Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : BCE Emergis - global e-commerce -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rocki who wrote (307)	2/4/1999 1:20:00 AM
From: sPD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1341

"The end of bills as we know them?" A pledge to transform merchant transactions [An old article but useful in terms of understanding the Feb 3 deal with e-route inc.] By TERRENCE BELFORD For The Financial Post Saturday, September 12, 1998 Ever pray for an end to those bills the postman brings? They clog the mailbox. They get mislaid. They take hours a month to pay and file and it costs you 45 cents each to mail them back. Considering the average consumer receives 80 bills a year through Canada Post, that's $36 a year in postage alone. And if you think mailed bills are a hassle for you, consider the impact on the company that's mailing them out. Industry figures say postage, paper and handling can cost companies up to $2.50 per bill. That means total cost of paying bills by mail could be as much as $300 a year for each of us -- billions of dollars a year in Canada. Is there a better way? Newstar Technologies Inc. of Thornhill [now part of BCE Emergis] and Microsoft Canada Company think so. The multinational software giant and the Canadian company which dominates Internet banking applications here have teamed to deliver an as yet unnamed Internet product which reduces the cost of monthly bill paying to just pennies. What's more, the new bill payer will revolutionize the way banks relate to their merchant customers, the two companies say. "The techies would call it a 'killer app.' (application)," says Terry Ham, Newstar's president. The bill payer would be incorporated into bank and the Web sites of financial institutions. Just another button to click on when it comes to paying bills. "It's all very, very simple and totally seamless," says Warren Dent, director of business development, desktop finance for Microsoft U.S. Need to pay a bill? Go to your bank's Web site and register for the program, then click on the bill paying button. Up pops a menu of bills needing your attention. Click again and a summary of charges appears. Need more detail? Click once more. When it comes to paying, it's as simple as a few clicks to tell the system what account or credit card you want to pay with. Money is transferred electronically from your account to that of the company whose bill you're settling. The system notifies the merchant's computers that you've paid and updates your account there. All in seconds, without need for Canada Post, without envelopes, stamps, receipt forms, cheques and related hassles. The cost? Just pennies per transaction. "It's not just the cost savings. It also eliminates the hassles," saysDavid Daniels, development manager at Microsoft Canada. "No more unpaid bills, because you thought the wife paid them. No more misplaced bills. Nothing gets lost in the mail or at the merchant's bill payment centre." "What's more, you can pay bills or get answers on the state of your account when it suits you, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," adds Dent. "The potential impact is enormous. It dramatically changes the way banks deal with merchants. Acting as their collection agent, they can help merchants do away with an enormous amount of infrastructure and create a whopping great savings," says Ham. Newstar has more than 400 clients, a list which includes all Canadian banks, he adds. "We're a global supplier of online banking solutions -- both PC banking and Internet banking." The reason the new application is unnamed is that Newstar and Microsoft figure banks will want to impose their own brand on the service. No buyers yet though. [Ancient history as of Feb 3] "The banks will form a consortium [now called e-route inc.] to offer the solution with a common interface to both consumers and merchants, much as they have with Interac," says Ham. "What we can say is that we're visiting with all of the banks right now," adds Microsoft's Dent. "So far they seem extremely pleased to see us." [guess he wasn't kidding!]

To: rocki who wrote (307)	2/4/1999 9:39:00 PM
From: sPD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1341

BCE links up with Microsoft for e-billing deal Partnership boosts chances for contract with banks By KATHRYN LEGER The Financial Post MONTREAL -- BCE Emergis Inc. and Microsoft Canada Co. are negotiating an exclusive contract to provide Canada's first integrated system to receive and pay bills over the Internet. The announcement is bad news for IBM Canada Inc. and Check Free of the U.S., the only companies left vying for the multimillion-dollar contract after Electronic Data Systems Corp. and Oracle Corp. dropped out. The initiative, described as "one of the largest e-commerce initiatives in North America," is scheduled to be fully launched next year by e-route inc., a company owned by a consortium of six big Canadian financial institutions. A final decision is not expected for four to six weeks, BCE Emergis spokeswoman Anne Belliveau said. A national pilot experiment is set to follow in June. But the BCE unit's stock soared on the news, closing in Montreal at $32.65, up $3.90, or 14%. Proponents of electronic billing -- already being tested in parts of the United States -- call it "the next killer application after e-mail." At present, consumers and businesses can use the Internet to pay bills they get by mail, but they can't receive the bills or view details online. Sending out a paper bill costs a business between 50c and $2.50 to process. Bryan Kerdman, e-route's chief executive, said banks will set their own rates and work out individual payment for the new billing services with billers and corporate clients. The charge to consumers probably would be part of existing transaction packages. "Bill payment systems have taken off dramatically in Canada, and unlike in the U.S., there is a high trust factor between Canadians and their banks, so this is a logical step," he said. E-route itself will charge financial institutions for the service, but distribute any profits to them. Since it functions as an outsourcing operation, e-route could take on equity partners and branch into other applications, such as offering confirmations of stock transactions online. E-route is also looking into how consumers might be able to make direct contact with billers or other service providers online rather than on the telephone. Simon Witts, Microsoft Canada's general manager, said since there are fewer banks in Canada than in the United States, they can assume a leadership role in implementing the new Web-based technology, not only on personal computers, but through Web-television, which was introduced in Canada six months ago, and in special kiosks. He also pointed to a recent study that indicated 37% of Canadians over the age of 12, about 9.5 million people, are online. Of those, about 40% already bank online. BCE Emergis entered the running for e-route project, first unveiled by the financial institutions last fall, after it bought Toronto-based Newstar Technologies Inc.'s electronic finance division in November. Newstar had worked out an agreement with Microsoft to distribute its electronic-billing product in Canada. Microsoft is now selling the system in the United States through its Transpoint venture with First Data Corp. When it acquired Newstar, BCE Emergis said the contract could eventually generate between $100-million and $150-million a year in revenue. Yesterday it cited a McKinsey & Co. North American market survey that said, "electronic bill presentment and payment [EBPP] could save billers, customers and other constituents over $2-billion annually by 2002." Meanwhile, another consortium of Canada Post, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Bank of Montreal is planning a pilot project for bill payment services next month.