Electronic bill presentment-which took the spotlight in June when Microsoft and First Data Corp. teamed to create bill payment and presentment company MSFDC-is getting another push, from slightly smaller players. Reston, VA-based CyberCash and Ann Arbor, MI-based BlueGill Technologies have devised a solution that allows merchants to present branded bills on their Web sites using BlueGill's 1to1Server and receive payment from customers with CyberCash's PayNow Secure Electronic Check Service.
Banks don't get cut out of the equation; billers will send electronic payments, as ACH files, to banks for deposit as they do with physical checks. Banks can also add electronic lockbox services to their roster without investing in additional remittance processing equipment, says Richard Crone, CyberCash vp and general manager for PayNow. And, like MSFDC's offering, the CyberCash-BlueGill solution supports bill presentment and payment via other Net-enabled mechanisms such as e-mail, Internet TV and screen phones.
While this offering isn't unfriendly to banks, it doesn't offer them a prominent role in bill presentment and payment. Consumers still won't be sent to the bank's Web site to get their bills, where banks want them-and where MSFDC's solution might send them. "What they're doing is putting banks way in the background of the customer relationship," says Cliff Condon, senior analyst at Cambridge, MA-based Forrester Research. Crone argues, however, that merchants want to preserve their direct billing relationship with customers in the physical payments space; happy merchants make loyal corporate bank customers. He adds that merchants don't want their customer demographic data flowing through Microsoft's pipelines-and possibly making stops in sales and marketing departments. But Microsoft general manager Darren Remington calls that concern a popular "emotional argument" but "a little bit high-schoolish." He adds that MSFDC would be foolishly risking business if it did anything underhanded with customers' data.
At the end of the day, customer convenience will drive acceptance of electronic bill presentment, not what makes billers or banks happiest, says Condon.
According to Crone, new features in Internet Explorer and Netscape Netcaster allow multiple sites to be opened on a single page with one mouse click. This puts the customer in charge, not the bank or bill concentrator. But Condon says delivering bills at the bank's site is still more attractive to the consumer. He adds that CyberCash has an uphill battle, given FDC's long-standing connections with big merchants.
-prince tfn.com
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Visa's Java EntryWith Visa's latest strategic alliance, its management shows that resting on one's laurels is never a good way to get ahead of the curve. As dozens of Visa Cash card pilots are underway around the globe, the company is planning its next move:
