key driver in consumer adoption of electronic bill presentment and payment," Ragsdale said.

EDS is positioning OpenBill Express as a comprehensive service that includes invoicing and delivery of statements, benefit forms, payroll or other business needs. "The experience we have working in the financial industry and with telecommunications customers alike has led us to develop solutions that are more complete and thorough from a biller's perspective," Ragsdale said.

EDS is not the first company to offer an ASP model for this market. Derivion began with an ASP business model coupled with a dedicated marketing team to help its customers drive the EBPP market. The company already has seen some success with small and independent telcos as well as wireless carriers.

"One of the advantages Derivion has is it was born and raised as an ASP," said Read Ziegler, chief marketing officer for Derivion. "We don't have to convert a legacy system or system integration business into an ASP e-billing business. We architected the business from the ground up to be an ASP."

One of the differences for now in the two models - besides the size and resources of the companies and the fact that Derivion already has customers in the telecom space - is that Derivion does not plan to support the direct e-mail model of EBPP other than for notification, while EDS at least plans to offer both.

"The new ASP model... is a big deal for [EDS]. They lost contracts to start-ups because of the low implementation costs [of other providers]," said Matt Olesen, senior analyst at Killen & Associates. "I don't know anybody now who gives the option to choose a method of e-mail or Web-based payment."

EDS plans to expand OpenBill Express later this year to include business-to-business functionality. Currently it supports business-to-consumer transactions.

"We know that our customers' long-term goals will be [for us] to deliver a solution that meets the needs of their entire enterprise," Ragsdale said. "We developed OpenBill Express to meet the needs of those billers looking for an entry point into EBPP... that over the long term is scalable enough to meet those needs."