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Technology Stocks : CheckFree Holdings Corp. (CKFR), the next Dell, Intel? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AE who wrote (3497)	3/7/1999 1:27:00 PM
From: AE	Respond to of 20297

All, does anyone know anything about this company billsite.com Thanks, AE

To: AE who wrote (3497)	3/7/1999 2:14:00 PM
From: jjs_ynot	Respond to of 20297

AE, Does the existence of the US mail negate the requirement for large companies to have huge billing departments and send out a tremendous volume of bills and monitor their delivery? Are the billers no longer obligated to send bills that the payee can understand and to which they can respond? Does it negate your obligation to create a check and send it to the biller? Does the receipt of the check get the money in the billers bank account? etc. OFX is merely a common format for financial presentment, nothing less and nothing more IMO. It is on balance a good thing to establish a distribution format (common protocol) for CKFR to do its business.

To: AE who wrote (3497)	3/7/1999 4:43:00 PM
From: Benny Baga	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20297

>>> I was having a discussion with a co-worker who believes that once OFX is a widespread open standard there will no longer be a need for a distributor like CKFR. Well, that's what the bankers are hoping. First off, OFX can't handle Bill Presentment, but the new IFX can. IFX should eventually replace OFX. That being said, the theory is that if everyone used IFX, the need for CheckFree may be diminished. Even if this was to happen, it would take years for IFX to get that well established. Second, due to constant enhancements in the way bills are presented, I doubt if any one standard will be around for too long. Standards are continually outdated in an emerging market. Benny(IMHO) p.s. IFX isn't even finalized yet.

To: AE who wrote (3497)	3/7/1999 9:02:00 PM
From: Sam Biller	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20297

AE, I don't have a good understanding of OFX and/or IFX but it seems to me the barrier to entry is the capital expenditure required to develop the infrastructure to support bill presentment and payment including the customer care aspects. In addition to the capital outlay, EBPP requires trained customer service representatives and the best information technology people. >>>His explanation was that OFX will be like email and with the proper address each biller will be able to reach each customer directly without the need for a middle man.<<< But how will the payment be made in this scenario. Anyone could e-mail a bill to a consumer but the tracking of the bill from presentment to payment including the e-bill enhancements which are slated for release this summer should keep CheckFree in the lead. I guess the same argument could be made that anyone could start an online brokerage, but Schwab is still pretty successful probably due to the level of customer service they provide and the trust/loyalty of their customers. More and more companies are outsourcing elements of their business that can be performed more efficiently and less expensively outside. The millions and hopefully billions of e-bills and payments that CheckFree process will make them the lowest cost and highest quality provider. What incentives will a biller have to tackle this on their own?