Hello August, I had a feeling it was a server problem. I checked the 'net
ops' outage alerts and there weren't any declared major outages, so that
rather convinced me it was SI. Although, one never really knows if their
own ISP is dropping trunk routes, or performing maintenance on one of
last night's upgrades that didn't go well. This is, indeed, a topic for another
thread. At some point the issue is going to be raised very loudly as to who
is keeping tabs on the ISPs, now that they are no longer the same
organization[s], and not playing the same roles, as they once did. Well,
many of the newer ones, anyway. But like I said, for another thread.
======
Re: electronic bill presentment and payment, I think it's going to go
through the roof. Just as soon as some chasm obstacles are cleared.
While this is not exactly my sweet spot of expertise, I wouldn't mind
sharing some general views with you on the topic. Of course, these are
only my opinions:
Right now there are growing problems in the electronic presentment and
payment space. Perceptual and cultural to a great extent, on the part of
the consumer public, and a lot needs to be done at the standards and
compliance levels to facilitate interbank clearing, in order to boost large
scale acceptance by the banks and the other financial processing firms
and clearinghouses, as well.
What started out to be proprietary at the consumer level (direct dialup
links to each biller) prior to wide scale acceptance of the 'net, and what
was starting to be accepted in the way of ANSI-based EDI (electronic
data interchange) at the business-to-business level, have now given way,
or are beginning to give way, to web-enabled platforms.
In so doing, the increasing acceptance of the web itself is beginning to
have a positive effect on ebpp uptake, since the web has the effect of
greasing the skids for otherwise reluctant starters. But Ludditism isn't the
only thing that's been holding back ebpp.
The transitions for those institutions who were already established (read:
using big iron based systems) are often difficult ones requiring forklifts,
and they aren't always fully automated at the agent work level during their
initial phases. While the speed of the file transfer that initiates the
transaction might be fast, what billers and their payment agents and
processing entities do with those transactions are still not streamlined yet,
not by a long shot. They are not anywhere near the point where they'd
like to be at this time.
Sometimes it may take days or a week for a remittance to be posted,
screwing up estimated balances, or they may be instantaneous, having
other secondary effects [draconian ramifications for some] in the realm of
float management (eeks - I didn't say that!). But these conditions I'm
referring to are likely to only affect those just getting into it, or those who
are struggling to convert from the 'wrong' model they began instituting
three or four years ago. They should stabilize over time, or perish if they
don't.
Consumers are already faced with confusing end of month situations,
having to reconcile their bank books and their checking accounts, along
with numerous credit card balances... all against what they "think" they've
spent. Many of them wont be prepared, just yet, to add another set of
numerals, this time from a screen or numerous printouts. Which is to ask,
from how many individual billers? instead of a concise list from one to
three payment agents? Can the number of ebpp agents be shaved to a
managable few? One or two per consumer or business?
They want to see a statement with all of their payments on it, top to bottom,
left matching right. Something they can place on the kitchen table when
the kids have gone to sleep, juxtaposed with the other pieces of paper
they get in the mail. All of which begs the question, then, as to how many
different points of payment new-age payers will be prepared to send their
money to for payment. Who, and how many billers, will be making the
presentment to them? Right now, some of the leaders in this race are
startups, some of whom were spawned from older institutions, and a
couple of larger banking consortia. But no one is claiming to be able to do
it all for everyone, that I am aware of.
By doing it all, I mean presenting all bills from all billers to any user
electronically, and receiving payment from that same user, electronically,
on behalf of all billers.
This field is wide open right now to the usual broad list of suspects,
and there are bound to be turf wars and regulatory struggles, to wit:
VISA and Master Card would like to sink their teeth into this pie. And so
would a half dozen other large banking consortia, outside the two I just
mentioned. I don't know where it is going to go, except for up. Sooner or
later, probably sooner, the cultural issues will clear themselves up in a
large percentage (a statistically large enough part) of the population to
allow this field to take off. The standards are being pounded out now by
the committees, as we speak. And there is no shortage of startups and
venture capital to see to it that the platforms are built.
And yet, the volume of this activity taking place right now is not even
enough to begin to show up on the radar screens.
Like I stated above, I think that this sector is going to go through the roof,
as soon as some starter gate obstacles are cleared. I am just a layman
at this, so what do I really know? Come to think of it, what does anyone
really know about how the public will respond?
Comments and corrections welcome.
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
