Got to go back over 6-months...but the plan stan...was layed out here.
12/10/97
Intuit to Offer Electronic Bill Presentment Through Quicken(R) 98
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) today announced that it plans to enable consumers to view electronic bills in the new version of its best-selling personal finance software program, Quicken 98 for Windows. The new service, Online Billing through Quicken 98, is based on an open architecture electronic bill presentment server solution featuring the Open Financial Exchange(TM) data communications protocol. The Open Financial Exchange specification was initially created by Intuit, Microsoft and CheckFree and is now supported by a broad array of financial service, processing and technology companies.
Intuit's open architecture approach to bill presentment is supported by leading technology and financial services companies and divisions including Apple WebObjects(TM), BellSouth, BlueGill Technologies, CheckFree, Florida Power & Light, GPU Energy, Illinois Power Company (an Illinova Corporation), Integrion, International Billing Services, Just in Time Solutions, Oracle, and Visa.
The Intuit bill presentment server solution will offer bill publishers, including billers themselves, the ability to extend the biller's branded look and feel to their electronic bills, and offer them choice and flexibility in implementing electronic bill presentment programs.
Intuit is currently planning a pilot of Online Billing later this month.
Online Billing will enable bill publishers to maintain updated billing summaries on an Open Financial Exchange server, with links back to their respective Web sites for statement details. Bill publishers will also have the option of designing their services so that consumers, using the embedded browser technology in Quicken 98, can connect directly to their sites to get both bill summary and detailed bill information. Bill publishers will retain control of actual billing detail on their respective sites in both scenarios. Upon launch, Online Billing will for the first time link electronic bill presentment with the online banking and billpay services Quicken users have enjoyed for years. Consumers will be able to review a consolidated list of bills, including the amount and date due, and pay each or any of the bills -- all from the strongly bank-branded environment within Quicken.
Intuit also announced it intends to integrate its bill presentment server solution to support financial institutions using Integrion's Interactive Financial Services (IFS) platform. Integrion and Intuit recently announced a joint effort to develop server technology that translates Intuit financial software transactions into Integrion's Gold Standard messages, and Intuit and Integrion continue to work toward converging Open Financial Exchange and the Gold Standard.
"Integrion fully supports Intuit's and its partners' approach to electronic bill presentment, as it is consistent with our member banks' strategy of full participation in an open bill presentment industry," commented Bill Fennimore, President of Integrion, a consortium of 17 leading banks, IBM and Visa U.S.A.
"Quicken 98 can help banks make electronic billing and payment a reality," said Pete Kight, Chairman and CEO of Checkfree. "With a world-class interface and a trusted bank brand, Quicken users everywhere will soon be enjoying the convenience of true financial electronic commerce."
Intuit also plans to support Visa's ongoing development of bank-centric bill presentment solutions. "Visa is committed to the development of member-enabling bill presentment technology," said Bill Stewart, Executive Vice President, Systems and Operations, of Visa U.S.A. "We are pleased to join with Intuit, CheckFree and Integrion in our strong support of open electronic bill presentment solutions."
"Being able to electronically receive, review and pay bills all in one place is a huge consumer benefit," said Eric Dunn, Senior Vice President and CTO of Intuit. "The benefits of the open architecture solution are less obvious but no less profound -- bill publishers can exercise choice in their delivery strategies without getting locked into proprietary systems."
Billers supporting the Open Financial Exchange specification will be able to deliver their bills via Quicken, via aggregating Web sites and also through their own Web sites and other consumer interfaces. Online Billing will be the first end-to-end bill presentment solution employing Open Financial Exchange for both biller and client-originated communications.
The Intuit bill presentment server solution was developed in concert with Just In Time Solutions of San Francisco using Apple WebObjects technology.
About Open Financial Exchange
Open Financial Exchange is a unified specification for the electronic exchange of financial data between financial institutions, business and consumers via the Internet. Open Financial Exchange supports a wide range of financial activities including consumer and small business banking, consumer and small business bill payment, bill presentment, and investments, including stocks and mutual funds. The Open Financial Exchange specification is publicly available for implementation by any financial institution or vendor.
