Here is a nice little plug from Peppers and Rogers. It was in their latest One to One e-mail newsletter
ONE-STOP BILL PAYING
By Avi Nowitz, Consultant, Stamford
In an article last month about online bill paying (See
INSIDE 1to1, April 15, 1999, "Online, Not In Line."
1to1.com ),
we reported on how San Antonio-based start-up
billserve.com ( billserve.com ) had just arranged
a pilot program with the San Antonio Water System to test
an online bill-paying system.
Since then, billserve.com has announced a much more ambitious
venture: bills.com ( bills.com ) - an Internet
portal where consumers will be able to pay all their bills
online at no charge, and receive other personal financial
information like stock quotes and e-commerce news. When launched
later this year, bills.com will also enable companies to
present electronic bills for payment at little or no cost.
For consumers who don't already receive free online bill-
paying and presentment from their financial institutions,
bills.com will be a free, one-stop site for paying bills. To
date, consumers in many cases have had to pay monthly
fees, establish a minimum balance of thousands of dollars,
or visit a different Web site for each payment - the electric
company, the bank, the cable television provider, and so
forth. With bills.com, customers will be able to enter their
personal information once and have it transmitted to all
their billers. The company hopes the convenience of its
site will draw and keep attention on it, while advertising
sales and sponsorships from leaders in e-commerce will
pay bills.com's bills.
CEO Michael Long said he believes bills.com will create
significant opportunities for billers and customers to
establish 1to1 relationships. An example of its potential:
while examining his utility bill online, a customer finds that,
based on the age of his house and air-conditioning unit, his
utility company feels it's the right time to upgrade to a
newer, more cost-efficient unit. The utility then provides
phone numbers (or even better, Web site links) of
preferred providers of air conditioning in his part of town,
where he will be able to purchase a new unit that is
discounted because of his utility's partnership with the air-
conditioning company. The same customer might discover
similar interactive offers from his stockbroker, phone
company, or insurance agent. The key is that he found
them for free all at one stop - not at the previous five, 10,
or even 15 Web sites.
There is reason to be skeptical, though: Right now,
bills.com is in a David and Goliath-like face-off to become
the undisputed champion of online bill presentment and
payment with Internet portals like Yahoo! and Excite, not to
mention several major financial institutions.
Before you count them out though, remember how that first
David and Goliath story turned out. |
