Costs and Benefits to Consider When Analyzing New eBilling System

The trend in billing today is certainly toward online solutions. Many businesses and consumers alike are insisting that their providers offer online options. To that end, many providers are looking for systems to fit their needs and are finding that there is such a vast array of choices out there, it is hard to narrow down which would be the best solution. Sadly, there is not an easy answer to this question.

First the provider must evaluate what its needs are to determine how robust a system it needs. The knee-jerk reaction of most businesses is to strictly compare the cost of the options available. This could prove to be a mistake in the long run. The cost of the system itself is not the only cost to consider. Many systems will help to alleviate some costs that you never even considered eliminating. These cost savings can help to outweigh the initial cost differential. For those companies willing to consider the more robust systems that include bill analysis as well as bill presentment, they will be pleasantly surprised to find how much time and money these analysis tools can save them.

For example, a leading mobile phone provider recently installed such a system. The new eBilling system included both bill presentment and analysis. The eBilling system they were replacing was spread over three separate vendors; eBilling, corporate accounting, and CD export, requiring a dedicated team to constantly monitor the daily data loads. This mobile provider purchased a new eBilling system with bill presentment and analysis which allowed them to cut their eBilling outsourcing down to ONE vendor rather than three. The mobile provider’s requirements were for an online solution to deliver increased performance efficiency, reduce manual report production and to be scalable in order to satisfy the billing needs of both SMBs and corporate customers.

The system that they decided to purchase was not the cheapest system on the market, but after a full analysis of the system, they found it to be the best long term financial decision because of the added benefits it offered to the business.

This new eBilling system allows the mobile provider to offer a comprehensive billing tool with minimum impact upon company personnel. This is achieved by providing an online, customized, formatted solution for bill management. Through the implementation of the one single powerful system instead of three co-existing ones, the mobile provider saves time and effort by eliminating any communication difficulties and stream-lining the service. The new eBilling system offers the customer total control over the management and analysis of expenditure, as well as call details on their mobile accounts.

The ability for customers to create and save customized reports for their business requirements has eliminated the need for the mobile provider to produce specific ones for key accounts, reducing the mobile providers overhead cost for those accounts. The new eBilling system has lead to fewer billing queries, reducing the number of calls to customer service.

Customers also profit from this new eBilling product. The clear presentation of phone usage and the time saved by the reduction of paperwork and administration associated with managing a company’s mobile handling and spend was clear to the mobile customers themselves.

It is important to review all of the possible cost benefits of adding an eBilling system before making a final decision as to which one to purchase. While the initial cost of a system might appear to be less, it may not offer the operational cost benefits to both you and your customer that a more robust system could offer.