About Intuit
Intuit Inc., a financial software and Web-based services company, develops and markets Quicken, the leading personal finance software; TurboTax, the best-selling tax preparation software; and QuickBooks, the most popular small business accounting software. Intuit's Quicken.com Web site offers a complete set of personal financial news, information and tools including the leading mutual fund and insurance sites. Intuit's products and services enable individuals, small businesses and financial professionals to better manage their financial lives and businesses.
This press release contains forward-looking statements about results or other events that have not yet occurred. This includes, but is not limited to, statements related to the expected launch and other details of the electronic bill payment feature in Quicken. These actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated. Such factors include, but are not limited to, potential technical problems in developing the feature and integrating it with a variety of bill publishers' systems, and Intuit's ability to successfully negotiate agreements with billers and bill publishers. Intuit assumes no responsibility to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events occurring after the date of this press release. Information about other factors that could affect future results and events is included in Intuit's fiscal 1997 Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
NOTE: Quicken, Intuit and the Intuit logo, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other brands or products are trademarks or service marks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.
Quotes from industry leaders supporting Intuit's open architecture approach to bill presentment:
Apple WebObjects:
"Intuit's electronic bill presentment solution delivers on Apple's commitment to creating dynamic, content-rich, end-user experiences for the Web. Apple WebObjects was pleased to provide the underlying technology to facilitate Intuit's next leap in making online financial electronic commerce a reality."
David Kay, Senior Product Line Manager, Apple WebObjects
BlueGill Technologies:
"Online Billing through Quicken 98 is destined to be one of the most powerful services in the emerging bill presentment industry. Most of our customers in the utilities and telecommunications industries plan to use Open Financial Exchange for connecting their 1 to 1 Server(TM) to Intuit's bill presentment server."
Hal Davis, CEO, BlueGill Technologies
Florida Power & Light:
"For FPL customers who use an on-line financial software, this will allow them a quicker and easier way to pay their electric bill."
Jim Bice, Customer Service Manager of Business Process Improvement.
GPU Energy:
"We welcome the addition of electronic bill presentment to the Quicken product. We pioneered electronic bill presentment with CheckFree Corp. and have encouraged the development of other bill presentment channels. With Quicken being offered by many financial institutions, we will be able to present our bills electronically to a lot more of our customers."
Peter Byrne, Electronic Commerce Consultant, GPU Energy
Illinois Power Company (an Illinova Corporation):
"As a customer-focused utility, we look forward to offering electronic bills through Online Billing. We're dedicated to bringing the best services to as many customers as possible, and this product allows us to provide highly valued services to our customers and set Illinois Power apart from other utilities."
Tony Harris, Director of Customer Support Services, Illinois Power Company (an Illinova Corporation)
International Billing Services:
"In today's competitive business climate, companies who can provide their customers with a variety of statement presentment and payment options have a distinct advantage. Our plan to work with Intuit to offer electronic statement presentment and payment through its popular Quicken program is another, very exciting step toward our goal of providing complete statement processing services."
Randy Lintecum, President, International Billing Services
Just in Time Solutions:
"Intuit's Online Billing service is the first true client implementation of the Open Financial Exchange-based Internet Billing standard. Now, we're building robust back-end server products that large billers such as telephone and credit card companies will use to present bills to customers over the Internet."
Mike Lanza, CEO and president, Just in Time Solutions
My note...they are done!
Oracle:
"Electronic Bill Presentment is an excellent example of Network Computing and its benefit for the consumer and Oracle intends to participate in this area through the support of the Open Financial Exchange specification."
Beatriz Infante, Senior Vice President, Application Server Division
/CONTACT: Robert Schettino of Thomas Associates, 650-596-2700, or
bobtino@thomaspr.com, for Intuit; or Jean Stawarz, 408-996-1206 or
jstawarz@mindspring.com/
"Copyright(c) 1997, PR Newswire"
"Provided by Dow Jones & Company, Inc." |
