eBilling: Carrier Challenges to New eBilling Software Adoption

While most companies and individual consumers alike are turning more to eBilling as their bill presentment and payment avenue of choice, that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges to getting people to adopt an eBilling platform. Most barriers to entry in the past had been based on customer demand. That’s not really the case any longer, but there are still issues that eBilling platform providers face.

First, carrier adoption is a big barrier to entry in the sale of an eBilling platform. It is difficult to get a carrier to adopt a new program when the one they are using “works just fine.” How do you get a company to invest in a system that they don’t even know they need? Many carriers are also concerned with the control they would have over their billing system. Many of them have been using the same systems for so long and they are able to handle issues and problems that arise with that system easily and efficiently. Handing over that control to a new vendor is a very scary proposition for many carriers and could leave them apprehensive about adopting something new even if that “something new” is the system their customers want and need them to implement.

Second, many carriers are faced with local telephone regulations which require that they provide a paper bill. Many state and local governments have these regulations in affect to protect the consumer and have not considered the environmental and financial consequences of this legislation. For those carriers, it is important to identify the needs of the companies and individuals in that market. If enough people request eBilling instead of paper billing, legislation is likely to be overturned.

Third, carriers are working with incredibly outdated and unintelligible billing systems as it is, so switching to a new system sounds like an even bigger headache than the one they are currently facing. This is a problem with software switch. You know that switching software will come with some bumps in the road and finding the right timing to endure that pain is very difficult for any company. It is always difficult to change systems and no transition is seamless, but an easier and more effective system could be in place sooner than later, if you install quickly. Procrastinating is only prolonging the inevitable.

Finally, many business leaders have a very conservative mindset and don’t want to get off task. If their plan for a new billing system involved adding x, y, and z, they will not want to discuss any more advanced system options. However, the advantages of push presentation, eBilling software far outweigh the perceived hassle of installing a different solution.

While there are these barriers to entry for adding an eBilling solution, the benefits of adding the right eBilling solution, sooner rather than later, far outweigh the perceived issues/problems with implementing a new system. Carriers have the ability to improve their current billing systems, and provide their customers with a more robust billing and analysis solution while contributing their part to the green movement.