Are B2B Payments at a Tipping Point?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) October 4, 2011 -- Anyone who has been following the trend in B2B (Business to Business) payments has been watching the conversion from cheques to electronic bill payments. Although the number of cheques being issued has declined in Canada, and worldwide, business has not fully embraced electronic payments because of certain challenges. Some such challenges are: ensuring the availability, security and quality of the information sent with the payment; the process of obtaining bank information in order to make payments; and the difficulties with double entry of data.

Telpay Bill Payment Service has successfully solved most of the problems that have held back development of B2B payments. Telpay now processes approximately 18 million payments worth a total of $13.1 billion per year.

While not all businesses have recognized that Telpay has reached the “tipping point” for electronic payments, Telpay is more than ready when they do. Telpay initiated telephone bill payment service in Canada in 1985. Over the last twenty five years we have served over 200 financial institutions and their customers with our high quality electronic bill payment services. In the late 1990s, Telpay realized that business payments needed to take a step in the same direction. While individual consumer payments were directed to a limited number of regular monthly billers, businesses had a much longer list of payees and needed more information than just an account number in order to properly credit the customer’s account. They needed the ability to pay anyone. It was the desire to meet this need that prompted Telpay to develop a software service that would allow companies to make all their payments simply by sending a payment file to Telpay.

It had been a challenge to create and maintain biller lists for individuals to pay their monthly bills. For some businesses, such a list would have to include hundreds of thousands of billers and their banking information. Establishing a system that would allow billers to be added and qualified “on the fly” was the only solution. Telpay enlisted the bill payers themselves to help advance this process, which required tight procedures at the Telpay end to ensure that fraudulent payments did not sneak through. Telpay now has this system operating with thousands of companies across Canada. In the case of government remittances and international payments, where special information is required, Telpay makes arrangements with agencies and Foreign Exchange service providers so that payments can be made easily.

For companies to pay their employees, direct deposit is made simple by accepting a file from the company’s payroll system. Thus, the Telpay system can meet all the payment needs of any small to medium-sized company. (Telpay suggests to larger companies that they use multiple systems to handle their volumes.) To maximize the efficiency of the system, Telpay consolidates each payment session so that there is only one debit to your bank account. This saves bank fees and simplifies bank reconciliations. Telpay also consolidates the payments to the billers. They receive by file or other method all the payments for the day as one posting list and one credit to their bank account.

Another challenge for businesses interested in converting to electronic payments was ensuring a seamless integration with the business’ accounting system. Interfaces were needed whether the company was importing payment information to Telpay from its accounts payable system or entering its payments directly into the electronic system, and many of these have since been developed. Telpay has taken the lead in finding other solutions to meet the needs of businesses, including increased control over payments, multiple and remote authorization, backup, ensuring availability of funds to cover payments, and confirmation of payments.

As electronic services were becoming the preferred method of payment, bill presentment was becoming “the next sought-after app”. Telpay recognized that while individuals may not need paper records, businesses needed permanent records for audit and tax purposes. Telpay developed a method of importing electronic bills into the software, paying the bills and storing the bill image with the payment information in the data base itself. The need to print the bill was eliminated. At Telpay we are constantly renewing our “to do” list to satisfy newly recognized needs of our customers. The biggest “to do” is to get the word out that electronic billing and payment has finally reached the “tipping point”.

For more information on the tipping point in electronic payments please visit us online at www.telpay.ca

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