AT&T, Intuit and Just in Time Solutions Announce Support for the Open Internet Billing -OIB- Model
June 16, 1998
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE) --
Model Based on the Open Financial Exchange standard is First to
Balance the Needs of Billers and Consumers
AT&T, Intuit and Just In Time Solutions today at Billing 98 in Atlanta announced
support for the Open Internet Billing (OIB) model for providing billing, customer care
and other services via the Internet.
OIB is revolutionary as it is the only model that utilizes open standards and carefully
balances the needs of both billers and consumers. Previously, there was no Internet
billing model that gave billers complete control over their bill data while allowing
consumers a single site at which to pay their bills -- a dilemma that has been stalling the
rapid adoption of online bill presentment and payment.
At the heart of the OIB model is the Open Financial Exchange standard for bill
presentment, which defines an industry format and protocol for exchanging financial
information and managing financial transactions, such as bill presentment and payment,
over the Internet. Open Financial Exchange was co-developed by Microsoft, Intuit and
CheckFree, with contributions on the bill presentment chapter from Just In Time. By
bringing standardization to the electronic billing industry, it maximizes a biller's flexibility
to send bills through consolidators. Consolidator Web sites, such as a home banking
Web site or Intuit's Quicken.com, enable consumers to receive and pay bills through
one user interface.
"Consumers, businesses and service providers have been anticipating the advent of
on-line billing as a viable means to simplify the provisioning, billing and customer care
process," said Boyd Peterson, director of consumer communications at The Yankee
Group. "The benefits of online billing to the user and the providers alike are significant.
Open Internet Billing provides an ideal solution to meet the needs of all the interested
parties. The users get a platform that consolidates the billing process, and the billers
retain control of communication with the customer."
The "Thin Consolidator Model"
While the use of Open Financial Exchange provides OIB with a standard for
biller/consolidator communication, the "Thin Consolidator Model" enables OIB to
balance both consumers' desires and billers' needs. With Thin Consolidator-based
billing, consumers go to one consolidated Web site to view a list of their bills and to
pay them. They are seamlessly and securely linked to the biller's Web site from the
consolidator's site to view bill details, interact with the bill and engage in self-service
inquiries, sales and other activities. This unique feature allows billers to deploy and
control meaningful customer care applications while providing the convenience of bill
consolidation.
In a key departure from other online billing systems, the OIB model enables billers to
serve their own detailed bills directly to consumers. This feature of OIB enables the
critical one-to-one relationship between the biller and customer, and importantly, it
ensures the privacy of data. In comparison, other systems require that billers transmit
sensitive bill data directly to the consolidator, which raises issues about data security
and further distances billers from their customers.
"Internet Billing will succeed by satisfying key objectives of both the consumer and the
biller," said Frank Delfer, CIO, consumer division of AT &T. "The consumer requires a
solution that is convenient and easy to use. The biller wants to maintain
communications and marketing control. Open Internet Billing provides a foundation for
satisfying both the consumer and biller," added Delfer.
The Biller's Perspective
The industry for bill presentment via the Internet is expanding, creating a critical need
for a standard way for billers and consolidators to interface. Today, to reach its broad
customer base, a biller might need multiple consolidators, who could be using differing
protocols and data formats. This situation forces billers to implement proprietary
systems, which is costly and hampers the growth of the industry. With OIB, however, a
biller implements one Open Financial Exchange (OFX) server and reuses this
functionality regardless of which consolidators their customers are using.
The Consolidator's Perspective
The OIB model benefits consolidators by encouraging billers to invest in online billing
services. This creates a greater number of potential customers for consolidators. They
are not trapped into using a single proprietary technology that only a subset of the
marketplace has adopted. In turn, relationships with more billers translates into more
consumers using the consolidators' sites.
The Consumer's Perspective
Consumers are interested in convenient consolidation of bills and full service. The same
holds true for billing and customer support services. They are not interested in a
technology model like OIB per se, but they are best served by one. The use of OIB
allows a customer to receive a biller-optimized online bill that is easily readable and
similar to a paper bill. Furthermore, a thin consolidator allows a consumer to take full
advantage of all the biller developed care and interactive functionality that is only
available at the biller site.
The Bill Presentment Perspective
OIB presents a clear market opportunity for the bill presentment industry. If consumers
demand consolidation of bills and there is more than one consolidator, then the
industry needs OIB to succeed. Utilizing open standards is the only way to achieve
rapid parallel deployment in a new industry. OFX servers will translate, format and
deliver summary billing information from billers to consolidators. OFX clients will
receive summary billing information from billers, making it readily available for
presentment to customers. Finally, the Open Financial Exchange standard will enable
customers to pay their bills online, closing the billing loop.
About AT&T
AT&T is the world's premier voice and data communications company, serving more
than 90 million customers, including consumers, businesses and government. With
annual revenues of more than $51 billion and some 121,000 employees, AT &T provides
services to more than 280 countries and territories around the world.
AT&T runs the world's largest, most powerful long-distance network and the largest
digital wireless network in North America. The company is a leading supplier of data
and Internet services for businesses and the nation's largest direct Internet service
provider to consumers.
About Intuit
Intuit Inc., a financial software and Web-based services company, develops and
markets Quicken, the leading personal financial software; TurboTax(R), the best-selling
tax preparation software; and QuickBooks(R), 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 leading investment, mortgage, and
insurance sites. Intuit's products and services enable individuals, small businesses and
financial professionals to better manage their financial lives and businesses.
About Just In Time Solutions
Founded in 1995 and based in San Francisco, Just In Time Solutions architected and
delivered the industry's first standards-based Internet billing system. Just In Time is
one of the driving forces behind the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) standard for online
bill presentment. The BillCast family of products offers the only secure, enterprise-class
bill presentment server platform available. The company is partnered with recognized
leaders in billing, payment and consumer consolidation including CheckFree and Intuit.
Just In Time provides solutions that empower companies to deliver superior service and
increase the value of each customer interaction. For more information, please visit
justintime.com or call (415) 553-6400.
Note to Editors: For additional information, please reference the Open Internet Billing
white paper, located at www.oib.net/downloads
BillCast is a registered trademark of Just In Time Solutions. Intuit, the Intuit logo,
Quicken, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro, TurboTax, MacInTax and ProSeries, among
others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the
United States and other countries. Quicken.com, InsureMarket, BankNOW, Quicken
Financial Planner and QuickenMortgage, among others, are trademarks and/or service
marks of Intuit Inc., or one of its subsidiaries, in the United States and other countries.
Other parties' trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners
and should be treated as such. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners. |
