B2B: Driving e-billing adoption

Today, Feb 2001 by Wainscott, Jeff

A move to e-billing poses peril and reward. Beware the former but prepare for the latter.

It wasn't long ago that the ATM machine was something only the brave, techno-savvy consumer dared to try. Many of us remember the first time we took the fivolous risk of allowing the machine to grab our card as we silently hoped it would deliver a crisp twenty or two. It took much longer for most of us to place our hard-earned paycheck into the cold, inhospitable machine. Yet most consumers now use the ATM machine with the same assurance as the telephone.

In many ways, business-to-business e-billing is in those same early days of adoption jitters. While benefits to both bitter and payor are significant, resistance from customers and your own employees may be great enough to curtail adoption. Customers naturally fear disruption, but your employees may have their own concerns about upsetting the status quo: if it's working, why fix it? And why risk upsetting your largest, most valuable customers? Understanding the concerns and taking steps to address them during the development process is critical to smoothing the acceptance path for all.

Educating your internal audience

Even before beginning development, it's important to educate all employees on the process and the benefits of a well-designed B2B e-billing solution. When people see the larger picture and feel they are included in bringing the vision into focus, it's easier for them to become excited participants.

What are the benefits?

E-billing is new to the B2B world. As expected at this early stage, very few understand the full benefits it affords to both sides of the billing equation. Biller benefits include:

* Significant cost savings through reduced paper and postage

* Streamlined internal processes

* Reduced call center traffic and customer service costs

* Automated dispute resolution to reduce customer service demands and increase payor control

* Less human intervention, which reduces data errors

* Specific targeting of messaging

* Competitive advantage in the marketplace

A biller's employees may see the benefits to their company, but may not realize the payor also will enjoy significant benefits that include:

* Significant cost savings through automated approval routing and management

* Automated dispute processing to ease handling of questioned charges

* Electronic data access that provides instant delivery and fast, easy sorting and analysis

* Data organization that meets company structure, i.e., by region, department, cost center

* Complete data management and reporting tools

Reasons for resistance

Keeping that end goal in mind is important as you begin developing your solution. It's also important to acknowledge that the concerns of your employees are valid. Despite the best intentions, we've all seen new business processes disrupt business and threaten customer relationships. With a subject like billing, already a delicate issue, the potential for problems is heightened.

In working with a number of large billers across the country, the YourAccounts.Com team has experienced a variety of objections expressed by billers and established some guidelines for handling them.

Sales force concerns - Your sales force, especially those who deal with the largest customers, have a very real fear that the move to electronic billing will upset their customers. At best, they see the change as a disruption that creates work and expense for their customers. At worst, they fear customers will become dissatisfied and leave. By including your sales staff in the development process, you can keep them informed and enthusiastic about the benefits their customers will soon receive.

Incomplete design - While an unfair stereotype, it is possible that an e-bill solution designed and implemented by an IT department will be filled with engineering bells and whistles, but lack the attractive, branded, easyto-use interface necessary for a complete solution. Likewise, an e-billing solution driven by the marketing division or the customer service department may be found lacking in the back-end tools that will make it work within your enterprise systems. Employing a cross-functional development team that integrates the perspectives of IT, sales and marketing, accounting, and customer service can prevent unbalanced design.

Lack of internal communication An e-billing solution that is brought online without adequate involvement and training of all employees, particularly the customer service department, can create resentment and confusion. Including an internal communications plan in the development process is an important ingredient to creating a smooth e-billing transition.

Jeff Wainscott is the B2B electronic billing expert at www.youraccounts.com.